Raised on a childhood audiovisual diet of little more than the opulent, boundary blurring boasts of the No Limit Soldiers and Cash Money Millionaires, DeAndre Way defied the odds of living in a small Southern town (Batesville, Mississippi; population: 7,000) to become a millionaire by the age of 16 and reach the stratospheric heights of pop music superhero stardom by the will of hard work. Feel free to love him or hate him — as he tells OZONE, he doesn’t particularly care either way. But you will respect his hustle. You’re in the middle of a big TV promo tour. When you meet people like Jay Leno or Barbara Walters or Regis and Kelly, what kind of interactions do you have with them off-camera? Who do you think they think Soulja Boy is? They just think I’m a hustler. I have conversations with them backstage and they just say my story is amazing. All the self-promotion that I used to make myself a celebrity and just to have become a millionaire at the age of 16 is crazy to them. Every single show that I do, every time I have a conversation with the person who hosts the show and the people backstage — like, I ran into Adam Sandler at the Tonight Show and he was just like, “Man, your story is amazing. You’re one out of millions.” I’m just thankful to be on their show and they’re giving me props. This is what hard work and determination does. It pays off. Do you ever feel like you’re in a dream? Yeah, I ain’t gon’ even lie: I told my man to pinch me last night. I got eight figures that just came in; I almost had a heart attack. So you’re not taking this for granted, then. Nah, I ain’t taking this for granted at all. I always say to myself that tomor64 // OZONE MAG
row, this could all be gone, so that’s why I always stay grinding and I always stay working. My grind been the same since before I got signed; I just keep that same drive and that same passion I had even before I got signed. And that’s what keeps me ahead of the game. How old were you when you first wanted to start rapping? I was 11 years old when I first said I wanted to become a rapper. I used to watch Master P and Cash Money on TV and I used to say, man, I wanna be like them. I wanna have all the money, I wanna have all the cars, I wanna have all the girls. I wanna stand on stage and have people screaming my name. I wanna be felt in the streets, I wanna be heard on the radio, I wanna be seen on TV. That was my dream, and I accomplished that dream five years later, at 16. Did your family help you realize your dream? No, not really. My family really didn’t play any part in my musical career. My daddy gave me a computer when I got to Mississippi and I used what he gave me to get to where I’m at, but as far as my family, they ain’t played no part in my musical career. I did everything myself. Did they discourage you from pursuing music? They didn’t tell me that I was doing the wrong thing, but my family wanted me to focus on school. They looked at my rapping like it was taking away from my education. They wanted me to finish high school and graduate college and things like that, but I had another plan. Do you think college is in your future? Yeah, I always want to attend college. I don’t think right now I would be able to attend physical college, but I want to attend college. Lil Wayne was doing some college work online. Maybe you could do that? Yeah, man, but I want the whole college experience. I’m online on YouTube