"SOULJA BOY TELL 'EM!"
— Soulja Boy, every song he's ever made
Ahh, Soulja Boy. He tells 'em.
DeAndre Cortez Way (born July 28, 1990), aka Soulja Boy (also known as Soulja Boy Tellem, Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, and S. Beezy) is an American rapper. He released three albums between 2007 and 2010, Souljaboytellem.com, iSouljaBoyTellem, and The DeAndre Way. His fourth album, Loyalty, was released in 2015.
Soulja Boy provides examples of:
- Angrish: "Yahhh!". Hell, many of his early songs have him screaming for ad-libs.
- Author Appeal:
- Money, swag and above all, himself.
- "Anime" is about his (poorly researched) affections regarding the titular medium.
- Book Dumb: His song "Report Card" is about him changing his Fs to D-grades instead.
- Bowdlerise: All of his early songs while under Interscope Records had all of his lyrics censored from their demo versions for unknown reasons, despite the label being known for releasing songs from much more hardcore and explicit acts like Eminem.
- Broken Record: Almost all of his songs are just choruses mixed with ad-libs and an occasional verse.
- Catchphrase:
- "SOULJA BOY TELL 'EM!"
- "Swag"
- Cluster F-Bomb: Many of his songs, such as his "diss" track to fellow rapper Bow Wow simply titled "Fuck Bow Wow".
- Dance Sensation: "Crank That" being the biggest example, followed by the chicken-scratch mimicing "Bird Walk".
- Darker and Edgier: He began having a "gangsta" image by 2010, such as getting many face tattoos and being involved in (mostly petty) beefs with other rappers in order to prove how tough he is. His songs also began having more verbal references to drugs and even gang activity.
- Don't Like? Don't Read!: Subverted; despite dedicating a good fraction of his lyrics to lashing out at "haters", he has stated that he actually pays attention to and considers critical reviews of his albums.
- The Diss Track: He made many of these, such as a diss to Bow Wow titled "Fuck Bow Wow", alongside many others.
- Informed Obscenity: A Real Life version that caused major backlash against "Crank Dat". See Lyrical Dissonance below. The term it was supposed to mean was something so out there that nobody would ever figure that out unless they were told.
- Intimate Telecommunications: Implied in "Kiss Me thru the Phone" (ft. Sammie), which is about a guy missing his girlfriend, but because of the distance, opts to tell her to do as the song title.
- Lyrical Dissonance: Subverted. The song "Crank Dat" was thought to feature a verse about a sex act, due to an urban legend.
According to Soulja Boy, the song has no meaning. He found the urban legend rather disturbing. - Lyrical Shoehorn: Expect him to say swag in many of his songs, particularly around 2008-2012.
- Money Song: One of his most favorite things to rap about, aside from swag!
- N-Word Privileges: Outside his earlier, radio-friendly singles, he abuses the N-word a lot on most of his songs and especially on his Instagram rants and beefs with other rappers.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Despite being dismissed by many music enthusiasts as a moron, Soulja has exhibited a well-developed vocabulary, and even types with perfect spelling and grammar!
- Sampling: Of FL Studio's default samples. This makes it extremely easy for moderately talented musicians to almost completely re-create many of his songs.
- Shout-Out: The Soulja in his stage name is derived from the late No Limit Records rapper Soulja Slim.
- Singer Name Drop: Oh dear boy, does he like to do that!
- Stage Names: And God help us all, he won't let you forget it.
- Stuffy Old Songs About the Buttocks: "Donk" and its sequel, "Booty Got Swag (Donk part 2)".
- Swag Rap: Trope Maker, as he was one the earliest acts to popularized the act.
- Take That!: "I don't want to be super-Lupe-Fiasco-lyrical with niggas not understanding what the fuck I'm talking about."
- And in the counter-fire, Lupe Fiasco: "Soulja call it super-Lupe-lyrical/You can't understand me, nor mimic my miracles. All I see is me and I'm a mother-loving-mirrorfull(fool)"
- And in the same song: "Game Over.Body parts."
- "You!" Exclamation: In the beginning of "Crank That".
