Soulja Boy emerged from Atlanta's rap scene in the mid-2000s as one of hip-hop's first true internet-era superstars, pioneering the viral-marketing playbook that would define a generation of rap careers. Born DeAndre Cortez Way in Chicago in 1990 and raised primarily in Mississippi and Atlanta, he started uploading music to SoundClick, MySpace, and YouTube as a teenager, teaching himself production on FL Studio and building a following long before major labels understood the power of the platform.

His breakthrough came with "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" in 2007 — an inescapable single with an accompanying dance that spent seven consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, went triple platinum, and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Song. His debut studio album, souljaboytellem.com (2007), released via Collipark Records and Interscope, went platinum on the strength of "Crank That" and follow-up single "Yahhh!"