Say what you want about Soulja Boy, he’s a living legend who paved the way for today’s digital-driven industry that relies heavily on star appeal, notoriety and popularity over substance.
If you lived through the Snap era, you know just how influential Mr. Boy was in his prime where he earned his first Grammy nomination at only 18 for iconic game-changer “Crank That (Soulja Boy).”
He also pretty much invented FaceTime with his “Kiss Me Thru The Phone” wave, inspired a generation of creators to self-publish their content and curated an entire musical subgenre heavily sampled by mainstream artists like Beyoncé.
So yes, he’s absolutely correct about changing the whole music industry that still owes him his flowers.
“I was the first artist on social media. I was the first artist on YouTube. These record labels set their blueprint behind me. I’m the reason why they’re streaming right now,” he said in his CLASSIC Breakfast Club interview. “When I first came out, they said Hip-Hop was dead. They said I killed Hip-Hop.”
Snoop Dogg, all the OGs were like, ‘What is this bulls—?'” he continued. “Now, look at everybody. They love the new generation. I had to take them bullets. Everybody doing what I did. They laughed at me… And now they doing exactly what I did.
“Y’all should thank me. Every artist in the game, all y’all record labels, y’all owe me five percent, bro. Y’all all owe me a percentage.”
Do you agree that Soulja Boy changed the whole music industry? Tell us in the comments and peep the Twitter reactions to his now viral tweet on the flip.
