Soulja Boy‘s [click to read] club and street single from iSouljaBoy is “Turn My Swag On.” As with many songs these days, the Drumma Boy-produced [click to read] hit has been reworked by an assortment of other artists. This week, Soulja Boy reacted to that trend to HipHopDX. “I fuck with everybody, as far as L.A., New York, ATL, no matter where we at. I make music that can adapt to everybody. When you got a record like ‘Turn My Swag On’, we got people like Lil Wayne doin’ verses [click to listen], Jim Jones, Maino, Fabolous [click to listen], Jadakiss, [Young] Jeezy, just a lot of different cats, period. They’re just makin’ music. That’s what I intend to do [with my songs]. I make music that everybody can enjoy, no matter where you’re from or what hood you claim, or whatever.“
To Soulja Boy though, this is the goal with all of his singles. “When I first came onto the scene with ‘Crank That,’ we had ‘Crank That Batman,’ — a whole bunch of ‘Crank That’ songs out there. So with ‘Turn My Swag On,’ it was a similar situation. A lot of different people want to do their versions of it, ’cause it’s different and it sounds good. It’s something new, man. That’s what I intend to do. Any time I drop something, no matter what time it is, I always intend to drop something new and something catchy that everybody can adapt to.”
Stay tuned though, as Soulja Boy plans the official remix, when he says the present-club record becomes a priority after his more viable “Kiss Me Thru The Phone.” “I’m comin’ with an official remix, and I’m shootin’ a video to it very soon. Right now ‘Kiss Me Thru The Phone’ is like #1 ringtone in the country, #3 song on iTunes, and just broke the Billboard Hot 100 chart. So right after that, I’m gonna hit ’em right in they mouth with the official remix ‘Turn My Swag On.’ I’ve been getting heavy, heavy play in the clubs, in the hood. Although he celebrates the usage of his record, the young rapper and producer warns, “When I drop the official [remix], it’s gonna kill all the other ones.”
He continued, “Niggas gonna be lookin’ at Soulja Boy in a different light. I’m a hustler, and that’s what I do. I always intend to come with a trick up my sleeve.” Asked the inevitable guest lineup for the remix, the Soulja Boy would not reveal. “What I want to do is, I want to let everybody guess and wonder, and when the real, official version comes out, then y’all can holla at me.”
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As the voice of a younger generation of Hip Hop fans, Soulja Boy stated that his audience has been affected the economic recession. “The recession has hit hard. You’ve got rappers sayin’ that they haven’t been affected by the recession, they lyin’! Like me being in my position, and the numbers that I’ve put up in the early time in the game, and for me to have the success and revenue that I’ve made, I’m in a position where I’m financially stable. But, not speaking from my situation, speaking from the fans’ perspective who wants the Soulja Boy album but ain’t got the money, or who wants to see a Soulja Boy concert, but ain’t got the money for the tickets to come see me…yes, I have noticed [them affected]. It’s very noticeable.“
The Way family has also seen the impact of the economy. “I got a 17 year-old cousin, that just hit me up yesterday, asking me for $1,500 dollars. She said that she really, really needed it. You’ve got people that ask you for money; I’ve got certain types of people in my family that don’t want to ask for money, just because they don’t want to come off the strength of, ‘Oh, Soulja Boy made it; I’ll just ask him for money,’ but she’s been hitting me up on a serious note. I knew that it wasn’t a joke, ya dig?’ I came out the pocket, ya dig? It’s nothing for my family. But not just my family, [the recession is affecting] everybody.“
With record sales slumping and other entertainment ventures in question, Soulja Boy is focusing on digital technology like iPhone applications. “My first application went live on Valentine’s Day, the Kiss Me Thru The Phone iPhone App. What it lets you do is, it lets you kiss your iPhone and it sends the kiss through the iPhone to the person in your address book. So that’s one. That passed Lil Wayne‘s [iPhone] application [in sales] within the first week of being released.” This has been followed up with the Tell Em TV Application. “I get like a million people comin’ through my page a day,” he revealed, so the application serves as a one-stop to the artist’s Twitter updates, blogs, YouTube broadcasts and its own chat room.
Before leaving, Soulja Boy spoke on his tour plans for the warm weather season. The rapper admitted that his peers’ actions have halted his initial plans. “Right now, I’m doing a lot of different spot dates that I’m doing on the east coast and New York. Spring Bling, Cancun.” He continued, “My plans is really messed up right now, ’cause I can’t find no artist to come out. Right now, it ain’t really no hot artists. The perfect person for the tour would have been Bow Wow, but due to the situation going on, I don’t even know if that’s possible situation. Then the Chris Brown situation, [it hurt that].” Determined, SB believes there will be a tour, he just needs to find the talent, “We’re still putting that together.“
