S. Samuel
Atlanta rapper Soulja Boy Tell Em is ready to hit store shelves once again by announcing plans to drop a new album called Promise in early 2012.
While not giving away too many details, Soulja Boy said the follow-up to last year’s DeAndre Way will be packed with guest features and quality production.
“Right now I’m working on my new album,” he tells The BoomBox. “It’s called ‘Promise’ — my fourth album to release from Interscope Records. It’ll be in stores top of 2012. I want everybody to support.” Having become a millionaire at 18, Soulja Boy has changed a lot since his ‘Crank That,’ days and hopes that his transformation will reflect in his music. “[The album is] just really showing the growth and maturity of Soulja Boy,” he reveals. “It’s going to be dope. It’s going to be lot of great records on it, a lot of dope features, a lot of great production. I want all my fans to check it out.” (The Boom Box)
Last April, the 21 year-old rapper confessed to having a hard time struggling with his previous LP’s record sales.
“Honestly, I shut down for a week [after my album dropped]. I wasn’t talking to nobody, I wasn’t talking to management, and I wasn’t talking to the label,” Soulja explained in an interview. “I wasn’t picking up nobody’s calls. I went like that for a week. I was in a state of confusion. I needed answers. I was doing this concert in Hawaii for my fans and then I was in Hawaii for a week. I wouldn’t have been able to go platinum first week anyway, because the label only shipped like 18,000 copies. So I wasn’t able to do gold first week or even 100k, none of that. They only put like 8,000 units in Best Buy. It was crazy. I didn’t know all of that though. I was just going off of, ‘My album’s going to be in stores, so I’m going to promote it as much as I can.’ I’m not the type of person to just be out like, ‘Hey, my label did this and I was in a situation with that.’ But I don’t want to get caught up in record-label-artist drama or nothing like that. I just want to keep everything cool to make music, that’s all.” (Complex)
In November 2010, Soulja Boy turned heads after selling just over 13,000 copies of his third solo album in its first-week.
Rapper Soulja Boy Tell Em’s The DeAndre Way also debuted on the chart at No. 90. With seven days down, the rapper’s new album has sold 13,400 copies. (SOHH Sales Wrap)
Despite the negative perception, fellow Atlanta rapper Killer Mike hit up SOHH and defended Soulja Boy.
“I like Soulja Boy, I always have,” Mike told SOHH. “I don’t really have no opinion on record sales because I don’t understand [them]. I can’t lie to you and tell you I can’t believe that some of this isn’t designed. The same time Soulja Boy sells 13,000 physical copies, he probably sells a quarter million, half million if not more ring tones. So I think record companies are still making a gang of money off Soulja Boy. I don’t think anybody’s sad over there. I mean the record company or anyone around his team. So I mean, sh*t happens. Soulja Boy’s gonna keep dominating.” (SOHH)
Soulja Boy Tell Em’s Promise is slated to hit stores in early 2012.
Check out some recent Soulja Boy footage down below:
