Soulja Boy releases 'Crank That (Soulja Boy)' — the first viral-internet hip-hop hit
16-year-old DeAndre Cortez Way uploads 'Crank That (Soulja Boy)' to SoundClick, MySpace, and YouTube. The dance — eventually choreographed in classrooms and on military bases — drives the song to the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 by September. Interscope signs Soulja Boy to a deal worth a reported $1M; his debut LP *Souljaboytellem.com* (October 2007) goes platinum.
Why it matters
'Crank That' is the first major hip-hop hit driven entirely by social-media-era viral distribution rather than radio, label promotion, or video rotation. The pattern it establishes — bedroom recording → platform virality → label deal → chart hit — is the template for the SoundCloud-rap, Vine, and TikTok eras that follow. Soulja Boy's broader influence (he was the first major artist to use Apple's iLife/GarageBand as a serious production environment) reshapes how a generation thinks about who can be a recording artist.
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