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Scoring a number 1 hit with Crank That, will Soulja Boy's album be equally catchy and entertaining? Or will he be doomed as a one hit wonder?

Soulja Boy at the age of 17 is releasing his debut album in a joint venture between Interscope and Collipark Music. After putting out many songs on the Internet (particularly through MySpace), Soulja Boy has managed to create a decent amount of buzz for himself. You can also see that most of his videos (for both singles and miscellaneous footage) have reached over 1 million views on YouTube.

With a number 1 hit already under his belt, will Souljaboytellem.com be simply another one hit wonder like MIMS, Yung Joc and Rich Boy? Or, will this youngster from the South show us some talent beyond the standard ring tone rap flooding the market today?



Tracks

1. Intro
2. Crank That (Soulja Boy)
3. Sidekick
4. Snap And Roll
5. Bapes Ft. Arab
6. Let Me Get ‘Em
7. Donk
8. Yahhh! Ft. Arab
9. Pass It To Arab Ft. Arab
10. Soulja Girl Ft. I-15
11. Booty Meat
12. Report Card
13. She Thirsty
14. Don’t Get Mad

Soulja Boy despite his young age, actually produces 10 of the 14 tracks on the album. Clocking in at just under 50 minutes, the album is thankfully not a chore to listen to in that sense and Soulja Boy does show some signs of youthful enthusiasm.

After the Intro which comes off as a tribute to Pinky And The Brain the album starts with Crank That (Soulja Boy) which was the official first single off the album. The production is catchy and keeping in mind it's one of the tracks he produced himself, it’s good to see someone his age wanting to be involved with their career to this extent. Lyrically, it’s nothing special and the frequent “YOU!!!!!!” and “OH!!!!!” that seem to end every other bar can get a little annoying but it's undeniably catchy and would be quite popular in clubs or at parties. There’s also an accompanying dance and, to pay respect where it’s due, the dance, whilst looking a bit ridiculous, is a bit more complicated than your traditional snap dancing.

We move on to Sidekick which is a song, well, about his new Sidekick he’s just bought. The hook like many on the album is extremely repetitive and the beat provided by Mr. Collipark isn’t terribly appealing but this is where things are a little interesting.

Being only 17, achieving this kind of success (we’ll say success as according to Soulja Boy when he appeared on BET, there’s been lots of pre-orders for his album), it’s understandable that someone who has literally gotten famous overnight would be excited about the opportunities this presents. You can sense this type of enthusiasm in songs like Sidekick and Bapes for his new found success.

The next track is Snap And Roll and features an absolutely horrible beat. The synthesizer is incredibly whiny and of eardrum piercing strength and puts you off completely. The song, despite the awful beat, isn’t that good either as it features another repetitive hook and yet another song about dancing.

The problem with the hooks is that they’re virtually all the same. Most every song is:

“Phrase for title of song” repeat x4
“One line answer”

Then the hook is repeated again.

The next song, Bapes, features Arab who I’ve never heard of before and doesn’t exactly add much to the song so you’re not missing out on much if you skip it. The song is about finally being able to buy some Bapes and once again shows that youthful enthusiasm at being able to do such a thing, yet the execution is carried out poorly. Whilst some rappers can get away with a lack of subject matter by being extremely charismatic (Juelz Santana and Young Jeezy are two names that come to mind), Soulja Boy unfortunately does not posses such charisma and is even more unfortunate to be stuck with a very pronounced Southern drawl.

Donk is about a woman’s rear-end and is another completely skip-worthy song as the youthful enthusiasm in this case, becomes immature posturing.

I don’t know if it’s having listened to the previous six songs in a row, but Yahhh! with Arab is hilarious. The song is about getting rid of groupies and fans that get in your face when you become famous by, rather than asking them to go away, screaming YAHH at them. The thing which makes it so funny is the fact that, I think it’s Arab, screams YAHH YAHH in the chorus as ‘fans’ approach Soulja Boy and Arab for autographs, high-fives or handshakes. Really, if you listen to one track on this album, make it this one, as picturing Mr. Collipark, Soulja Boy and Arab screaming YAHH YAHH at people is pretty damn funny. ESPECIALLY their Mr. Collipark impression as it sounds like the man is having a verbal seizure of sorts.

Pass To Arab features, funnily enough, Arab and is produced by him as well. The chorus is:

Pass to, pass to, pass to, pass to Arab
I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m, I’ma Pass to Arab
Pass to, pass to, pass to,

I think you get the gist of things.

Another thing you’ll notice if you listen to the album is the “YOU!!!!” and “OH!!!!!” samples heard in Crank That make frequent unwanted appearances throughout the album. There are also frequent references to Sidekicks, Bapes and Superman. It’s like listening to a 17 year-old minded 50 Cent.

Soulja Girl is the second single and features light-hearted production (care of Mr. Collipark) and whilst the “YOU!!!!” is back, it doesn’t detract as much as I thought it would. The song is about what Soulja Boy is looking for in a girl and features a slightly faster flow than what we’ve seen so far. The song's content is typical for someone his age and it's refreshing to see someone that age NOT trying to rap about how good their sex game is but instead take a more down-to-earth approach to the ladies.

Booty Meat sounds quite similar to D4L’s Laffy Taffy. The world didn’t really need another song in that vein and I’ll leave you with an excerpt from the chorus:

”Girl Shake that booty meat!
That booty meat, shake that booty meat!”

Up next is Report Card which is Soulja Boy’s interpretation of Rich Boy’s Throw Some D’s except he’s not talking about cars, no, he’s talking about his school report card. You see, Soulja Boy got F’s this semester and demands the teacher at LEAST, “Throw some D’s on it”. I heard this song on MySpace ages ago and thought it was a joke. I guess not. It’s worth a listen if you’re a fan of Rich Boy’s song as the flow is similar and the sample is exactly the same but it’s one of those songs you’ll probably only listen to twice. If that.

The album comes to a close with Don’t Get Mad and is basically Soulja Boy telling people jealous of his success not to hate, but to appreciate and respect it. Well, if he makes a second album and stays successful, we’ll see then, but until that time arrives, I’ll reserve judgment I think.




The 411: It’s an odd album to be honest. Whilst the topics coming from Soulja Boy are typically, what you’d expect from a 17 year-old, they’re not done well. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely happy he’s not rapping about trying to shoot people or dealing drugs or other things that you wouldn’t WANT to hear coming from someone his age. The problem is that he lacks the charisma and style to make it entertaining. However, to be fair, he does put a lot of effort into most of the songs, and he DID produce the majority of the beats on the album himself, but it is not enough to save Souljaboytellem.com from being forgettable.

Final Score: 3.0 [ Bad ]