Soulja Boy Just Axed All The Artists On His Label — Removing The ‘Snakes’ From His Life
Rapper Soulja Boy shocked fans when he announced on social media that he is dropping every artist from his record label.
In a series of tweets on Monday, the rapper said there are no artists currently signed on to Stacks on Deck Entertainment Group (SODMG Records) and that he is starting anew.
In another post, he said he is thankful to God for the good things that have happened to him and for removing the “snakes” from his life. Although Soulja Boy did not name who the “snakes” were, one could only think he was referring to one of his former artists.
God is great. So thankful for the blessings. And thanks for blessing me to see the snakes and remove them from my life. Needed that.????????????
— Soulja Boy (@souljaboy) May 30, 2016
There’s no artist signed to SODMG. I dropped them all. I’m starting off the roster new and clean for 2016.
— Soulja Boy (@souljaboy) May 30, 2016
Soulja Boy founded SODMG back in 2004, and its former artists include Lil B and RIFF RAFF. It has released several mixed tapes in the past, but reports say the record company has only given a proper album release to Soulja Boy himself.
.@souljaboy has dropped every artist on his own label https://t.co/Drr9mLCAbO pic.twitter.com/6fRNpvohPY
— HYPETRAK (@HYPETRAK) May 31, 2016
The reason for the rapper’s drastic move is still not clear, but the decision came after his alleged $400 million endorsement deal with World Poker Fund Holdings. The 25-year-old rapper, who is also very active on social media, reportedly struck a five-year contract worth $400 million with the company. He previously revealed the details of his multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal with the online gaming company on Twitter.
In one of his posts, he said he believed the company had “low balled” him with that one.
However, Soulja Boy’s sponsorship deal with World Poker Fund Holdings is not as big as what he claims in his statements, a source told Digital Music News.
The gaming company chose the rapper-entrepreneur because of his huge social media fan base. The gaming company believes he is a prolific social media user and influencer, which makes him a good endorser.
With that huge amount, some doubt if the sponsorship is real, even though World Poker Fund Holdings has already confirmed the deal. However, a source told Digital Music News that the multimillion-dollar figure represents “the absolute extreme maximum that could be paid out over the course of the five-year partnership.”
The source for the website also said that the company leans towards stock compensation and that “(the future performance of WPFH shares) is hard to tell and that’s a volatile stock, but downside on this is low for Soulja Boy.” However, the rapper could still do great on a big stock run-up, added the source.
World Poker Fund Holdings currently has a market capitalization of approximately $52 million, with losses of over $400,000 in the previous year. With those numbers, how will the company pay Soulja Boy $400 million?
The real story behind Soulja Boy’s ‘$400 million’ deal: https://t.co/F2i0KYMyZi pic.twitter.com/SDJTzjM09S
— Forbes SportsMoney (@SportsMoneyBlog) May 23, 2016
World Poker Fund spokesperson, Matthew Bird clarified the issue on Forbes.
“(Soulja Boy) really kind of jumped the gun,” Bird recently told the publication. The talented rapper may have exaggerated his compensation a bit because the five-year contract worth $4oo million is “based on a forward-thinking valuation of the company,” Bird added.
“He’s young, he’s 25 years old. He got really excited, and he tweeted something he probably shouldn’t have tweeted. He was getting a lot of pressure from within the entertainment community, so he wanted to put a statement out,” World Poker Fund Holdings’ publicist went on to say.
Has The World Poker Fund Handed Soulja Boy $400m to Promote Their Brand? https://t.co/1HpcnD8jsP pic.twitter.com/TT4i0Pu0vR
— Poker Info (@Poker_RR) May 23, 2016
Now that the numbers are clear, it has become apparent that the “Crank Dat” hitmaker will only get a tiny fraction of the $400 million dollar sponsorship deal.
“Obviously, the company’s market cap is at $51.8 million. There’s no way they could cut a $400 million deal,” Bird explained. “Endorsement deals are calculated on a lot of different factors. This is not a fully cash transaction.”
[Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]