now, bear with me.
Check it, right, I was online one day after work, and I don't know how, or why, but I found my way to Soulja Boy's myspace page.
edit: one of his boys added me or something.
So, I was browsing and noticed 2 things..
a) that he was gonna be in Phoenix on the VERY SAME DAY that I was looking at the page, and in like 2 hours, at a school that was literally a mile from my house, where I was already going to watch one of my students from last year play football.
b) that he leaves his Sidekick 2 way address right on the page for his fans to email him.
Now, me being super curious, I 2way the kid..I figure it won't cost me a thing, and I was gonna be there anyway. so what the heck.
this is the conversation:
r*********s@tmail.com: what up. see you over at the school. Making any other stops in AZ?
Now, I didn't expect anything, I mean, the guy's page has 17 MILLION (yes, MILLION) hits on it, so he's gotta get sidekick messages like every..3 seconds at least.
but 10 minutes later...my sidekick alert goes off....new message!
souljaboytellem@tmail.com: pheonix (sic) college.
now granted, a few more trips to Geography class wouldn't hurt.... but hey, anyone can mess up on the spelling of Phoenix! right?
But the fact of the matter is, he took the time to type that message.
and if i was a little younger and more impressionable, I would've been on my way to BesT Buy, coppin that Soulja Boy Tellem.
dude is the epitome of the 21st century version of the American Dream... you MAKE yourself what you want to become.
you might know the story, might not...
dude makes beats at home on Fruity Loops , posts them on SoundClick. creates a catchy song that youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu mightve heard a few hundred times TODAY, and creates a video with dance moves and posts it to the 'net. a few hundred thousand hits later, record exec chases him down and signs him....sells a million ringtones before an album drops, and here we are.
He personally reaches out to his fans, giving them a personal connection that's never been seen on the mainstream level.
Record sales are down, and he knows it, so he goes the extra mile to reach out, I ain't mad at him.
hes even got a contest..the fan who buys the MOST copies of his album earns a spot on his top friends list FOREVER!!!!
so get your pictures in :)
man, I wish I worked at Best Buy so I could just pose with the whole shipment of CDs.
love it or hate it: This is the next level of music marketing.
now only time will tell if Soulja Boy becomes today's MC Hammer, or "Crank Dat" becomes the next Macarena,
(voted 1 one-hit wonder of all-time) or the guy that we'll always mention when it comes to DIY musicians...
But for right now, DeAndre Cortez Way is A-OK with me. He's having fun...don't take him seriously and you'll be OK too.
I'd rather hear a 17 year-old super-soakin' than much worse things, that's for sure.
and he doesn't seem to be a total doofus like the song lyrics may suggest, as he knows a lot about what the people want.
so, for the time being... Crank Dat... responsibly.
and enjoy some show footage from last night.
peep the 'shortest mic cord ever'
*sigh*
