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Rapper Soulja Boy (DeAndre Cortez Way) broke into the rap game in 2007 with the record breaking release of "Crank That." It made history becoming the first single to sell 3 million digital copies. Since then, he’s released a number of projects but only charted on the Billboard 200 with his album, The DeAndre Way, back in 2010. He’s hoping to turn that all around with his new project Soulja Season. He chopped it up with iHeartRadio's Jazmyn Summers.
TELL US ABOUT THE NEW ALBUM?
Soulja: "New flows, new sounds.. We finna turn the club up, man. We getting up for the summertime. I got Tadoe on there. G$ Lil Ronnie. I think everybody is going to rock with the single 'Baby Bop.' A little snippet had got out there, it had leaked out and people went crazy. I think that's going to be an anthem."
WHAT'S YOUR VISION BEHIND IT?
Soulja: "I just felt like when I was in the studio cooking up that it's my time. I'm finna claim it right now. That's what inspired the name Soulja Season. I was like, man, it's my time to shine. I'm finna just pop out and claim it."
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YOU WENT IN ON LIL DURK AND NBA YOUNGBOY FOR ANNOUNCING THEY WERE RELEASING THEIR ALBUM THE SAME DAY AS YOURS (MAY 12TH). YOU POSTED "DROP THAT S### NEXT MONTH. MATTER OF FACT, DON'T EVEN DROP THAT S###. UNRELEASE THAT S###. TAKE THAT S### OFF iTUNES. Y’ALL N##### IN THA WAY." WHY DID YOU GO SO HARD?
Soulja: "When I rocked out and announced Soulja Season, we got other people dropping on it on my date in my season. I'm trying to get to the bottom of this, man. All I know is I announced my album first. I ain't see nobody say nothing about no music. You feel me? And as soon as I announced my album, now we got all these albums coming out. So, I'm just trying to see what's going on."
LIL DURK JUST ANNOUNCED HE IS PUSHING HIS ALBUM BACK TO MAY 26th.
Soulja Boy: "Shoutout Durk for pushing his album back. Real N****s. At the end of the day, man, I feel like it is competition, and competition is good. You know what I'm saying? At the end of the day, I’m going to let the music speak for itself, we gonna let the fans decide."
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CONGRATULATIONS. YOU RECENTLY BECAME A DADDY FOR THE FIRST TIME. HOW HAS THAT CHANGED YOU?
Soulja: "I've been enjoying it for sure, man. It's different. It's fun. I had a performance at the Clippers game halftime. I took him to that even tho he's still crawling around. He's not even walking yet."
ARE WE GOING TO SEE ANOTHER RAPPER ON THE COME UP. A BIG DRACO JR?
Souljah: "If he decides he want to rap, I ain't going to stop him. He already be singing little notes and stuff now. So, I think he's going to be into music for sure. He already got beats."
YOU'VE ALSO GOTTEN INTO THE FASHION GAME?
Soulja: "My clothing line is out right now, Souija Boy Apparel. I really wanted to come out with something, that resonates with the people. It stands for coming from nothing to something, no matter what. And it's been doing real good. Shout out to everybody that's been supporting it. I appreciate y'all. I feel like we spend all this money on Gucci. We spent all this money on Louis Vuitton. Where is the support for something that we come out with and we own. So, I just wanted to show my vision and present it to the people. I got to come out with my own drip."
Soulja Boy will be going on tour in August. You can catch the entire conversation on Jazmyn Summers YouTube May 13th and follow her @jaztalk1 on Instagram and Facebook.