The strange way Soulja Boy got his stage name
Since his breakout single ‘Crank That,’ Soulja Boy has become one of the most despised MCs in hip-hop. The Atlanta artist is known as a brash, arrogant and flashy character whose material does not match his ego. However, the emcee did have an undeniable impact on rap music.
Songs such as ‘Crank That,’ ‘Donk,’ and ‘Turn My Swag On’ revolutionised hip-hop with dance-orientated lyrics and simple beats that made his rap style particularly appealing to young children. Produced by Soulja Boy, ‘Crank That’ with its famous “Superman” line, birthed a new hip-hop style reminiscent of Crunk, where the song had multiple calls to action that engaged audiences significantly.
Soulja Boy was a product of the MySpace era and early YouTube age when songs such as ‘Chicken Noodle Soup’ by Young B and ‘Donk’ ran rampant around the internet. They appealed to a highly young demographic that wanted to have fun and learn dance moves instead of hearing gangsta rap.
In the 2000s, Soulja Boy was a big deal, and people were interested in his backstory. During a television interview with Bill Werde of Billboard, the emcee spoke about the origins of his name and the kind of music he made before fame.
When asked how he chose the name Soulja Boy, the ‘Turn My Swag On’ rhymer unveiled, “I got that name from my momma! My momma gave me that name when I was real little when I was staying in Atlanta on Simpson Road, westside, and I just kept it with me.”
Why did Soulja Boy change his name?
The lyricist continued, “When I started rappin’, I used ‘Dre,’ and after that, I changed it to Soulja Boy.” The rapper then told a story about a song he made under the moniker, telling Werde, “It’s funny ’cause the first song I made [as] Soulja Boy, it was called ‘Ready For War’, my momma actually gave me the beat for it!”
According to the emcee his mother knew a producer in the city who gave him that beat. However, when he first broke onto the scene he didn’t make use of those contacts as ‘Crank Dat’ was made by him on production software Fruity Loops.
In an interview, he explained, “To be honest, it took me an hour to produce the ‘Crank That’ song – at the most.” He continued, “Sometimes I just sit back… I can make a beat in my hotel room, or I can make a beat in my dressing room while getting ready for a show, and I can send it to Pro Tools, and bam, get it right back recorded on my laptop. Then I can post it for all my fans to hear.”
Although Soulja Boy is a household name, he is most definitely an artist who is associated with the past and a bygone era. Akin to many artists from the mid-2000s, his brand was so tightly linked to the surge of crunk that once the hype fizzled out and the movement ended, so too did his career in many ways. However, he still wreaks havoc on the internet on a regular basis.