Spring Break
Soulja Boy delivers surprisingly solid sophomore effort
Nat Tingley
Issue date: 1/28/09 Section: Entertainment
01/28/09 - In addition to being the same day that rappers Kaine (of the Ying Yang Twins) and Flo Rida were born, December 16 yielded yet another milestone in hip -hop with the release of Soulja Boy Tell 'Em's second album entitled "iSouljaBoyTellEm."
I say milestone because, whether you like his music or not, Soulja Boy is one of the youngest rappers in the game and definitely one of the most successful. His debut album, "souljaboytellem.com," was an instant hit with songs such as "Crank That," which was the number one song on Billboard's Hot 100 for seven weeks and inspired thousands of kids to record themselves performing the dance that went hand in hand with the song, and "Bapes," which no doubt skyrocketed Bathing Ape's stock in 2007.
Just like any album that follows an album that was incredibly popular, "iSouljaBoyTellEm" had a great deal to prove and live up to. Soulja Boy, now 18 years old, had to really work hard to make this next album at least on par with the last so that he could maintain his credibility as a rapper and musician and to let the world know that he wasn't just a flash in the pan.
Right away my initial reaction after hearing the first 20 seconds of the CD was that this album had far better production values than the first. His debut album sounded much more raw and significantly less refined than this new release. I could definitely tell that more time and money had been put into this CD, which is always a good thing.
Soulja Boy's style of rap originates from the southern part of the United States, specifically Atlanta, and is fairly new relative to rap from New York and LA. It is known in the industry as Snap or Trap music, although many will say that the two are in all respects different.
Whatever one decides to call it, the music is characterized by a beat consisting of deep bass, a plethora of different percussion instruments and, most importantly, a human produced snap. This coupled with a repetitive hook makes up this increasingly popular form of hip-hop.
I say milestone because, whether you like his music or not, Soulja Boy is one of the youngest rappers in the game and definitely one of the most successful. His debut album, "souljaboytellem.com," was an instant hit with songs such as "Crank That," which was the number one song on Billboard's Hot 100 for seven weeks and inspired thousands of kids to record themselves performing the dance that went hand in hand with the song, and "Bapes," which no doubt skyrocketed Bathing Ape's stock in 2007.
Just like any album that follows an album that was incredibly popular, "iSouljaBoyTellEm" had a great deal to prove and live up to. Soulja Boy, now 18 years old, had to really work hard to make this next album at least on par with the last so that he could maintain his credibility as a rapper and musician and to let the world know that he wasn't just a flash in the pan.
Right away my initial reaction after hearing the first 20 seconds of the CD was that this album had far better production values than the first. His debut album sounded much more raw and significantly less refined than this new release. I could definitely tell that more time and money had been put into this CD, which is always a good thing.
Soulja Boy's style of rap originates from the southern part of the United States, specifically Atlanta, and is fairly new relative to rap from New York and LA. It is known in the industry as Snap or Trap music, although many will say that the two are in all respects different.
Whatever one decides to call it, the music is characterized by a beat consisting of deep bass, a plethora of different percussion instruments and, most importantly, a human produced snap. This coupled with a repetitive hook makes up this increasingly popular form of hip-hop.
