Although it may feel like an eternity ago in internet years, the beginning of 2019 was ushered in by Soujla Boy’s now-classic Breakfast Club interview (the one where he yelled “Draaake!“).
But some odd three months later, Soulja Boy’s paradise was clogged with trouble when the “Crank That” visionary got sentenced to a dismal 240 days in jail for a parole violation. Just like that, the unforeseen buzz Soulja Boy had built was gone.
However, according to Soulja Boy’s longtime manager Miami Mike, counting out the enigmatic rap star wouldn’t be the best decision. While speaking to HipHopDX, the industry vet spoke for his famous client as he preps for an intense rollout through 2020.
HipHopDX: We’re finishing up the Year-End wrapup and we’re trying to figure out if Big Draco had the best comeback of the year.
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Miami Mike: You already know he did, man. We about to drop this DVD. We about to drop this movie too this year, I’m the executive producer.
HipHopDX: I’ve been looking for that. He said it’s on YouTube, I couldn’t find it. I’ve been looking for it for a minute.
Miami Mike: No, no, the old one is on YouTube, the first one he did five years ago or six years ago. But this new one, we going to do a movie theater thing and I don’t know… We trying to sell it to somebody right now too though, but we about to drop it. I already done an interview with Wall Street Journal about it and it’s going to be released in the next couple months though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV8DyIU534M
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HipHopDX: That’s dope. So is it an actual full-blown production, like people on the edge of their seats and all that?
Miami Mike: Yeah, it’s a documentary. I could send the trailer to it though, I’ll send the trailer to it. Got Boosie, everybody on there. It’s an hour and 20 minutes.
HipHopDX: How long have you been with Soulja Boy?
Miami Mike: Man, I been with Soulja Boy since day one, bro. I signed him in Burger King and then watch his first documentary, Soulja Boy the Movie.
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So I’m the executive producer and show how we signed him inside of Burger King in Batesville, Mississippi even though he’s from Atlanta though.
HipHopDX: Would you say Soulja Boy is like a living legend or would you say he’s still influencing his empire?
Miami Mike: Soulja Boy is before his time and has a legend … has a cult following, everything that he gets on, it breaks numbers. He got on Breakfast Club, it broke all the numbers that were had. He did interviews with VladTV, it broke all numbers. So, that shows that he has an organic following and anybody that goes on the internet, they go on to his page first because he’s the king of the internet.
And a lot of people… he’s a trendsetter and he was really doing stuff before his time, like the tattoos on his face and all that stuff. And plus that “Crank That” was No. 1 in 100 countries. A lot of people don’t even know that.
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HipHopDX: What would you say your role is in his career leading up to the humble beginnings to the big life, to the red, to the comeback? What do you do?
Miami Mike: I’m more than just a manager, I’m like a business partner. From the first go I was invested in him and I’m like a father figure to him also, and a friend. I’m like his OG, so I’m like… I wear many hats. I remember when we first started it was just me and him on the road, and Arab, so I was the driver. I was the bodyguard, the DJ, the babysitter and everything, you know? And now we got to team up with 10-15 people.
HipHopDX: When did Mr. Collipark drop out? When did his involvement fade?
Miami Mike: Collipark … Soulja’s first label situation was with me, Palm Tree Entertainment and after that I became his manager. But Collipark, he’s the one that took us to Interscope and got us on Interscope. So, when he got dropped from Interscope, know what I’m saying, everything just dissolved, Collipark and Interscope.
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HipHopDX: Like an organic separation. What type of artist would you say Soulja Boy and the artists that you guys curate fall under? Is that rappers, is it entertainment, are they rock stars?
Miami Mike: I would say that he’s a pop-star rapper because he’s known all over the world and all the people… I don’t care where he goes it’s going to be a sold-out show and he, like I said, he hasn’t had an album out in two years but everywhere he go, you got that type of following and it’s an organic, real following. It’s a big following, I would say kind of like The Grateful Dead, kind of like Frankie Beverly & Maze got it.
So he has a real following. When Soulja went on there and he did more numbers on their show than they had ever done. 6ix9ine … Lil Pump … everyone been on there. You know, Breakfast Club, they’ll tell you. Charlamagne will tell you, his interview got like 20 million views on YouTube. And the biggest they had before Soulja came on there was like five million.
He has an organic following. VladTV can tell you the same thing, he’s never had more views on his page than Soulja’s. He just has big following and people like to listen to him.
HipHopDX: I remember that Breakfast Club interview. They made an interesting point and I think you can speak to this…
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Miami Mike: We about to do another one, it’s going to be crazy.
HipHopDX: I can’t wait. But, Soulja Boy always rolled around with the artists, but the ones that would blow up is the ones he passes on; why is that? Why don’t you guys keep a Gunna, a Young Thug…?
Miami Mike: Well, that’s probably hit or miss because I can say, I had Silento. I was working with Silento from the jump. I could’ve signed, I didn’t and he blew up. Same thing with Rae Sremmurd; they from Mississippi where I’m from. They were trying to get me to sign them, I passed on them, but they got with Mike-Will and blew up. So you can’t, it’s like a game and you can’t… sometimes you see it sometimes you don’t. It just be like that and that’s how I look at it. If he knew he wouldn’t have passed on it but sometimes you don’t know man.
HipHopDX: You guys got a new artist up next?
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Miami Mike: Soulja right now, he’s on a break since he went to jail. Everybody wants to know why he’s so quiet. He’s on break. But we got a little group we mess with out of Atlanta, outside Atlanta down there in Albany, Georgia. But, Soulja’s biggest comeback is going to continue and we are going to do a couple tours, big tours, and he’s going to do a couple plays. We’re going to his first interview, big interview, on Breakfast Club, and so if you think the first video is interesting, this one is going to be crazy because people want to know why he’s been so quiet.
The kid hasn’t had a break … even though he did three months in jail, it’s like he did seven or eight years. Some people’s days feel like a year, or some people’s days feel like a month. It takes death or jail to get you on the right track. So the jail space … Soulja is a totally different person and you think the interview was interesting on Breakfast Club last time, but he’s going to do this other one and it’s going to be crazy.
We’re going to do a promo round, we’re going to do Breakfast Club, TMZ, Entertainment Tonight, all that stuff. It’s going to be crazy because everybody is waiting to hear from him. He’s never been quiet like this. And I’m not mad at him because the kid hasn’t had a break since he was 12 years old. He’s been famous since he was 12 years old. Before “Crank That” came out he was getting money and traveling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9Ln2ZV-XsY
HipHopDX: Now that he’s out, are you guys doing things differently, are you guys moving differently? Are you guys laying off the weed or…?
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Miami Mike: Yes, he’s moving like a OG. He’s about to fight the Jake Paul guy. He’s quit drinking lean. He’s gained 50 pounds since he’s been out. He helping… getting smooth and he’s working out, he’s got buff and he’s just moving like an OG. The last two shows he did since he’s been out, he just had like 30 to 40 people come to shows the last couple shows, he had like three bodyguards.
So he’s moving different and the jail taught him a lot. I hate that it had to be jail to do that, but sometimes you can lead a horse to water, you can’t make them drink it. He’s totally a different person, the cat is real respectful now and he looks at things differently. The cat told me he loved me the other day, he never told me that. I thought something was wrong. But no, “I’m just saying Mike I see why you move like that.” I had talked to him on the phone when he was locked up. He said man, “You did several years man and while I was in there I was thinking, this is why this dude move like that. He’s not trying to go back to jail.”
So, the jail just woke him up.
Photo: Miami Mike
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HipHopDX: That’s good. So for 2020, we can expect the album, the movie, Soulja Boy… back to where we expect him.
Miami Mike: Yeah. More people want to deal with him now because he’s not wilding out. He’s on the grown man stuff. So, he wants to venture more into movies and stuff like that. But, I have a couple people that have a deal on the table to get him a deal. So, that’s why he’s not really on social media, he’s on a social media break and a life break. But, it’s about to come out now.
He hasn’t had a break since he was 12 or 13. And he just turned… his birthday just came… and he hasn’t had a break in over 15 years. So that’s why I wasn’t sweating him. He’s been turning down shows these past couple months and I said I’m going to let him take his break because he really needed it. People want to know why he isn’t on Instagram? Well I say because he’s on a break, he needed it.
HipHopDX: That’s good. Last thing you can clarify… this video game console. Did everybody ever get the system? I know there were some people saying they didn’t get them.
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Miami Mike: I don’t know, that’s the stuff Soulja did on his own with some other people. Soulja, he’s a businessman, he does stuff sometimes without me and he has lawyers and all that stuff.
HipHopDX: They be going rogue, huh?
Miami Mike: The company he did it with, it’s just like, they didn’t know it was going to sell that many so it was too big for the orders to sell so that’s what happened with that. Like I told you he has a real following. (laughs)
I mess with his dance moves. I have my own vodka that I’m working on, so I’m about to get on a show…VH1 is coming out tomorrow, we will start shooting the pilot. It’s going to be about the Mississippi Delta and I am one of the stars on the show, and it’s going to be big man.
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I do a lot of public schools, like fundraisers… I’m working out here man, and PTE, I’m always looking for the next star. I did the dance group because I think the dance songs take off more and then make the artists bigger, and they get to be No. 1 in the country. Because dance music, when you dance, you entertaining… that’s why I like the dance music because it streams a lot and it goes to a bigger variety of people.
HipHopDX: In your opinion, any of the talents these days organic or is everything fake?
Miami Mike: Everything’s organic. With this dance music, everything’s organic. Because you got to look at it … you go back in time, all the biggest people in the world are dancers. The top four: Michael Jackson Beyoncé, Chris Brown, Justin Bieber. Everybody that you know who’s big, they dance or have a dance song that you can dance to. So nobody has a song bigger than a person who has a dance song that you can dance to. Just think about it… Elvis Presley… Lil Nas’ song “Old Town Road,” just because it’s country and dance… “Nae Nae” … all those songs were big because you could dance to it.
Like “Gangnam Style” in China. [Editor’s Note: It’s actually a South Korean smash]. The best selling rapper in the world is MC Hammer. “Can’t Touch This” is the best. Everybody thinks Fugees is the best group… 17 or 15 million, for a rapper I think Eminem and JAY-Z, but MC Hammer sold 17 million of “Can’t Touch This,” that was a dance song. And the biggest single close to that is Tag Team, “Whoomp! There It Is”: 30 million. Then the thing next to that is “Crank That.”
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So, then think about it Beyoncé is a dancer. All the biggest entertainers in the world have dance music or you can dance to it. Like Madonna, Michael Jackson — the best album in the world was filled with Michael Jackson dancing, so as long as you got something for people to dance to, it entertains them and that’s why I mess with the dance music. Because I know it goes back to with the legs and movement.
HipHopDX: Good point. VEVO did the top 10 videos of the decade, and Silento was No. 1.
Miami Mike: See what I’m saying because people dance to it.
Follow @ceomiamimike on Instagram for more PTE updates.
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