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Crank That (Soulja Boy)

"Crank That (Soulja Boy)"
A man is holding a cellphone to his left ear. He is wearing a jacket with a matching beanie headpiece and black sunglasses. He has an expression of shock on his face. Centred to his top left in orange, capital letter graffiti-like font is the title 'Crank That'. Directly below the title in larger blue font is the name 'Soulja Boy'. The name features stars filling the gaps in the 'o' letters.
Single by Soulja Boy Tell'em
from the album souljaboytellem.com
Released May 2, 2007 (2007-05-02)
Format
Recorded
Genre Snap
Length 3:42
Label
Writer(s) DeAndre Way Justin "J" Wright
Producer(s) Soulja Boy
Music video
"Crank That (Soulja Boy)" on YouTube
Soulja Boy singles chronology
"Crank That (Soulja Boy)"
(2007)
"Soulja Girl"
(2007)
"Crank That"
Single by I Set My Friends on Fire
from the album You Can't Spell Slaughter Without Laughter
Released September 16, 2007
Format Digital download
Recorded 2007
Genre
Length 3:02
Label Epitaph
Writer(s) DeAndre Way
Producer(s)
I Set My Friends on Fire singles chronology
"Crank That"
(2007)
"Sex Ed Rocks"
(2008)

"Crank That (Soulja Boy)" is the debut single by American rapper Soulja Boy Tell'em. It served as the lead single from his debut studio album, souljaboytellem.com (2007) and accompanies the Soulja Boy dance. The song is recognized by its looping steelpan riff. It caused what has been called "the biggest dance fad since the [mid-1990s] Macarena", with an instructional YouTube video for the dance surpassing 27 million views by early 2008.

"Crank That (Soulja Boy)" spent seven weeks at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 2007, and was the number 21 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. The song received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song at the 50th Grammy Awards but lost to Kanye West's song "Good Life". On January 6, 2008, it became the first song ever to sell 3 million digital copies in the US. In 2009 it was named the 23rd most successful song of the 2000s on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade. It had sold 5,080,000 downloads in the US by February 2014. The song also serves as the opening track of the 2007 compilation album Now That's What I Call Music! 26.

The song was originally produced in FL Studio before being later re-produced. It was released on May 2, 2007 in the US and on June 27, 2007 globally.

Inspired by recent dance crazes that had popularized some rappers from Atlanta, Soulja Boy (DeAndre Way) and his friends invented the dance moves that gave rise to "Crank That": As summarized by The Wall Street Journal, "dancers bounce back on their heels, ripple their hands, crank their wrists like motorcyclists, then lunge into a Superman pose".

The music video (directed by Dale Resteghini) begins in the "ColliPark Residence" with Sincostan Ak Flame and J Fresh imitating the Soulja Boy dance. Mr. Collipark takes a keen interest in the children's movements, leading him to contact Soulja Boy in an attempt to sign him up to "Collipark Records". His instinct is confirmed when he notices a number of people performing the dance, en route to meeting with Soulja Boy.


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Wikipedia

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