Soulja Boy

Soulja Boy Tell'em is many things to many people. Apparently, prophetic is one of them. What began as juddering camcorder footage in his basement mutated into worldwide phenomenon. You've memorized the infectious hooks. The dance has been inexorably burned into your muscle memory. And the numbers confirm what you already know: 400 million views on YouTube; over five million downloads of the pandemic single "Crank That (Soulja Boy)"; seven weeks atop Billboard's Hot 100 singles' chart; more than five million ringtones sold; platinum status and beyond for debut album Souljaboytellem.com.

"As big as rap is, and as big as "Crank That" was, I'm still not as famous as I want to be," he warns. "I can sit in first class on a plane and a dude next to me in a business suit will wonder who I am. I wanna be Barack Obama big. And not just for a dance I made; I want everybody to know me. So when I'm dead and gone, people can watch my whole life on the internet. I'm thinking about movies, companies, having a building that big [points to a neighboring NYC skyscraper] with Souljaboytellem Inc. on it. That's why I'm talking about going back to college; I'm smart but I need more knowledge.

"My whole creative process is different now," he continues. "My beats tend to dictate the way I'm gonna sound. If it's a Soulja Boy Tell'em beat, it'll more likely end up as a single, maybe something with a dance to it. But I spit fire on other producers' beats because it allows me more freedom to go different places lyrically. That variety is the difference between this album and the first album. On the first album, I produced every beat so every song had that commercial, kiddie feel because I was 16. But bringing different producers to the table, I get motivated to rip other people's joints."

Soulja Boy Tell'em sounds like a man balancing a healthy respect for the past with an earnest hunger for the future. It's reflected not merely in his music, but his mentality: "I went back to that same high school class a year later with BET and everybody who was laughing then was asking me for autographs. The girls who dissed me then were crying now. They were acting like I was a whole different person, like we didn't just go to school together eight months ago. Being on TV had brainwashed everyone I used to know and programmed their minds that I'm this big celebrity that didn't know anyone anymore. Sometimes I wonder what it feels like to be one of those students in class and to know someone else who'd made it. I'll never know that feeling."

His latest album has officially been pushed back. The "Teenage Millionaire" who's also set to release a book, has announced plans to push back his Deandre Way album from October 5th to November 2nd.

In between finishing the album and tour dates, the 20-year-old is said to be delving into acting and looking to star in a film later this year.

His announcement comes just days after a viral video was released of groupie Kat Stacks cuddling with him in a hotel room and showing reported lines of cocaine to the camera.

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