Soulja Boy is laying claim to the “biggest comeback of 2018,” and he stopped by The Breakfast Club to discuss the state of his career and his lasting influence over a decade after the release of “Crank Dat (Soulja Boy).” During the discussion, Soulja leveled the lofty claim that he made Drake’s career, citing the OVO rapper’s 2010 single “Miss Me” as an example.
“The nigga that got bodied by Pusha-T?” he said. “Stop playing me like I ain’t teach Drake everything he know… He copied my whole flow. Word for word, bar for bar. Don’t act me like I didn’t make Drake.”
Soulja Boy is referencing the opening lines of “Miss Me,” where Drake raps:
I said “Tell me what’s really goin' on”
Drizzy back up in this thing, I’m ready, what’s hannenin'?
These lyrics are an interpolation of Soulja Boy’s 2007 track “What’s Hannenin',” although it’s worth noting that Soulja Boy’s own flow takes cues from D4L’s “I’m Da Man”:
Man tell me, whats really going on
Soulja Boy up in this thang, I’m ready, whats hannenin
Soulja Boy also pointed to their 2014 collaboration “We Made It Freestyle,” as evidence of his influence on the OVO rapper.
Drake isn’t the only artist who Soulja Boy thinks he has influenced. He pointed to the music industry’s current, social media-based strategy for promoting rappers as an adaptation of the techniques he used to gain popularity.
“I started this internet. I started the wave. I’m the reason why there’s a Lil Pump. I discovered Chief Keef,” he said. “I was the first artist on YouTube. These record labels set their blueprint behind me. I’m the reason why they’re streaming right now.”
The latter claims aren’t far-fetched. Soulja Boy has often been cited as a pioneering artist in the use of social media and the internet to spread his music. Label executives have even created a multi-step formula for helping rappers go viral. Whether Drake really owes his career to Soulja Boy, however, is a different story.
Watch the full interview above and catch up on all the lyrics to Drake’s “Miss Me” on Genius now.
