DeAndre Way (a.k.a Soulja Boy) was born on July 28, 1990 in Chicago, Illinois. DeAndre later moved to Atlanta, Georgia at the age of six where he developed a love for rap music alongside his then partner Young Kwon "He was the one who taught me how to make beats and records; he recorded the first songs I ever did," says DeAndre. "He taught me what he knew about snap beats in the studio in his house." DeAndre Way's childhood and growth was hard "I didn't like growing up, we grew up poor," DeAndre admits. "When I was staying with my Momma, it was me and my little brother. We didn’t have much money. I ain’t have nothing to do, just go to school. I used to be real smart, a straight A student. But music affected my grades, I ain’t gonna lie.” While in 8th grade, he moved to nearby Mississippi with his father.“That’s where I got access to a computer. When I went to Mississippi, I had to adjust to what was going on. But it was really a blessing in disguise because if I would’ve never moved to Mississippi, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t have had access to no computer, no internet and no camera to film my dancing. I took the hood to where the money was at. If I didn’t have no money behind it, nobody would’ve ever known about it." DeAndre collaborated with classmate and co-conspirator Arab to form the duo, The 30/30 Boys. The two started by uploading songs to SoundClick. The duo was getting good ratings so DeAndre created his website, www.souljaboytellem.com. Now having a manager, Michael Sykes (a.k.a Miami Mike), Arab and DeAndre could show their full potential. DeAndre Way returned to Atlanta in 2004 where he paired up with Atlanta-based manager Derrick Crooms who had been responsible for such successes as the Ying-Yang Twins. DeAndre had his first live preformance at the age of 15, at a teen nightclub in Indianapolis, Indiana. His first album named "SouljaBoytellem.com" was released under Interscope Records on October 2, 2007.
