Did Soulja Boy Save Hip-Hop?

For most of the mid 2000s, the hip hop community claimed hip hop was dead. Nasty Nas used that idea to sell records (or at least attempt to). Ludacris said 'hip hop ain't dead, it lives in the south.' Sooooooo many arguments for and against this subject have risen in the past few years. I'd argue that Soulja Boy saved hip hop, or at least kept it on life support.

First of all, when I say Soulja Boy, I don't just mean the rapper. I mean everything he embodies. Everything about rap that I hate and everything about rap that I love is illustrated in his music.

Let me go no further before saying that as a true fan of real hip hop, I feel strange making this argument and feel very conflicted. But let's continue.

Hip hop was stagnant. We as a culture were stuck in an awkward place between our favorite rappers getting to old to relate and our future favorites not showing up yet. Then all the rappers we expected to take the reigns started going to jail. Or catching cases for guns/drugs etc. Or phasing themselves out. Or making terrible movies which led to losing their 'street cred'.Or getting punched in the face by an ex-girlfriend and dissing an entire region of hip hop heads. Or making racial slurs on twitter. Etc Etc.

What has kept music alive through this awkward stage? Soulja Boy.

Not just him, but his category of shitty-rap-that-we-hate-but-little-white-teenage-girls-love-so-he-makes-millions type of music.

But is it that terrible? Sonically and lyrically, I hate it. But in principle, he is spot on. SB showed the world that its ok to just have fun again. He helped keep hip hop relevant in a time when the old heads said it was long gone. White America accepted him. In an era where people aren't supposed to be able to successfully sell physical copies of music, SB went platinum. Everyone knows his dances. Teenage kids love how he dresses. We as 'real hip hop heads' may hate his music, but you can't knock his hustle.

And just look at alllllllll the music that has spawned from his example. Not that I condone the making of his kind of music, but his influence on today's music and today's culture is undeniable

I hate 'swag', I hate 'lolomfgroflmao', I have no desire to ever listen a song called 'Gucci Bandana', and I despise his music, but SB may have done a lot more for hip hop than we give him credit for.

He basically brought us into the digital age....singlehandedly. There was and has been no musical act that embraced the advances of the digital age more than Soulja Boy, and he pioneered these advances. He embraced YouTube before Diddy had a vlog, he was viral with ringtones back when you still had a flip phone, and he has millions of followers on Twitter while most people struggle to get into the hundreds.

He also showed the music business that it is ok to show your real personality to the world. He talks to fans, he meets fans, he plays video games with fans. Fact is, he loves his fans. He does that and sells platinum while there are rappers who get posted on NahRight turn Hollywood.

Though it would be foolish to mimic his movements directly, you must respect the steps he has taken and the possibility of your future success in this digital music age is due, in part, to Soulja Boy.

(Follow John Stewart on Twitter: @theworldfamous)