Did Soulja Boy Really Save Hip-Hop?

Read more at Rolling Out.

“Two years ago, before Ice-T had a verbal squabble with him and white kids in Idaho went ape over “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” Soulja Boy was already a legend among the teenybopper set. Using his MySpace page and YouTube videos, the 16-year-old kid literally gained millions of fans from the basement of his Batesville, Miss., home. Sometimes, he would go as far as pretending his songs were new Eminem and 50 Cent tracks to draw viewers. And it worked.

‘I was getting $10,000 a show before I [was] signed,’ says the now 18-year-old rapper. ‘I got caught with $60,000 in my backpack at school … it wasn’t a good look.'”

(Spotted @ Rap Radar)