Soulja Soulja

Soulja Soulja is not your average Hip Hop artist.

Born in South Bend, IN in 1984 and raised as a teenager in Ft. Wayne, IN, Soulja Soulja has been a witness to what many who compose hip hop music has witnessed more or less. The struggles of being a victim of a broken home with two brothers and a sister caused Soulja Soulja to have to grow up and become a man a little faster than normal.

Soulja Soulja along with his brothers and sister attended church services regularly with their grandfather. They would drive from South Bend to Buchanan, MI every Sunday. The church was very small, with everyone in the church belonging to the choir and singing to the chairs. What Soulja Soulja remembers the most is the prayer style that his grandfather had. "He would pray for thirty to forty minutes straight; and he would be yelling and crying and talking at the same time," Soulja Soulja said of his grandfather's prayer style. "I would always open my eyes to make sure that he was alright," "he later told me that he was always taken over when he prays," Soulja Soulja said. Soulja Soulja's grandfather was the person that influenced him the most to learn about God and to be faithful to the Lord. He would talk with him for hours and hours at a time as a little boy; often times Soulja Soulja would fall to sleep. "He also had the same effect on others. He gave me that sensitivity for the Lord," Soulja Soulja said. "He is still alive today, and is still a real prayer warrior. All of my grandparents were big influences when it came to the Lord. On the same side of the family, my grandmother married a preacher with a church in Chicago, and she is still the first lady to this date," Soulja Soulja stated.

Soulja Soulja's mother decided to move her family to Ft. Wayne, IN in 1996; and without a father around to guide him regularly, Soulja Soulja gradually became caught up in the life of the streets. He didn't attend church anymore and gave up on all the prayer. Not long after hooking up with the rowdy crews; Soulja Soulja was a heavy marijuana user by the tender age of fifteen, involved with gangs, and headed down a dangerous path.

By the time Soulja Soulja was eighteen, he had caught his first criminal case and began a life in and out of the system. The drug use had continued to dominate in his lifestyle and the streets stayed apart of his lifestyle.

Soulja Soulja had always been a music lover and composer since middle school. He had book after book of lyrics that were written in the classroom. After he graduated high school, he still had all of the lyrics that he'd written since the eighth grade and began applying those and newer ones to recorded sessions in a studio.

THE MUSIC WAS DIRTY THOUGH.

Soulja Soulja's natural lifestyle would produce dirty music as it is also natural that if you live a dirty life you reap a dirty heart and produce dirty art. This is the case with many others and Soulja Soulja was apart of that trap. While recording since the age of nineteen; Soulja Soulja compiled over 100 songs and produced a cd titled 'Exclusive' under the alias Souljaboy in 2006.

Soulja Soulja continued to take life as it came until he had his first child named Dymond. Dymond was later diagnosed with a heart disease and put Soulja Soulja through the test of faith and prayer power by spending six months of her life at Riley Hospital in Indianapolis, IN. Soulja Soulja spent a lot of the ordeal studying different medicines and working with doctors to figure ways to strengthen her heart; but the bulk of his time was spent in prayer. All the prayer was able to keep her vitals going, but her soul was gone. Dymond died just a couple weeks before she could turn one.

After losing a child, staying in and out of jail, letting down family members, and riding a rollercoaster of ups and downs; Soulja Soulja realized it was time to change. Changing didn't come easily, but it did come. It was a matter of straightening up or losing his life. He didn't know how he would lose it, but it would be lost. Throughout all of the pains and struggles of witnessing domestic violence, drug abuse, and a broken home as a child; Soulja Soulja was still an honor roll student who was in classes for the advanced learners, he could draw, he was wise, he did poetry, he kept a job since fifteen years old, he could compose great music, has over twenty business and music awards, and he was voted 'Most Likely to Succeed' in high school.

He started realizing that he had the potential, but was destroying it with actions. One day while on the job, he decided that he would never do another dirty song again. He decided to put together a record label and take his music and give some real love and praise to the Lord; as He deserves from people like Soulja Soulja so much. He didn't care who would disagree or who wouldn't listen or support. He knew was going to make a change in his life, so everything around was going to change