"Man, I feel like everybody’s been reaching out to me."
It's been a peak 2014 for Soulja Boy Dre. Because of his playful style, ever-shifting slang, and endlessly entertaining social media presence, Soulja's never not relevant to the legion of fans that have grown up with him through his seven year career. But ever since Drake snatched up the "We Made It" beat for an anthem that has yet to lose steam, Soulja's been in high demand with music elites, like Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne and even Justin Bieber, eager to graft his energy. We caught up with the 23-year-old rapper, fresh off his first Coachella appearance and a marathon of studio sessions, to discuss his current moment and what he has coming next.
This past April was your first time at Coachella? Yeah it was my first time at Coachella man. It was crazy. It was turnt up. I had did “We Made It,” I came out to that. That was the one that was most receptive, the crowd went nuts.
Did you have any idea that “We Made It” would take off the way it did? Man. To be honest, I did not know. When I came up with the concept I thought it was dope, and that was really about it. Now its everywhere.
You mentioned there were plans to do a video with Drake, is that still coming? The video’s still coming. I had got locked up. I had a case I was fighting at the time. But the video’s still coming, everybody look out for that visual with me and Drake.
I remember when news broke of that case, but it seems you guys handled it quickly. Yeah, I’m all good. Everything straight. Ain’t got no worries. Everything’s cool.
We saw you were in the studio recently with Justin Bieber. What were y’all working on? We was working on his new album and doing some stuff for the Carter V. We was down in Miami for a couple nights. Every night we was in the studio doing different stuff.
How were those sessions? What was Bieber's vibe like? It was just me Bieber and Wayne. Bieber played me his album, I played him some stuff that I had, then we came up with this one record that was crazy. The vibe was cool, everybody was in their creative zone. We all were pushing each other to come up with the best sound for Carter V and the best sound of summer.
Talk to us about your latest project, Super Dope. I’m really excited about that project man. Yeah, Super Dope dropped on 4/20. Went to all digital outlets, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon. I thought it was a dope idea. I did the Juice mixtape and dropped it on 4/20 a few years back, and always thought “man, if I woulda made that into an album I woulda made so much money.” The “Fire” record is crazy, the Busta Rhymes joint on there is wild.
It’s wild to see guys like Drake, Busta, even Jay, MCs that are that established linking with you creatively, or being inspired by you. Yeah man. It’s dope. It’s definitely a personal accomplishment for me. Just to see Hov go in on the track, and of course Busta is a legend. Just to be coming up with stuff that the people are really liking is a blessing.
It sounded like you were in the studio earlier. What are you working on currently? I’m working on Diddy’s project right now. He’s doing his last album right now, it’s called Money Making Mitch. That’s been taking up a lot of my focus. So is the Carter V. When I was in Miami I did like two beats for CV, and I just been tryna go back in on them beats and make them the best for Tune. And Nicki’s joint, The Pink Print is dropping. Her new song "Yasss Bish," I produced that and wrote the hook. I think that record is gonna be so big for her.
When you had posted the “Yasss Bish” vine, people had no idea what it was. Was the record already done at that time? When I put the vine up, it was a sneak peak, just a little clip. Once the song came out, when they saw the vine they got it.
So did you have that hook already, or did you and Nicki link and make the song together? I had the beat and everything, we went to the studio and she killed it. The first day, soon as she heard the beat she killed it. And she put it out like the next day.
Do you have any dream collaborators left? Who would you want to reach out to next? Man, I feel like everybody’s been reaching out to me. I don’t know man. I’m good where I’m at right now. I’m excited.
The XXL Freshman list just dropped. You’ve been in the game for almost ten years. What’s your advice to the new crop of spitters this year? My advice to anyone on that list, is to keep 100% of your creativity and your craft. And never get comfortable with the success you have. That’s a huge accomplishment to make that cover, but you hate to see a couple years down the line like “What happened to this guy? What happened to that guy?” I just want everybody to go hard.