The Story Of Soulja Boy

The multi-platinum artist behind the 2001 mega-hit “Crank Dat” is no stranger to controversy, having been a party to and created plenty of it with his bold statements over the years.

His most recent interview is no exception, with Soulja boldly proclaiming: “I made every beat and went platinum, you see what I’m sayin’? I made these rappers wanna produce their songs. I introduced FL Studios. I introduced Fruity Loops to the culture”. 

Continuing: “I’m the best producer of all time. They try to discredit me and suppress me because I’m a great, I’m a legend. I don’t know why. They never seen nothing like it before”.

While this is another classic overstatement by the now seasoned industry veteran, there is a degree of truth to his braggadocious words. The infamous story goes something like this:

A young 16 year old artist by the name of DeAndre Way self-recorded and entirely self-produced his major label debut album, Souljaboytellem.com, reportedly only using a demo version of FL Studio (formerly known as FruityLoops prior to 2003) digital audio workstation software.

Soulja explains it like this in his signature self-complementary style: “I pulled out a laptop in the studio and hooked it up to a quarter-inch and put it through the speakers. They didn’t know what the fuck I was doing. The record labels were looking at me like I was crazy. They was like, ‘Where the shit at? What the fuck? He finna make a beat on a laptop? What the fuck is going on here?’ Yes, n***a. That’s how I went platinum”.

Did Soulja Boy introduce the world to this production style or did he first learn it from another producer/artist and is simply the one to bring it into the mainstream?