Can’t say that I’ve been paying much attention to Soulja Boy. Except I see him every day on my way home. That is, the poster advertising his album is wild posted on my corner. I have to admit that I dismissed him as yet another flash in the pan, teen hip hop act. But then I read this from the Daily News’ Jim Farber:
Yes, it’s all crude and super-simple, something you might say any
16-year-old with enough drive and time on his hands could do. It also
borrows plenty from the low-end crunk and snap trends. But listen to
the special hardness of his synth lines, the invention of his beats and
the reductive catchiness of his raps. In those elements, Soulja lands
closer to sonic pioneers like Kraftwerk (for his synthetic ingenuity),
Philip Glass (for his minimalism) and the Neptunes (for their faith in
inventive noise hooks).
So, at the very least, I have to investigate. With over 450,000 friends on MySpace and over 925,000 views of his video on Youtube, there’s something going on here. Is he just a flash in the pan? Universal Music Group hopes not, but we’ll have to wait and see.
In the meantime, here’s the video for your viewing and pop cultural pleasure:
