The DeAndre Way

The DeAndre Way is the third studio album by American rapper Soulja Boy. It was released on November 30, 2010, by his label Stacks on Deck Entertainment, Collipark Music and Interscope Records. Background At the time, Soulja Boy stated that he wished to begin working with artists such as Jay-Z and Eminem. Soulja Boy collaborated with American rappers Gucci Mane and Birdman on the track titled "Swag Flu" and also collaborated with Canadian teen pop singer Justin Bieber on the track titled "Rich Girl". Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, Trey Songz, Jamie Foxx, Busta Rhymes, Chris Brown, Ray J, and Arab were in works to be featured on the album, but Trey Songz, 50 Cent, and Arab were the only artists who appear on the album out of those names. SOD's rapper JBar was supposedly to be featured on the album, but did not make it the final cut. The track titled "Mean Mug", a collaboration with 50 Cent, was released on September 23. On April 23, 2011, after the album's release, during an interview with Complex, Way stated his internal disagreements with Interscope influenced the album's disappointing record sales. Way also blamed the timing of the album. Way also stated he felt helpless because of communication with Interscope was lacking, and he believed the label failed to listen to him. He claims his souring relationship with record producer and mentor Mr. Collipark, who for the first time did not do any production work on Way's album, gave him less power to negotiate with record execs. Even though the two have since made up, Way stated that because of the disappointing album sales he was about to give up on his music career, but he didn't because of his other mentor 50 Cent, who was also a guest on the album, told him not to and to keep going. Singles "Pretty Boy Swag" was released as the album's lead single on June 8, 2010. The single has reached number 34 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number 6 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number 5 on the Billboard Rap Songs chart. The single has gone on to sell over 1,000,000 copies.