Soulja Boy Tellem isn’t sweating the critics anymore. He’s confidant with the music he creates and knows that despite being called a “one-hit-wonder” by many, his sophomore album, iSouljaBoyTellem, depicts otherwise. It’s evening and he’s chillin’ on a couch on the recreational floor of his luxury Downtown L.A. condo, sporting designer shades despite being indoors. He just finished shooting with his prized Lamborghini Gallardo (one of two), and he’s now relaxed and comfortable—he’s slumped on the couch, arms spread wide across the top— ready to talk about his musical defiance, and how’s he’s silenced all his haters.

When DUB last caught up with Soulja Boy, he was a 16 year-old-kid, who used the Internet to maximize his musical exposure, which eventually led to a major record deal. His first hit single “Crank That,” was an Internet phenomenon and the top-selling digital track of 2007, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It’s had 3.9 million digital copies sold, making it the third-biggest song download since such data started being tracked in 2003. His YouTube Video instructing fans on how to do his highly popular “Crank That” dance has received more than 40 million views since it first came out. Many consider him the poster boy of the digital generation.

Still maximizing on the power of the Internet, the Soulja Boy is a boy no more—he’s quickly become a man. At 18 (he’ll actually be 19 at the end of July) his newfound “swag” is showing. He answers questions with self-assurance and doesn’t hold back on anything. And why should he? After all, Soulja Boy has more than proven himself to the industry, haters and critics that he can musically hold his own. Back when his debut album SouljaBoyTellem, started getting play, many critics and fellow rappers considered Soulja Boy and his Internet antics as a joke in hip-hop and a fad that would eventually fizzle out.

“Any time [critics and haters] thought of Soulja Boy, they immediately thought of “Crank That,” he intensely describes now sitting upright . “They just thought of this young kid, blah, blah, blah. They didn’t dig deeper to really know my musical talents. With my sophomore album, they can now see that I’m not that one-hit-wonder they first categorized me as.”

However, there was a time, when he questioned if he could remake the success that “Crank That” brought him. “I went through that phase,” he recalls. “I didn’t want to be a one-hit wonder. But I put into my head that I wasn’t going to top “Crank That.” That’s what made me hot, but I’m going to keep making hits.”

In order to overcome one-hit-wonder status, Soulja Boy had to step up his musical game. He’s changed up his sound to include R&B jams in conjunction to his usual catchy rifts and hooks heard on his first album. The two singles currently rising on Billboard charts—“Kiss Me Through The Phone” and “Turn My Swag On,“ display his musical growth perfectly. I wanted to achieve a different sound when recording my second album,” he says. “I wanted to touch on other elements and reach for a different crowd. I not only have those teen girls, but I got older females digging me. This album has something for the ladies, the club, the hood—everybody!” Despite a new sound, Soulja Boy continued an Internet-related name for the title for his second album, in homage to what has helped him become a musical success.

“I feel like I needed to pay respect to what got me to where I’m at today and it was the Internet, MySpace and YouTube,” he explains. “Me having 400 million views on YouTube is crazy. Me having 70 million views on MySpace without being signed, that’s crazy. I was getting $10,000 a show without being signed just off of the strength of the Internet.”

Besides his new direction in music, Soulja Boy has also learned to be more selective in what he puts on the Internet for his fans to see. Before, he would put up everything he was doing. There were videos of him hanging out at his house playing video games, some of him popping pimples with friends and tons of others that showed him doing the most random things possible. “I’m wiser on what I put out there,” he says. “But I don’t regret anything that I’ve put up before. I like to get my fans involved with my life and career as much as I can.” Right now, he’s currently trying his hand at breaking the record with having the most Twitter fans than any other artists. At the time of print, he has 745,125 followers on Twitter, with the number growing each day (twitter.com/souljaboytellem).

Soulja Boy’s taste in vehicles has also matured to include two Lamborghini Gallardos. “Before I got signed, my dream car was a Chrysler 300, which I bought and put 24s on. Then I wanted the Hummer with 28s and got that. Now, it’s all about Lamborghinis,” he says with a smirk. “I can’t get past them; still stuck on them as my dream car. My homeboys are like, ‘You need to get a Bentley or Phantom…’ I’m, like, it’s all about the Lambos—all you gotta do is keep switching colors. Right now, he as two Gallardos: a red one back in Atlanta and a white one in L.A., which he recently shipped back to Atlanta to get painted black.

“I couldn’t find a black one when I went to get this one,” he says. “They only had white and orange. Most people go loud—I want to go jet black with the windows tinted black, with the 20-inch black rims and drop top. It’s gonna be so hard.”

Although he’s doing promo for his second album, Soulja Boy is already talking about his third record, coming out later this Fall. Slated to be titled The DeAndre Way (his birth name), Soulja Boy is opening himself up and digging deeper into his musical journey. “My third album is going to go stupid hard, it’s gonna go harder than other rapper’s album” he describes. “Real talk… it’s gonna be the sh*t. Everyone is gonna feel me on it. I’ll be dropping it when I’m 19, and I’m gonna share life stories, and talk about things from when I was a kid, my situation of where I used to live at and came from…but still have radio -chart-topping singles.”

Soulja Boy feels he is starting to gradually gain the respect he wasn’t receiving before and is taking advantage of all the newfound success. He exchanged verbal shots with rapper-actor Ice-T, who said his brand of music was “killing hip-hop.” He even beefed with Bow Wow shortly after the two released the video “Marco Polo.” But through the disputes, Soulja Boy’s business savvy moves and new musical style has silenced the critics and proves he isn’t stopping anytime soon.

Back in May, he appeared on the morning talk show, “Good Day L.A.” where he is quoted as saying he wasn’t happy with the success he’s had so far, which, once again, opened the flood gates for criticism. “I mean, I guess people look at that statement and think, ‘Enough isn’t enough for Soulja Boy,” he says, taking off his sunglasses, allowing you to see the sincerity in his eyes. “’Man, he has the No. 1 single in the country, a platinum album—what more does he want?’ I want it all…I want the video game, movie; I want the Trump empire. I see stars and clouds, and billions and skyscrapers. I’m not saying diva bullsh*t either. It’s just, like…man, I want to keep going to the top and keep striving; the sky’s the limit.”

And that’s how far he’s literally taking his career. Besides music, he’s also designing his second shoe with apparel company Yums. “My first ones did good and were in every Finish Line in America,” he says. When asked if they would be bigger than Kanye’s Air Yeezy, Soulja Boy laughed. “Shout out to Kanye, that’s my homie, but my shoe might go harder than the Air Yeezys.” His franchise will expand even farther with a new cartoon he has in the works that will be airing on TV soon, as well as a video game. “For my future, I predict it holds mo’ money and mo’ problems,” he says laughing while putting his sunglasses back on, as he leans back into the couch and stretches his arms around the top. “Nah, I see a Soulja Boy empire.”

Photos: Kevin Ou