Soulja Boy has said “YAHHH TRICK YAHHH” to his 21 & Under Tour–which also featured Lil Mama and Tiffany Evans–so the ringtone rapper can “work on his new album,” or so his people claim. More »
By now you’ve probably heard the story of the 12-year-old kid who tried to kill Soulja Boy by throwing a rock through his tour bus when it was parked outside a hotel in Bloomington, Ill., and how, when confronted by the police about his crime, the rascal simply replied “I hate Soulja Boy.” Instead of the finger-wagging and “what about the children” mau-mauing that a crime incorporating both vandalism and a preteen’s murderous impulses might normally attract from a Web site’s comments section, this news elicited quite a few “go on, get ‘im!” responses from readers of the local paper:
Do you want to write a song as catchy as Soulja Boy’s “Crank That,” one that will lead you to a life of making YouTube dance-lesson videos, being chased around by mini-yous, and helming sneaker lines from the comfort of your own bedroom? More »
So Soulja Boy’s personal line of kicks are going to be called Yums, which is appropriate since the colors they’re available in are bright hues that bring to mind Sour Patch Kids, Trix, and other sugar-covered things that are really bad for your teeth and well-being. But! More »
Soulja Boy! He’s popular. Well, he sells singles. Not so much albums. But a lot of singles! So many singles. And YouTube hits. He attracts the YouTube hits. All related to a dance. A dance you may have heard, seen, or tried to do yourself! You’d think at this point there’s not a single thing left to be said about Soulja Boy and the mini-trend of choreographed toe-tapping that he’s sparked among aspiring popular musicians, one that’s profitable for labels for the moment but not a particularly safe long term bet for reversing dipping sales. And you’d be right! Yet that fact has not stopped the Wall Street Journal from devoting many hundreds of words to recapping the tale of Soulja Boy. He’s divisive! He’s reopened the generation gap! He’s given MC Hammer a reason to go on! And yet despite its rehashery, the WSJ‘s story does raise one important, semi-new, mostly implied question: Would rock bands be improved by their own dance routines? Is there room in indie for cranking that James Murphy?
Yes, that’s right–Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET is when our live coverage of the Grammys, which will be filled with the walking dead and the incredibly awkward, begins. It’ll be my first liveblog from my four-person orange couch! Here’s the nominee list, so you can read up on who’s in, who’s out, and who’s up for Best Polka Album. And to get you even more excited for Sunday, here are a few final news items on the show, presented in handy bullet form:
In August, Soulja Boy made this offer: “Whoever Buys The Most Albums and take a picture and proove how many copies they bought and upload it and post a comment on my page or email the picture to souljaboytellem@tmail.com Will Win A Spot on my TOP FRIENDS FOREVER! You will never get taken down!!!” More »
Dear Soulja Boy, I’m sorry if my initial post on your new single “Yahh” seemed somewhat dismissive. Over the last week I have come to understand it is actually the first great song of 2008. More »
On the one hand, Soulja Boy’s joy-sapping combo of viciously unengaging monotone flow and viciously amelodic Nth-gen snap synths reaches an irritating/inspid peak on the new “Yahhh!” More »
Sure, we’re ten days into the new year, and the music year just passed has been covered in every imaginable manner, but have we heard the contributions of the true driving force in the music industry? The consumers who are keeping the leaky ship afloat? The voice of those people has been heard… through the announcement of Verizon’s top ten ringtones for 2007. The list (which is, curiously, arranged in alphabetical order) after the jump, but for now a few thoughts.
THE GOOD: I suppose the good news depends on your opinion of one-hit-wonder rap hits of the past year (Hurricane Chris, Sean Kingston, Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em). Maybe the good news is that there’s only one Fergie song on there, and it isn’t “Big Girls Don’t Cry (Personal).”
THE BAD: “The Way I Live” by Baby Boy Da Prince, and of course, Fergie.
THE WHAAAA? With Interscope announcing that Soulja Boy hit the three-million mark in ringtones, yet had only just reached gold status as far as actual album sales, it nearly makes my head hurt to think of where the music business is going from here, or if anyone will actually be releasing songs that last more than 30 seconds by this time next year.
