At 17 most kids are enjoying their last summer before they have to either head off to college or the workforce. By that age Soulja Boy has had a platinum plaque under his belt and five million ringtones sold. Not bad for a kid who’s turning 18 next week.

Despite having produced nearly his entire album as well as churning out hit records Soulja Boy has had a constant stream of insults hurled at him from being called a one-hit wonder, to some older MC’s throwing some very disparaging remarks at him. Have the insults distracted him? Not at all.

He’s got his second album coming out, a new shoe deal with YUMS, and a cartoon ready to drop. In addition to that he’s also crafting beats for Bow Wow, Twista, and others. The haters must be fuming because it looks like Soulja Boy is here to stay.

Sixshot.com caught up with Soulja Boy to discuss his new shoe deal, his upcoming cartoon, and his sophomore album

The first thing I wanted to ask you about was your new sneaker deal with YUMS. How did that come about?

The YUMS deal was crazy. I was on the Chris Brown tour with Bow Wow and Chris obviously. We were in Dallas, Texas and I was doing the “My Dougie” remix with Lil’ Will and they were wearing Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. ONG>YUMS stuff. I asked them where they got the stuff at and they put me in contact with dude, the owner of the company while I was down there. They chopped it up and we did the deal, that’s it. YUMS is blowin’ up now. In 6 months to a year YUMS is gonna be taking over everything, real talk.

No doubt, so what have you been up to in terms of music?

We got the new song out. It’s in heavy rotation Down South in the clubs. We shot the video to it and it’s on MTV. I’m working on the second album. I’m just about through, we got about 35 tracks. I’m really just gonna keep doing records and just pick the best ones. I was just with Polow Da Don finishing the first single up. My first single off my second album is so crazy man. When it comes out it’s just gonna automatically take over everything.

Absolutely, so did you produce on this album as well?

The first album I produced like ninety percent of the album. For this album I decided to get some different experiences and try out some different producers for this one. I wanted to see how I would sound on some collaborations because on the first album I didn’t collaborate with anybody. I can’t wait until it drops man. It’s gonna take over. My first album went platinum, triple platinum off “Crank Dat”, and 5 million ringtones. This album I wanna  double them numbers. I can do it too with the first single that I got plus the album to back it up.

Would you say this album is a lot different from the first?

With this album you can hear the growth in Soulja Boy. You know how you can see when a football player is getting better and things are getting better and changing. You could hear it on this album. You can hear that the production is on another level. That’s why I be leaking the music out to the fans because I get that feedback on it. I even leak it out to people who don’t like my music to get they feedback on it because when the haters start saying that Soulja Boy has grown that means I got my fans plus the haters are becoming fans. That equals more sales and I can’t wait until it drops.

When people mention the younger generation of artists, you’re always one of the first names that comes up. Do you feel a lot of pressure in that position where you’re automatically gonna be the center of discussion on a whole generation of artists?

Yeah man, I’m just it, I’m it. I’m the one who’s making the most noise. I got the shoe deal, the cartoon deal, and the album dropping so I got a lot going on. The album went platinum. I’m making a lot of moves, traveling across the world on tour. I been to Japan, Canada, I been all over. I’m making so much noise that I’m always the first one to come up in everybody’s conversation. Everybody sees me because there’s so many fan site, blogs, and gossip. It’s always Soulja Boy, Soulja Boy.

Yeah I wanted to ask you about the cartoon. What’s good with that?

The cartoon is gonna be crazy man. I wanted to go in there and do something original. I didn’t just wanna do something like The Boondocks, The Simpsons, or Family Guy. What I came up with is it’s gonna be cartoons living in the real world. The concept of the cartoon is basically about a teenage rap star, which is me who still has to go to school, and still gotta make good grades. It’s gonna be crazy man.

You mentioned the gossip and the blogs and everything. And one of the things that’s been happening is some of the older dudes in the game are mentioning your name in a negative way. Why do you think that is?

Because I’m on top and dudes don’t know me. I’m this new dude, young, from the South and I’m on top and making a lot of noise. Everybody is entitled to their opinion and everything but rappers that don’t know me should just really keep my name out of their mouth. Leave ma alone and worry about what you do. Keep it away from Soulja Boy because you don’t know me at all.

Like you said, you worked with a lot of different producers on this album that’s coming up. Being that you produced almost the whole first album was this like a completely different experience for you?

This album just felt good. I would go in the studio, hear a song and fall in love with it. This album is just about making good music. It’s all about giving the fans what they want. It’s like a rule that if you drop a hot first album and then a wack second album, you’re done. If you come out with a hot number two, then you could drop number three and just keep the series going. That’s basically what it is, living up to the hype.

So what was it like in the studio with dudes like Polow Da Don?

It was crazy. It was like a different ride. Usually the process was me sitting at home on the computer making the beat then going in to record and doing it all by myself. This time it was telling the producer what you like and listening to him play you tracks. It’s a whole different process from what I’m used to.

Now you got the cartoon, you got the shoes, is there anything else outside of the music that you’re looking to get into?

I was actually supposed to be in a movie last year when I first came out but it would have taken up too much of my schedule. I wouldn’t have been able to tour to promote my first album. It would have even taken up time for recording the second album. I didn’t wanna give up too much just to do one project. I would rather do several projects at once instead of doing just one project and closing out everything else. So instead of the movie I did the shoe deal and the cartoon and I finished up my second album. I gotta keep my schedule balanced so I still have time to chill too.

So will we see you acting in the future?

Yeah that’s definitely gonna pop off. I think right after the second album I’ll be able to get into that. Soulja Boy on the big screen you will definitely see that, that’s a promise.

You, Chris Brown, and Bow Wow have millions of fans. What is the atmosphere like when you guys tour together?

The atmosphere is crazy because you see all the Soulja Boy fans, all the Chris Brown fans, and all the Bow Wow fans all in one big football arena and it’s just a crazy response. You see the actual reality of damn a lot of people are into my music.

Alright bro, give us the rundown on everything we should be looking out for from Soulja Boy.

You could pick up the YUMS now and the actual Soulja Boy shoe is releasing in November. The Soulja Boy album is releasing in late October or early November. The cartoon is coming out late November or early December. Also I’m turning 18 next week on July 28th and we’re doing a huge mansion slash pool party. We’re gonna have celebrity performances, red carpet, all of that.

I got the mixtape and there’s gonna be songs from the album on the mixtape so you could go to Dat Piff or any mixtape site and just type in Soulja Boy. It’s called Soulja Boy day. The album is called I Soulja Boy. You could look out for Bow Wow’s first single called “Marco Polo”, I produced that song. You could also look out for me producing for Hot Stylz. Their second single that I’m producing is gonna be crazy. I’m also workin’ on Twista’s project. I’m doing beats for him right now. That’s it man, ya’ll about to get Soulja Boy fever in a minute man.

Alright man, anything you want to say to your fans out there?

Check me out at Souljaboytellem.Com. Read my blog. I’m always blogging about different things. Get ready for the movement and get ready for me to take back over. Lil Wayne was in the way man. He was too hot but now I’m coming right back at ya. (Laughs)