You would have to be on Mars to not have heard of Soljah Boy Tell ‘Em. You would have to be blind to have never seen any of the kids doing the dance and you definitely have to be either lame or old as hell to have never heard Crank Dat. The dance phenomenon that is Crank Dat is taking over the country. So much so that even super stars like Beyonce and old heads like Samuel Jackson are doing it. Yeah, we see a lot of people doing the dance but we really do not know much about the man behind the dance. Soljah Boy Tell ‘Em bounced on the scene and immediately erupted without warning. Some people are feeling him and some people wanna know when his five minutes are going to be over. Either way, you gotta join the movement. Why? Because Soulja Boy Told you so.

Sixshot.com: How did you and Colli Park meet?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: Before I was out he heard a single from me and he looked at my myspace and I was like 10 million strong and he thought it was fake so he was asking everybody about me. They was like yeah we know him. So then my contact info was on my myspace so he hit me up and he signed me that same week.

Sixshot.com: You’re a young dude, what was that like being asked to sign a record deal?  Was it like a world wind? Did everything happen real fast?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: Yeah, I was like wow. He came down to my house to sign me and then a couple of weeks later I got my deal with Int erscope. Then we shot the video. Everything clicked.

Sixshot.com: How long have you been involved in music?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: I been producing for like three years. I been rapping for three years. I produce my own beats.

Sixshot.com: I heard you do your own beats. How did it happen? You have a hit now with Crank Dat.
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: My cousin he gave me a program that was on PC for recording and making beats. I was fooling around with it. My partner in Atlanta taught me how to do beats. After that I kept doing it and getting better and better.
 
Sixshot.com: Were you in a group called 30/30?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: Yeah

Sixshot.com: What happen with that?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: We still together. My partner Arab, we just don’t call ourselves that anymore. He my hype man on the road right now. We made a CD together called 30/30 Boys.  He got a feature on my album. It drops October 2nd.  We like best friends so…
 
Sixshot.com: What’s the name of the album coming out October 2nd?
Soljah Boy: Soljah Boy Tell Em’.com. I produced my whole album.

Sixshot.com: You have any features?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: Yeah, Hurricane Chris, Sean Kingston, we did mostly in house though like Arab.

Sixshot.com: How did you come up with your name?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: My momma gave me that name. That’s what I was saying on the beginning of all of my songs.
 
Sixshot.com: Why were you saying that on all of your songs?
Soljah Boy: I’m telling everybody to listen to me.  So it’s like every time my song comes on, “Soljah Boy Tell Em”.

Sixshot.com: (laughing) Okay. You know Beyonce is doing your dance on tour? She has included it in her show. How does that make you feel when you hear something like that?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: I was like Wow. She doing it on every show. I saw Samuel L. Jackson doing it. I was like Whoa!

Sixshot.com: How do you feel when you see a world wide star like Beyonce doing your dance?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: It just shows me that they joining the movement. I feel like they showing love and that’s what’s up.

Sixshot.com: How did you come up with the dance?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: The dance is half and half. The little two steps with the lean with it is from the Franchise Boys. The yool, I been doing that for a while. Shout out to Franchise Boys. Right now it’s a movement. Everybody doing the dance.
Sixshot.com: You got people here in Chicago doing this dance. You really are world wide.
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: I’m ten million strong. My fans behind me. When I do a concert and people know the dance, it’s crazy.

Sixshot.com: One part of the song you say this line. The line is “Yool”. What does that mean?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: That’s a word that comes from Atlanta. We been saying that a long time. It’s spelled y-u-u-a-a. If you see something tight. You see a fresh car on some 24’s then its Yuuaa!
 
Sixshot.com: Okay, is that like Aye Bay Bay?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: Nah.
 
Sixshot.com: How is it different?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: It’s very different. It’s like if you see Michael Jordan dunking a basket then right when he dunk it’s like “Ah…..Yuuaa!” After you see him dunk it then it’s like “Aye Bay Bay”.
 
Sixshot.com: Is the album all party tracks?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: No, no, no. I got like real serious tracks that touch on serious things. I got a couple of party tracks. The album has various content on it.

Sixshot.com: What kind of serious topics are you touching on?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: People who don’t take me seriously. Who think of me as the dancing dude. Who try to label me. The track is called Don’t Get Mad. When you hear the song, it is crazy.
 
Sixshot.com: What do you think you are going to contribute to hip-hop?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: It’s a new generation of hip-hop. Once it comes out it is going to take over. You see my single is taking over. The second single is going to be ten times bigger than that?
 
Sixshot.com: You say you have been rapping since you were eight right? What were you rapping about then? Who got you started with rap?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: I would be rapping about going to the store or school.
 
Sixshot.com: Who got you started? Did you have any brothers or cousins that were rapping around you?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: Nah, I’m the oldest in my family.

Sixshot.com: Who do you listen to?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: I like Lil’ Boosie, I like Gucci Mane, Kanye West. I like Lil Wayne.

Sixshot.com: Anybody in R and B you want to work with?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: Nah, cause I worked with who I want to work with. Sean Kingston. We got a hit on our hands and it is going to be crazy.

Sixshot.com: All of these people in R and B and you don’t wanna work with anybody?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: Nah, not nobody that I can think of.£

Sixshot.com: What is the second single going to be?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: The second official single is going to be “Yah”. But we just shot my video for Snap and Roll/Let Me Get Em. Its two songs in one. This the underground single that’s going to be bubbling under the official second single. The second single is going to be crazy.

Sixshot.com: You sound real confident about this second single. Why is that?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: I’m confident in everything I do. Even before the deal. The second single is going to be ten times bigger than Crank Dat. We got Chris Brown doing it, Bow Wow, Beyonce, Remy Ma, Keyshia Cole.

Sixshot.com: Is there a dance with the second single also?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: No, there is no dance included but there is a phrase that everyone will be saying.

Sixshot.com: Last question. Why hip-hop?
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: It’s the new generation of hip-hop. I’m a part of it. Everybody gotta go get the album on October 2nd. I wanna tell everybody to hit me up on myspace.com. It’s the next generation of hip-hop and we taking over this year and Arab coming in 2008.

By: La’Juanda Knight