Soulja Boy is undoubtedly one of the most influential artists of his generation. His rise to hip hop stardom in the late 2000s to mid-2010s earned him a well-respected status in the game, although these days, he often makes headlines for his beefs with other rappers.
During his prime run, Soulja Boy flooded the airwaves with several hits, including “Kiss Me Thru The Phone” and “Crank Dat,” which saw several other big stars at the time paying homage to him, including Beyonce, who famously did the dance inspired by the rapper during her performances.
Soulja Boy also likes to credit himself as the first rapper to do a lot of things, even in some instances where he wasn’t. Nevertheless, there were a lot of things or trends he started in the game, like video chat in his music video, before the feature became popular.
His single “Kiss Me Thru The Phone,” which was produced by Mr. Collipark and Jim Jonsin, was released on his landmark sophomore album, iSouljaBoyTellem. Speaking with HipHopDx, Soula Boy revealed that at the time, he was making $100,000 per month from a phone line he set up where fans could call or text, and he would earn money.
“Alright, let me tell y’all the real story,” the rapper said. “So that number was like a fan line. So every time somebody called that number, I was getting paid off of that s**t. It was like a subscription. You could text it or call it, so I was probably making like $100,000 a month off of that, just people calling that number.”
Soulja Boy initially wanted Chris Brown to sing the catchy hook for “Kiss Me Thru The Phone,” but that didn’t happen. Nevertheless, the song became one of his biggest hits.
