In a story titled “The Influencer: A Decade Of Soulja Boy,” Pitchfork.com writer Meaghan Garvey detailed Atlanta, Georgia rapper Soulja Boy’s swift rise to fame and influence.
The story begins with the initial criticism and praise Soulja Boy received at the start of his career, from being bashed by actor/rapper Ice T to Kanye West coming to his defense.
“On his Urban Legend mixtape the following year, then-50-year-old ‘Cop Killer’ provocateur turned ‘Law & Order’ stooge Ice-T noted: ‘Fuck Soulja Boy. Eat a dick. You singlehandedly ruined hip-hop,’” the Pitchfork.com story reads. “He also threatened to punch Soulja in the face…Even Kanye, another guy who leveraged the power of the Internet early on, weighed in on the dust-up on his blog: ‘He came from the hood, made his own beats, made up a new saying, new sound and a new dance with one song… If that ain’t Hip Hop then what is?’”
Soulja Boy’s utilization of the internet at a time when viral fame became more and more common, was also touched on. At one point, Garvey declares that there was a time when the rapper “was the internet.”
“But Soulja wasn’t just facilitated by the Internet—he was the Internet,” Garvey writes. “His was the ultimate representation of a brain that had grown up and found solace online: restless, resourceful, chameleonic, quick-witted, with zero patience for anyone unable to keep up. His digital strategy a decade ago, back when he uploaded his first song in the summer of 2005, is our often frustrating current reality: flood the system, prioritize brand recognition and scalability, don’t sweat the details. Ours is not the age of the virtuoso; it is the age of the hustler, the finesser, the strategist. So while Soulja may not be exceptionally ‘gifted’ in a traditional sense, his unflappable self-possession (often verging on shamelessness) and digital self-actualization requires both working hard and working smart—a very real kind of 21st century genius. And though his reign of influence has faded significantly in the past few years, it’s only because culture finally caught up to him.”
The full “The Influencer: A Decade Of Soulja Boy” story can be read in its entirety at Pitchfork.com.
For additional Soulja Boy coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
law and order stooge? Who wrote this a child with crayons! If you don’t respect the OG’s than you have no right to comment on hip hop at all! But what would I expect from an article on a talentless fuck boy like Soulja Boy…. Gettign hype doesn’t = skill.
+1
I stopped reading after the first paragraph. Soulja Boy is from Chicago not ATL
Born in Chicago, raised in Atlanta.
If it weren’t for calico jonez sodmg would suck
Yet another reason to despise Pitchfork. Bunch of white hipster nerds trying to latch on to the most degrading and ignorant aspects of black culture in order to make themselves look “Enlightened” when it really makes them look more racist than anything. This kid was a fad that came and went, nothing more, nothing less. He showed people that you can make garbage, ignorant, laughable music and so long as you act stupid enough, people will click on it and some major label scumbag like Jimmy Iovine will sign you for it, than drop you a few years later when everybody gets sick of you and moves on to the next ignorant idiot. That’s this kids contribution to the culture.
Everybody moves on but SB will still leave this earth having made millions of dollars in his lifetime. He achieved an enormous amount of success, mostly due to his work ethic. I’m not a huge fan on Pitchfork but SB still deserves respect BRAH.
Shut up moron! Pitchfork loves them some Kendrick, El-P and Killer Mike too. They just gave Vince Staples an 8.8. Stop spewing bullshit. OVOKnowledge dropping knowledge on the haters.
Soulja’s music is garbage. But I gotta hand it to him, he real. When I was clubbing in ATL, my boys gotta into a fight with his entourage and Soulja was one of the first ones swinging. Think he was drunk though, couldn’t tell.
props for getting the internet shit going. he pretty much ushered in that era.. cant take that away from him nor his success. but he also ushered in this corny ass rap bubble gum pop rap era where lyric don’t matter just a beat and a hook which destroyed all other genres of rap up until recently with Kendrick and jcole success.