Why Soulja Boy Has A Tense Relationship With His Mother

Life hasn't always been about cranking that for Soulja Boy. In fact, before his viral explosion in 2007, Soulja Boy (real name DeAndre Way) was just your average teenage kid. Born in Chicago, Soulja Boy soon found himself enveloped by the cultural milieux of Atlanta, Georgia and Mississippi alongside his home state. Enduring a tumultuous upbringing, the rapper bounced from city to city — with Reuters noting he grew up with his mom in ATL before moving in with his dad in Mississippi during junior high.

It was in those three areas, however, where the rapper refined his craft and ultimately developed a sound known as "Shylantasippi," per AllMusic (a mash-up of Chicago, Atlanta, and Mississippi). Soulja Boy would then go on to become one of the internet's first viral sensations with his 2007 hit single, "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" and completely change the music game. In fact, Chris Clancy, then-head of marketing for Interscope Records told Reuters at the time, "Soulja Boy is the blueprint for the new record business." Just think about it: Soulja Boy crawled so Olivia Rodrigo could walk.

But of course, fame doesn't come without a price — like how the rapper has had a long-strained relationship with mom Carlisa Way. But why does Soulja Boy have tensions with his mother?

Soulja Boy is certainly a motormouth. From his rambunctious lyrics on "Yahhh!" to his foul-mouthed Twitch streams, the rapper-singer has made it abundantly clear that his verbal jousts are rated E for everyone — including his mom, Carlisa Way. In 2017, Soulja Boy unleashed a firestorm of tweets accusing his mother of flushing his money down the drain.

"If you gave ur mom 100,000 and she spent it in a week. You would be mad too... F**k people that don't appreciate u," the rapper tweeted, The Shade Room captured on Instagram. He also called out his brother, John Way, in the process for similar reasons. "The only time my mother call me is for my money and my Lil brother a broke b***h [I]mma slap him when I see him f**k them," he further wrote. Soulja Boy did clarify, however, that he "took care of [his] whole family" ever since "[he] made my first million when [he] was 17."

The real kicker of the story, though? Soulja Boy claims his mom is a "crackhead" who only uses him for his money. "[I]mma expose my mom and my brother. She a crackhead and he live with his dad," the rapper revealed. He also called out John for portraying a fake life of struggle, stating, "he not in the hood they looking for a come up F**k them." But what do his brother and mom have to say?

Soulja Boy's Twitter tirade was not without just cause. The rapper's mom, Carlisa Way, and brother John Way initially shot a video to call him out publicly. And the scorned family members even took it a step further when John released a diss track called "Overdue," The Shade Room noted. On the track, John raps, "All on the 'gram flexin' like you the f***in' man / My momma still on welfare, s**t I can't understand it."

In the aforementioned video, John calls out Soulja Boy in a poorly-recorded taping inside of a shoddy household. The video sees John urging people to listen to his diss track as he is "really spittin' these facts" and then pans over to his mother. Asking his mother where they're at, Carlisa angrily responds, "We at my house in the middle of the god****n hood." John concludes by begrudgingly repeating her woods and calling Soulja Boy a "f**k boy" in the process. Yikes.