Soulja Boy’s debut single, ‘Crank That (Soulja Boy)’, was an international phenomenon, reaching number one in the US, selling more than three million downloads and spawning a dance craze all of its own. Pretty nifty for a chap of 17, eh? But not everyone’s a fan of the rap prodigy - real name De Andre Way - with critics branding his music inane, repetitive and devoid of melody. What’s his take on the all fuss he causes? We caught up with Soulja to find out.

When did you start making music?
“Around three or four years ago. Me and my friend started out making parody music - we’d make fun of the biggest song that was around at the time. Then I started recording seriously, making songs and putting them on MySpace. The response I got was crazy - people were actually rating my music five stars - so I started to think, ‘This is what I wanna do with my life’.”

Did you think ‘Crank That’ would be a smash when you recorded it?
“Nope. To tell you the truth, it was just another song that I was recording. I didn’t go into the studio saying, ‘This is gonna be a number one smash and everyone’s gonna be doing this dance’. I went in the studio to record just another song. It’s crazy to think it’s been the number one song in the world.”

The new single’s got a rather unusual title: ‘Yahhh!’ Why is that?
“I actually recorded it before I signed my record deal. Me and my homeboys used to run around school screaming, ‘Yahhh! Yahhh! Yahhh!’ and I thought it would make a great tune. It was hilarious recording it.”

What does ‘Yahhh!’ mean exactly?
“It’s basically me telling the world to leave me alone. If you see me and say, ‘Yo Soulja Boy!’, I’ll be like ‘Move! Yahhh!’ It’s me telling people off but being comedic at the same time.”

Do you have to do that a lot?
“Yeah, what kills me is when people be asking me dumb questions. I hate it when people come up to me on trains and ask ‘Are you Soulja Boy?’ If people want pictures or autographs, that’s cool, but I don’t like the dumb questions.”

Your music’s received a fair bit of criticism from music critics. Why do you think that is?
“What it is, right, is the media think they can control what sells. They think if they say Kanye West or Lil’ Wayne or 50 Cent is the best rapper, everybody else will think they’re the best rapper. But it don’t work like that. If the public buys three million Soulja Boy records and the media’s saying Soulja Boy’s garbage, something don’t add up.”

They resent you for being successful without them?
“Exactly. They’ve said my music sucks and I’ve been successful without them, and that makes them mad. People in the media, it makes their day when someone they say is a five-star artist goes platinum.”

What are your plans for the rest of the year?
“I’ve got a shoe line and a clothing line coming out too. I’m branching off and doing a film based around the dance in the ‘Crank That’ video too.”

Are you a good actor?
“I think I’m a good actor, but at the same time, what were we just saying? The critics are gonna be like ‘This is the worst movie ever!’ and then it’ll take $30m at the box office.”

Finally, when will Soulja Boy become Soulja Man?
“I believe when I turn 20. I can stick with Soulja Boy during my teenage years, but when I turn 20 I’ll go to my real name, DeAndre Way. The name change isn’t an option - it’s mandatory.”

Soulja Boy releases ‘Yahhh!’ on April 14.