Soulja Boy = Smartest Dummy in "Dance-Hop"

Yes I know, there's a lot I need to explain.

First, check out Soulja Boy's (Tell Em) latest song, "Bird Walk" (spotted at Notes From a Different Kitchen).



Shyt sandwich, I know.

But, what I also know is that by Christmas grown-azz people all over the country will be in the grown-azz club doing this friggin' dance. Not to mention at weddings, funeral repasts, bah mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, birthday parties, on your favorite cruise line, and any other place a daggon line dance can happen at any given time.

Lots of people my age (and older) hate on Soulja Boy, including me from time-to-time. But some of it is most definitely warranted. At the same time I actually have a little bit more respect for Soulja Boy than one might assume. Depending on your age and mindset Soulja Boy can come across as a walking minstrel show, a kid just making up fun dances, a "rap star" (lol), or another n-word looking like a fool (among other things).

But regardless of how I feel about Soulja Boy's music, I respect this kid's hustle. Soulja Boy created a song (as in actually produced the song...Read: made the beat) and a dance to go along with it to boot. Most rappers call themselves artists but could not produce or write a full song without an outside producer. And let's not even talk about arranging a complete song with some someone assisting them. I am not saying Soulja Boy is Beethoven or Kenneth Edmonds but the kid took Fruity Loops and made an undeniably catchy dance song. No it's not lyrical and yes it's crass. But yet-and-still, he came up with the idea himself and he was/is his best promotion with his YouTube videos and outspokenness. And on top of that he happened to pick one sub-genre of music that tends to have long-lasting hits, line dances. The electric slide, booty call, cupid shuffle, and cha cha slide will be getting rotation for the next 50 years. And just in case people don't want to remember, these dances associated with a particular artist or group have long been a part of hip-hop. Remember Kid-N-Play? Remember the Running Man? I could go on, but you get my point.

While Soulja's dance songs may not see a test of time quite as long as other traditionally and universally accepted line dance songs, he'll at least have a 5 year run off these songs and he'll probably make enough money to go to school and stop being so d@mn ignorant (yes I know he probably won't take his money and go to school). Speaking of money, he allegedly has a deal with YouTube where he gets $0.15 for each comment on his YouTube channel. I don't know if any other artist has leveraged the YouTube Partners program to a larger extent but Soulja Boy sure isn't bashful about letting you know he sure uses it. And with all these other rappers starting their own social networking websites and presumably bringing in no direct income from them, I think Soulja Boy might be onto something.

I say all this to say that you might not like Soulja Boy's music and you may not like Soulja Boy. But you've got to give him at least a smidgeon of credit for making his own way. If that ain't hip-hop, I don't know what is. If you want to be mad at somebody for Soulja Boy's music, be mad at his parents (where the hell are they) and be mad at the record labels putting out songs by teenagers that refer to stuff like this.

P.S. - I dedicate this post to K, who pretty much hates Soulja Boy and everything about him.