Profiles in Internet Excellence

Soulja Boy up in it (OH!)
Watch Me Lean And Watch Me Rock
Superman Dat (OH!)
Then Watch Me Crank Dat Robocop
Super Fresh, Now Watch Me Jock
Jocking On Them Haterz Man
When I Do Dat Soulja Boy
I Lean To The Left
And Crank Dat Dance (Now You)

--Soulja Boy (Crank That)


I'd like to present an award in internet excellence to
Soulja Boy the 17 year old rap phenom. I was youtubing
a couple days ago when I came across his video for
"Crank Dat", which is at the top of the charts right now.
In the video Soulja Boy demonstrates a keen sense of
technology and self-promotion. Whether it is chatting
on an instant messenger program with a big-wig record
exec, or non-nonchalantly web-casting his contract signing
to a "Hot Chick", he knows what's up in cyberspace.
He has also proven that he understands interactive and
educational capacity of the internet by posting an
instructional dance video called "How to Crank Dat."
The result is a million and 3 youtube posts with people
having a good time shaking their thang and proving
(or in some cases disproving) that they know how to
"Crank Dat".

This youngen makes me excited about the internet and
it's ability to mobilize people or just help them have fun.
We can't escape from the superficial nature of it all, but
we really can't ignore it anyway. Soulja Boy will not be
ignored either. I wonder if there is actually a shrewd agent
behind him that wanted to make his music video look like it
was something that anyone could do in there living room with
the right technology, or if this is in fact a true artistic expression
of Soulja Boy's reality as a child of the web. Like most things
it's probably some combination of the two.