Soulja Boy's Business
Arguably being the first rapper to gain mainstream attention through the internet, Deandre Way, also known as Soulja Boy, came into the rap game with great business and marketing skills. The Chicago native, who founded his record label SODMG at the age of 14, knew how to market to his generation of kids, as he proved by making millions of dollars selling ringtones. After releasing his hit single “Crank That” at 16, Soulja Boy copyrighted his famous dance, a decision that paid off greatly when Fortnite began selling dances. The rapper additionally had great talent in producing records, as shown through his credits on Lil Wayne, P Diddy, and Nicki Minaj tracks. In a 2016 interview, it was recorded that Soulja Boy would be producing for Kanye West's fourth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and West would be producing Soulja Boy's album, the Deandre Way. While the two never published any of their tracks, the young artist’s production abilities were given respect. As his music career developed, Soulja Boy was consistently investing in new businesses. He has been seen on his Instagram page selling hoverboards and fidget spinners, promoting iPhone games with his face in them, selling his own Phone called the “Soulja Phone”, and wearing SBeezy Lights, his own glow in the dark sneaker. In May 2016, Soulja Boy signed an influencer deal with World Poker Fund Holdings for five years, which gained him a lot of attention after claiming he made $400 million off of it. Two years later, Soulja Boy released his own video game console,the SouljaGame. It immediately drew attention and went viral for being a marked up emulator of Nintendo and Sega games. The rapper additionally released the "Soulja Watch", which was similar in style to the Playstation Vita. By creating multiple sources of income for himself, the artist has been able to stabilize his income and achieve wealth.