Quick, someone get Xiivi in here.
Thank you for the invitation. I guess it's time for me to explain some **** for you guys so you understand the world a little bit better.
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One of the main problems with DeAndre Way, or Soulja Boy Tell 'Em (his full stage name), comes from the on-going mislabeling of musical genres in the music industry today.
Time and time again, the music industry carelessly throws around genres based on whatever they feel like. It's truly haphazard nowadays. You'd be hard pressed to convince anyone paying attention Sean Kingston's "Fire Burning (On the Dancefloor)" or Flo Rida's "Sugar ft. Wynter Gordon" are Hip-Hop/Rap songs and not bubblegum pop songs.
So, back to our friend DeAndre. Mr. Way has provided us with quite a diverse set of albums actually. However, thanks to the case I mentioned before, you'll often see the entirety of these albums labeled as Hip-Hop/Rap. This is a terrible, terrible misuse of the whole genre system and comes from a few misconcepts that occur in the music industry today.
One being that all black people are incapable of creating music outside of the Hip Hop, Rap, and R&B genres. I don't know why everything attached to Flo Rida needs to be labeled as Rap simply because he sings his verses quickly. His 'rapping' is closer to Savage Garden than it is to Nas. That's for sure. And don't even get me started on how 3OH!3 somehow got labeled as an 'Alternative' band.
The second misconception is that all songs from a CD (and sometimes artist) MUST be of the same genre. You could put a demo track of LoveGame, Second Chance, and D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune) on the same CD sung by the same demo artist, and have it labeled the same genre for each song.
Well then, now that these have been explained, let's get back to Soulja Boy. One of the biggest complaints I see is that 'He's the cancer that's killing Hip-Hop & Rap!'. Well, that's because (while present) there is very little Hip-Hop and Rap found on his CDs.
A large majority of his music actually falls into the 'Snap' genre. One that finds stylistic orgins in both Hip-Hop and Disco. The music industry today was quick to toss this into the Hip-Hop/Rap category (anything that is Hip-Hop must also be Rap at the same time!) and run with it after hearing Crank That (Soulja Boy). I'd place Snap closer to Pop than I would Hip Hop even.
So this is where the problem emerges. The music industry is attempting to convince their audience that this is Hip-Hop/Rap and those who actually expect these genres will find the music an awful representation of the music they expect to listen to. However the majority of the populace does not have a strong affinity towards any single type of music (although many will try to convince you otherwise, they have wider tastes than they'd like to let on.), and will thus not pay attention to this and simply enjoy the song.
For those interested, the best representations of 'Snap' found on Soulja Boy's discs, SouljaBoyTellEm.com and iSouljaBoyTellEm, would come from the following tracks:
Crank That (Soulja Boy)
Snap and Roll
Let Me Get Em
Donk
Bird Walk
Gucci Bandana
Hey You There
Particularly Gucci Bandana, which is definitely Snap at its finest. Many won't be able to appreciate the song for what it is when they are walking in expecting a hot Hip Hop or Rap track. However, if you are open, you'll be able to enjoy the music for what it is.
Soulja Boy is not tied down to Snap alone although. He actually has a very diverse set of genres spread across his tracks. You'd have a hard time explaining to me a logical reason why Kiss Me Thru the Phone isn't a Pop song. He's ventured into that genre a few times (not to mention with Snap being close to the genre already):
Yahhh!
Kiss Me Thru the Phone
SouljaBoyTellem
However he has taken his stab at the Hip Hop and Rap genres, and the results aren't as bad as many would like to make (Do you know how many actual rappers have done their own remix of Turn My Swag On?). Here's some examples for you all:
I'm Bout Tha Stax (Intro)
Turn My Swag On
P.O.W.
He's even gone ahead and made a commendable stab at R&B with the track "Soulja Girl".
Overall, DeAndre still has a lot of room to grow. He's exploring his own ability and is hopeful of coming back stronger with The DeAndre Way after the poor reception of iSouljaBoyTellem (thanks to a poor move from the industry wanting to market him as a dance-craze artist by wasting time with Birdwalk instead of focusing on solid tracks such as Kiss Me Thru the Phone and Turn My Swag On).
There's your daily dose of Soulja Boy for ya'll.
you really have to break through the media bull**** but ive found real, good rap/hip hop easily on music on demand, certain radio stations, etc.