Soulja Boy Talks Sneakers, ‘Arab Money’ & Video Games

It's no secret that the Internet and the blogosphere have transformed the way artists get their music out in recent years. Tons of artists drop freestyles daily, but no one flipped the digital marketing script harder than Soulja Boy. Last year, the now 18-year-old rapper burst onto the scene with an infectious song and dance that racked up millions and millions of plays on YouTube'”Crank Dat” didn't go viral, it went straight Bubonic Plague.

Building on the initial “Crank Dat” success, Mr. Tellem has expanded his brand with Yums, a sneaker company that he co-owns, as well a new Soulja Boy-themed video game that he says will release in 2009 for the Xbox 360. Oh, and on December 16, he plans to drop his sophomore album iSouljaBoyTellEm. Complex caught up with the youngest in charge to talk about having another huge hit, why Interscope didn't want him on Busta’s “Arab Money Remix” and why he feels like anything Bow Wow does in the sneaker game, Soulja Boy could do better.

Interview by Joe La Puma

Complex: How many tracks did you produce on the new album?

Soulja Boy: I would say about a good 45 percent. I also worked with Jim Jonsin, Mr. Collipark, Polow Da Don, Zaytoven, Drumma Boy, and a couple underground producers who aren't mainstream yet.

Complex: You recently put out a joint called “Turn My Swag On.” How do you feel your “swag” matches up to people on the “Swagga Like Us” song?

Soulja Boy: I think my swag is on a whole different level. I think Kanye, Jay-Z, T.I., and Lil Wayne are four hip-hop heavyweights right now in the eyes of hip-hop heads who are really in depth with the music, in the whole history of hip-hop. I think my swag compared to them is very different because the type of music that I make and the type of style that I bring is on a new generation type of level. I think the person who you can say my swagger is like the most would be Kanye West, because he's on a more of a new school level. I feel like Jay-Z was back around those days when New York was running hip-hop and I came into the game when the South was running hip-hop, so my swagger is on some next generation type level as far being one of the youngest artists in the game.

Complex: So Sean Kingston was originally on your joint “Yamaha Mama,” and now it seems like Chris Brown has replaced him. Why the switch?

Soulja Boy: Chris Brown wrote the song. Originally, Chris Brown and I did the song together. And then they sent it to Sean in some kind of way, and Sean did his verse on it. Basically there are two versions. The Sean Kingston [version] wasn't supposed to be leaked, but I think somebody from the label or somebody from the studio leaked the record and it was all over the Internet. Then the Chris Brown version was released too. Now, we have two different records all over the Internet. The one on the album is the one featuring Sean Kingston.

Complex: Where would you say your career would be without the Internet?

Soulja Boy: Without the Internet man, I probably wouldn't have a career to tell you the truth. There probably wouldn't be Souljaboytellem, there wouldn't be any “Crank Dat.” You wouldn't know me period. I would have never been brought to life. I would never be mainstream. I know a lot of artists basically wouldn't know who I am. I was in such a small city, once I started my career and if I continued to stay where I was living, nobody would have found out who I was.

Complex: Some people think that it's impossible for you to follow up “Crank Dat.” Do you think there's a chance to top that?

Soulja Boy: I don't think it's possible to top “Crank Dat.” I think it’s possible to have another song that will be a hit, that will go number one on the Billboard chart, but I don't think it'll be a song that can top “Crank Dat” as a whole movement, as a whole dance, and have the impact it had on me being a new artist. Everybody knows who Soulja Boy is; everybody knows the numbers that I put up; everybody knows the “Crank Dat” dance. As far as topping the song? I think my chances of topping “Crank Dat” on the charts will be' I'll say like, 8-out-of-10. I think I could do it. I don't think it's that hard. But as far as topping the overall impact it had? I think it's impossible to do that.

Complex: In rap, you've dealt with some controversy, after folks like GZA and Ice-T said negative things about you. Which situation was hardest for you to deal with?

Soulja Boy: The hardest situation? None of them really, because I'm speaking from what I know. I'm speaking from the heart. I ain't scared to say nothing. I ain't scared to diss nobody, I ain't scared to address nobody who got opinions on me, and want to make comments about Soulja Boy. So as each situation comes, I handle it. I don't really put too much time and energy on it but I address it as it comes. So it's not really a situation that came that is hard to deal with.

Complex: Why do you think some of the older heads would come at you?

Soulja Boy: I think because they feel like I'm not supposed to be here. I'm not supposed to be doing what I'm doing because I came in the game when I was 16, and I'm still only 18. Most of them are old enough to be my granddaddy. They’re old enough to be my father; they’re old enough to be my granddaddy. So they look at me like, “This guy is same age as my kid and he's out here messing with what I do.” But I don't care. I'm just like a kid. I could do what I want to do. They look at me like they want to be my parents and tell me what to do, but they can't.

Complex: Have you seen Ice-T since the situation at all?

Soulja Boy: No, man. I ain't never seen Ice-T ever in my life. I ain't never talked to him ever in my life.

Complex: What about the comment you made about slave masters to Touré? Care to speak on that?

Soulja Boy: I would take that back, because the whole situation I was tricked into. The way he came at me, I wasn't really feeling the whole vibe from the jumpoff. When I do interviews, the actual interview is talking about Souljaboytellem as an artist or what I bring to hip-hop or what I have going on in my career. So basically, the interview, he was asking me how I want to die, and you know asking me like who do I hate in the industry, and which historical figure do I hate. And I was like, “Man, I don't hate nobody.” I would take that comment back because it was just the wrong place at the wrong time to even joke about anything like that.

Complex: Right. So shifting gears, how’s the deal with Yums going for you?

Soulja Boy: Yums is going good man. We great baby! I met with the company executives and they're shipping all of my Soulja Boy shoes in all the Finish Lines across America. I met with Finish Line marketing. We sat down, I did an in-store signing and there were at least 400 people there who bought the tennis shoes and I autographed the tennis shoes and they bought the Soulja Boy t-shirt. It was great. Finish Line was telling me it was great. The numbers is great. I love the deals and decision that I made with this because it turned out to be great.

Complex: You orignally came out wearing Bapes. Are you still allowed to rock whatever you want, or does Yums lock you down and you only get to wear them?

Soulja Boy: I can, but it's my company'I own a percentage in the whole Yums company'so I wouldn't wear another product to mess with my money. So basically, at the end of the day, I could wear whatever I want but I wouldn't disrespect my own line.

Complex: So if you had to choose between rocking a lifetime supply of Bapes or Air Force Ones, which would it be?

Soulja Boy: It would probably be Bapes.

Soulja Boy: [Directs a question to Arab] Arab, if you could rock a lifetime supply of Bapes or Air Force Ones, what would it be?

Arab: Bapes.

Soulja Boy: He said Bapes too.

Complex: Speaking of Arab, is he pissed that he wasn’t included on the “Arab Money” remix?

Soulja Boy: He did the whole “Arab Money” remix, but the whole situation with that, I guess they wanted me to do a verse on the song with him. But I couldn't do the remix, due to label situations. You know, Busta just had a situation over at Interscope, and now he has a situation at Universal Motown. So I didn't want to disrespect the boss. I didn't want to disrespect Jimmy Iovine by jumping on the new project when he just let that artist go. It just was loyalty and respect. I didn't want to disrespect the boss, Jimmy Iovine.

Complex: So Busta wanted you on it, but you didn't because of Jimmy?

Soulja Boy: Yeah, they wanted me on the song. Busta, I know Busta personally. He reached out to me, and I came to the video shoot. I told him about my boy Arab'since the song is called “Arab Money”'to put him on there. But you know Arab did his verse, and I was going to do my verse, but the label and the management were saying, “It would be disrespectful to Jimmy Iovine to do the song, when Busta just left Interscope, it would be like supporting his project over at Universal Motown.” I didn't really want to get caught up in the whole situation, so I just reached out to Busta and let him know what it was. But Arab has his own version of Arab Money with 200,000 plays right now.

Complex: Interesting…getting back to the kicks, what sneakers are your all time favorites?

Soulja Boy: Jordan IVs. I can wear them everyday, errday. I got a pair of Jordan IVs that I could wear right now straight because that's my favorite shoes of all time. There are no shoes that top those.

Complex: So Bow Wow's been on the net saying he’s the Jordan king. Is there any competition there?

Soulja Boy: At the end of the day man, all that stuff Bow Wow is doing, if I wanted to, I could do the same thing. The Nike factory sends me everything. Every time I see a new Bow Wow video, he showing his Jordans off. I'm like, “Man, they just sent me those same shoes” But I don't put it out like that, because when “Crank Dat” was the number one song in the country, I was out there in LA and I met up with Nike. And I went in, and they hooked me up. They sent me the Lebron James and all the Jordans. They send the shoes straight to my house. They send them a month before they come out in stores. All I know is that every time I see a new Bow Wow video, I already got those shoes on my doorstep at the crib. But I don't go and be like, “Look, I got these shoes!” like Bow Wow does.

Complex: I see…

Soulja Boy: I don't really want to get into that because I'm promoting Yums. Why would I even be involved in showing off something that the Nike factory is sending me? Every time I see Bow Wow's videos, I'm just like, it's cool, whatever. It ain't really no competition. Because if I really wanted to, I could make a video two days before Bow Wow and be like, “Look Bow Wow is about to show them in two more days but I got 'em already!”

Complex: You're also big into video games. What are your favorites right now?

Soulja Boy: We're on our tour bus we got the Gears of War 2 running everyday all day. Grand Theft Auto 4, Call of Duty, and Madden.

Complex: Would you ever want your own video game?

Soulja Boy: I'm glad that you brought that up. Soulja Boy video game is coming for Xbox 360 in 2009. After I put the Xbox 360 challenge up on the Internet, it was over all these video game sites. And a couple video game companies hit me up on my email because I put the email on there too. And hit me up like, “Blah, blah, blah, blah.” So I was like, “Oh snaps!” So I forwarded to my management, and they forwarded to my label. And now we’re doing the video game. It was the same way I got signed for my music. It's like history repeating itself, but instead of music this time it's about video games.

Complex: Wow, congrats, is there anything else you want to say before we go?

Soulja Boy: I just want everybody to know my brand new album is in stores December 16th, iSouljaBoyTellEm. I promise you'll love this album. And shout out to Kanye, I got that 808s & Heartbreak. I love the album, man. My favorite song on there is “Pinocchio Story.” Kanye did his thing on the album and merry Christmas to everybody holding it down.