A year ago, he couldn’t even get a call back. Now Soulja Boy  is producing for Kanye West.

Between dates on the “America’s Most Wanted Music Festival,” the 19-year-old rapper has been hitting the studio, crafting tracks for Mr. West’s fifth album. “I’m working on Kanye’s next album right now. We working together on production because he makes beats and I make beats,” Soulja Boy told Rap-Up. “Right now I’m remixing a couple of records for him.”

In return, ’Ye is also contributing some of his Grammy-winning material for Soulja Boy’s third LP The DeAndre Way. “I’m actually working on [Kanye's] album while he’s working on my album.”

West defended the “Crank That” MC when he came under attack from Ice-T last year. “Soulja Boy is fresh as hell and is actually the true meaning of what hip-hop is supposed to be,” he wrote in a blog entry. “He came from the ’hood, made his own beats, made up a new saying, new sound, and a new dance with one song. If that ain’t hip-hop, then what is?”