"Crank That (Soulja Boy)" is the debut single by American
rapper Soulja Boy Tell 'Em from his debut album
souljaboytellem.com. It spent eight weeks at number one
on the U.S. Hot 100 in 2007. The song is recognized by its
looping steel pan riff. The song was originally produced on the
program FL Studio before being later reproduced. In 2009 it was
named the 23rd most successful song of the 2000s, on the
BillboardHot 100 Songs of the Decade.
"Crank That (Soulja Boy)" is the number 21 on the
Rolling Stonemagazine'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.
The song achieved international success; so far, it has
peaked at number two on the Top 40 Singles Chart in New
Zealand. In the UK, the song peaked at number two when the
track was released physically on December 17.
The remix version by Travis Barker was been featured in a
trailer for
Fast & Furious. It also has been played regularly at
University of Miami home football games.
The song debuted at #47 on the issue dated July 28, 2007.
The song reached #28 the following week and reached the summit
on September 15, 2007, where it stayed for two weeks before it
was replaced by "Stronger" by Kanye West. It replaced the song
again on October 6, 2007, staying at the top of the Hot 100 for
another five weeks, making it a number-one single for a total
of seven weeks. "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" has so far sold over
4,183,000 digital downloads in the United States to date,
becoming the third highest-downloaded song in the United
States.
The video directed by Dale "Rage" Resteghini begins in the
"ColliPark Residence" with two children 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 popularizing the
dance, en route to meeting with Soulja Boy. The video ranked at
#1 on BET's Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2007 countdown. This
video was premiered on BET's
106 & Parkon August 9, 2007. The music video
features Bow Wow, Chris Brown, Omarion, Unk, Baby D, Jibbs,
Rich Boy, Arab and several dancers doing the signature "Soulja
Boy Dance." The video for this song does not illustrate the act
of sexual abuse described within its lyrics. This song was #1
in BET: Notarized Top 100 Videos of 2008 countdown.
A large number of "remixes" of the video, featuring the
original audio track and video taken from cartoons such as
Bambi, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Simpsons, Southpark, and Dora
the Explorer, also appeared on Youtube at the time of the
track's success.