Soulja Boy is widely recognized for his debut single ‘Crank That’ back in 2007 and a few other hits over the years. Given this, you may have asked yourself just how did Soulja Boy manage to achieve a net worth of $30 million?
Soulja boy is an American Rapper, Actor, Producer, and Business Mogul who has managed to sustain and enhance his career through various avenues. Here, you will find out how he has managed to achieve this.
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Early Life
Soulja Boy was born as DeAndre Cortez Way on the 28th of July 1990 in Chicago, Illinois. Way moved to Atlanta at the age of 6. It was here that he gained a heavy interest in Rap and Hip Hop. When he was 14, he moved in with his father and they lived in Batesville Mississippi.
His father really encouraged his passion for rap music, so he decided to provide a recording studio for DeAndre to encourage and enhance his pursuit of rap music.
Start the Rapping Journey by Posting Songs on Online Platforms
Unlike other early traditional rappers, Way gained fame and popularity from the internet in the early days instead of signing to a big record label first. His success inspired the following rappers that you can also make your name in the music industry through the internet.
Way began posting his video songs on Youtube after he started receiving positive reviews from posting his very first songs on Soundclick and Myspace back in November 2005. This then led to Way releasing his first independent album called ‘Unsigned & Still Major: Da Album Before The Album.
In March 2007, Way released his first mainstream single “Crank That”. That song was a massive hit. Many nightclubs and bars would play that song due to its high demands and requests. The ‘Soulja boy” dance was practiced and performed by all. After his success with “Crank That”, the hit received its first airplay. It was from this that Soulja managed to sign a deal with Interscope Records and Collipark Music.
The song “Crank That” did so well that it appeared on the HBO series ‘Entourage’ and by September, this single hit the No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. He was also nominated for a Grammy in that year, but lost out on it to Kayne West and T-Pain.
In this same year, Way’s first label album ‘Souljaboytellem.com’ was released on October 2nd in the US. This album managed to peak at number 4 on the Billboard 200 as well as the R&B/Hip-Hop album charts. “Crank That” managed to stay in the chart for an impressive 7 weeks and according to songfacts.com, “Crank That” was the most.
Other Albums
Soulja Boy released several albums afterward, but they were not successful as Souljaboytellem.com.
In 2008, Way then released the second album ‘iSouljaboytellem”. His hit single “Kiss Me Thru The Phone” featuring Sammie – this song managed to peak at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Also, the song “Bird Walk” ranked number 40 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
After this, he went on to release his album “The DeAndre Way” in 2010. He had various other albums including “ Loyalty” in 2015 which featured several artists including Gucci Mane, and Fuego in 2019.
Soulja Boy Net Worth 2023
Soulja Boy has an estimated net worth of roughly $30 million as of 2023. Most of his earnings came from his hit “Crank That”. That song itself made a lot of money through ringtone downloads, and advertisement instrumental uses.
He has also appeared on several TV shows including the hit show ‘Love and Hip Hop Hollywood” in which he was a cast member and received a good payout for this. He has released over 25 albums throughout his career.
His popularity made him enter into endorsement, record producing, acting, and fashion fields. These additional ventures contributed a lot of amounts to his wealth.
- He has owned the record label Stacks on Deck Entertainment (SODMG) since 2004.
- Way also started his own gaming console back in 2019. However, the deal got cancelled. In 2016, he expressed on instagram that he signed an endorsement contract for a major deal worth over $400 Million with World Poker holdings which was to last for 5 years.
- Way had his face tattoos removed back in 2019 in order to help him with his acting career. He has appeared in several films since.
- Way created his very own soap company which saw profits soar – especially during the pandemic. Soulja Boy told The Breakfast Club “It’s just different businesses … once you get into the music industry, you know, branch out, do different stuff like try different things. Try different business ventures”.
- Way created his own fashion line called ‘S.O.D Clothing’ and then later on created another Fashion Line called ‘Yums’ sneakers and then went onto create another clothing brand called ‘Ocean Gang’, ‘BLVD. Supply’ and the footwear line, ‘Soulja Stars’.
What Can We Learn From Soulja Boy
Do Not Just Put Your Eggs In One Basket
Soulja Boy currently has 6.9million followers on Instagram. People follow him for a reason. He is very charismatic and entertaining. You will repeatedly see Soulja Boy on Instagram having various arguments with different rappers and celebrities and constantly commenting in The Shade Room’s posts claiming to be the first rapper to do this and do that.
Stripping all of this humor away lies a very intelligent businessman. He knows how to maneuver his strategies to make more and more money.
For instance, his song ‘She Make It Clap’ was used continuously on TikTok. The rap style in this song is not like his normal flow of rapping however, he jumped on a rap trend and capitalized on it. We can also see this with all the business ventures he has jumped into.
Although initially, he was heavily criticized for his rap style by the Old School rappers such as Ice-T and Snoop Dogg for making what they may refer to as ‘bubblegum hip hop’, he never let that stop him, he continued to make hit after hit.
Always Seek An Opportunity
Just based again on what was previously written; regardless of all the legal issues Soulja Boy had; and the fact that he has been burgled; all the online feuds he has had with even rappers like Kayne West; he always uses every opportunity that comes his way albeit it negative to enhance his financial gain. We can learn to turn every negative situation into a positive one.
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