“I’m gonna make sure you remember who I am after this show” says Def Soulja at the Jazz Café in London, opening up for Griselda Records’ Rome Streetz.

By Leo Hewitt-Provost, 05/10/2023

Equipped with a razor-sharp pen and always ready to set fire to the stage everywhere he goes with insightful stories, intimate bars and grimy hooks, Def Soulja is one of the Bronx’s most composed and confident underground emcees emerging. He has recently signed a deal with Equity/Roc Nation alongside Griselda’s own: Rome Streetz. We spoke about the Kiss The Ring tour, performing in Europe for the first time, growing up in the Bronx, and his upcoming album: Moonlight Marauder.

This year marks Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary, and it is obvious that we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the hard-working, persistent, and ever so passionate individuals keeping the flame alive, and those who have paved the way forward, whether they are emcees, producers or working behind the scenes. In 2023, the underground scene is bigger and more versatile than ever before; and yet, there are talks of over-saturation in the media, as if the only thing people ever knew was mainstream rap.

Underground artists aren’t phased by all of that, and the evidence has always been pointing towards this; true Hip-Hop craft requires patience, dynamism, and a willingness to stand out. In New-York City, underground rappers cannot afford to stop, and they continue to study those who shifted the culture, with a constant desire to branch out. Def Soulja is part of this vivid scene and knows he’s next up. “If you don’t go back and put on people that are just as hungry as you, the flame of Hip-Hop will die, you feel me? You’ll just be stuck with a bunch of trash, you gotta let it pan fry, you gotta keep it going.”

Originally from South Carolina, the emcee moved to the Bronx at the age of 2 years old and was raised by his mother. “My mom was real strict about certain things, and she kept me real close. I guess it’s because she is from a small town in South Carolina.” “When we moved to New York, things were different in a major way to her. But like all adventurous kids, I found a way to move around and get into things I shouldn’t have” he says.

Def Soulja wasn’t sure if becoming a rapper was going to be become profitable, growing up just a couple of block away from Little Italy in the Bronx, surrounded by poverty and a low quality of life, perhaps the rapper never envisioned this lifestyle, decades later. “I never thought about being a rapper, I just enjoyed listening to the music. But hanging around certain friends who did rap kinda pulled me into it. I didn’t really take it serious early on, I started taking it serious after I sold my first mixtape and even then I was still bullshitting, not taking it all the way serious.”

Growing up in the Bronx with many of his peers, all he ever knew was a harsh and underprivileged environment. “At that time, the Bronx was a very poverty-stricken place. A lot of drug addicts, a lot of violence. I got caught into that life fast and I learned a lot from my environment.” The rapper recalls his first love for hip-hop: “I got into hip-hop by sneaking and watching videos my older brother recorded on VHS. I couldn’t listen to hip-hop at those times because my mom was heavy on the gospel tip. I really started rhyming around high school, when I was 13 I was in a group called T3. We did our thing for a little while, we made a lot of mixtapes, six to be exact; but then we decided we wanted to go solo, and then from there I started going from the circuits like you know, any other underground artist, going through the gauntlet of different shows, putting out music and trying to get yourself heard.”

Today, Def Soulja is perhaps most well-known in the underground scene for Recognize a Soulja, which originally started as a three-track EP in 2015, before dropping a longer body of work in 2018, he then released the third instalment in 2021; in-between those years, the emcee released many singles and bodies of work, such as Coroner Files, Vol 1, Soldier Mentality and Cloth Talk, amongst others. After dropping a lot of work since 2015, the emcee caught many people’s attention with a strong 2022, working alongside Social Misfit’s partner and producer Streeta G to release Militant Minded.

Def Soulja’s last release was 42 Square Miles, which he dropped alongside producer 183rd, fellow Bronx artist, who is perhaps most known for working with Smoke DZA. This body of work was crucial because it marked the appearances of heavyweights Nym Lo and Rome Streetz. Together, 183rd and Def Soulja composed a project that simply worked, both individuals had an incredibly chemistry together, and things happened fast: “183rd and I met at the Baby’s All Right show in Brooklyn that I did, and we spoke for a bit and a few days later he sent me a beat pack.” He says. “I did a few of them, I sent it back, he loved it and then we went back to the studio to complete the rest of it, it was real easy. The energy between me and 3rd, he cooking up right there and then and then you got the vision so it’s like ‘boom’ it was real easy, real dope.”

Defining Def Soulja’s rapping style would be tricky, after all, it wouldn’t do it justice narrowing it down in a few paragraphs or so, the truth is, it’s a whole lot easier to characterise the New Yorker’s work ethic when seeing him live on stage; energetic, confident, persuasive, gritty and menacing are just a few words that sum up what the rapper is truly like, in the flesh. The rapper takes pride in his storytelling and hook-writing, and doesn’t fall short of heavy bars, after all, the rapper grew up in the same borough as Big Pun.

Being from the Bronx, Def Soulja knows better than most than a rapper’s demeanour has to be fearlessness, determination and tenacity to want it more than your neighbour. Something than the emcee brings to the table is not only to improve himself as a rapper, but wanting to be a great artist, to slowly but surely build a legacy of your own, in this day and age, with everyone wanting to be the greatest rapper out there, he perhaps has other plans in store:

“When I was younger, I cared about being the greatest rapper, but now I care to have a catalogue that lasts forever. In order to do that, you have to make good music, you have to make people be able to feel something, especially through hooks. Hip-Hop is a genre where people like to party, people like to go through certain emotions, and phases of their lives. You can bring that alive in a hook, and if you base it around good verses, you’re always going to win, you can’t lose.”

He continues: “Storytelling and hooks are very important in Hip-Hop. I feel like everybody just want to be bar heavy on every song, which is cool because there are people who like that. But I grew up on making hooks and being able to tell a story because it keeps the listener engage into what you saying. Wrong Info was one of those songs where I felt like a hook would set the song off right and prepare you for some heavy hitting bars. Yeah, can I rap with the best one? I believe I can, but I also want to make great bodies of work; to me, that takes great hook writing, storytelling, great verses, something that people can just feel and enjoy. I want to take people for a ride, I don’t want to bar you to death, I don’t care to punchline you for 8 minutes straight or a 30-minutes album. I want to take people through a journey of my life, that’s the stuff I take pride in.

Today, Def Soulja reflects proudly on his diligent work, and carries himself with a lot of serenity, and elegance, continuing to grind and perfect his craft, as he has done so quietly but surely for over a decade. Def Soulja is part of Social Misfit, the NYC-based music label owned by Coach Bombay 3000 and has been for quite some time. The roster also includes Teeg Austin, Naquai, Bvngs, Jizzy Blanco and Streeta G.

People who the rapper can count on when things get difficult, and with Coach Bombay managing Rome Streetz- both individuals have worked together, who better but Griselda’s new hottest emcee to elevate his pen by pushing him into the right direction. “Rome is a very cool individual, and a student of the game, and you know he takes this seriously, it’s the type of people you want to be around, likeminded people when it comes down to Hip-Hop. You want to be around the guys that have a good one, those who push your pen and really study this game and take it seriously. You wanna be around those like-minded people because they’re the ones who keep the flame lit. I know he’s one of those that’s in it for real. Very down to earth. And nothing to play with.”

After all, it is no surprise to find the latter on 42 Square Miles, Def Soulja’s latest release, both emcees share a similar mindset, serene but ready to murder every rhyme book they get their hands on. When the project was released last August, it wasn’t difficult to tell that a lot of hard work was put inside, 183rd’s versatile production throughout the body of work should not go unnoticed, and neither should Def Soulja’s ominous and reflective pen. 42 Square Miles was described as a confident body of work and versatile in its production, with songs such as 03 Smack DVD being energetic and exciting, thanks to all three musketeers: Def Soulja, Nym Lo and 183rd. When asked how the song came about, Def Soulja answered: “To be honest with you, I just kind of let it flow, 183rd played the beat and that’s what I heard, you know what I mean? We played it back for Coach and he said it sounded like Dipset (The Diplomats) from back in the days, sort of like ‘03, 05’ Smack DVD, so we were like: “oh yeah, that’s it. We wanted to get someone else from Harlem, shout out to Nym Lo and then boom, magic happens and that was it.”

{INSERT EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP FROM 03 SMACK DVD}

Other tracks on the album like Long Ago, 42 Square Miles (A Bronx Tale) and Henni Privi are very personal, where Def Soulja is able to dive into his personal life a whole lot more. On Henni Privi, the rapper gives us an insight as to what pain really looks like, following the passing of his son:

“Henny Privi is one of those songs that’s the hardest for an artist to write but it’s necessary because you get a chance to peel back a layer for your fans. Sometimes, people forget artists are humans and that we also go through dark times. During those times I was in that dark place and Henny was my happy place. I have no problem telling people about my struggles because I know there is someone out there going through the same thing. And it is very therapeutic for me to speak about those things. Writing that song was difficult because now I have to travel back to a place where that pain lives and talk about things that still hurt, but it’s all worth it because that’s part of the healing process.

Those words are important and should resonate with most emcees; confidence, intelligence and talent go hand-in-hand when it comes to rapping. Presence also being a huge factor. It seems like Def Soulja ticks all the boxes. “I’m from the Bronx, I’m from the cloth, if you ain’t talking like you’re the best, then what are you doing this for? I take pride in making music.”

Thousands can certainly vouch for that, as the rapper saw his hard work paying off, displaying his lyrical skills in Europe for the first time last month, travelling with Social Misfit crew for Rome Streetz’s Kiss The Ring tour. For Def Soulja, everything feels a little bit surreal: “It’s just crazy to me that my rhymes got me performing in a whole other country.” He says. “I always heard about how Hip-Hop is more appreciated over here but to actually see it is incredible.” Def Soulja originally began touring across America with Teeg Austin and Rome Streetz before performing in Germany, Georgia, France, and England. A first for most of the Social Misfit crew.

“We started the tour off in the States but to be honest the tour started overseas for me. Like that’s when I knew I was really on tour. The Kiss The Ring tour as a whole was highly successful, we did exactly what we needed to do.” “Tour has been great! Like everything about it was good. We had a few encounters with some rude people but nothing that we haven’t been through already. (The team and I) We’re not on some rowdy-rowdy stuff, you know rappers have that stereotype: “Oh, he like this.”

We’re a very militant minded group of individuals, who move on a certain accord. It’s about business, about presentation but also putting a show for people. All the negativity that comes with it, you know, like when rappers move around, we don’t got time for that, and we don’t want none of that. We want people to come in and enjoy the show and feel safe, that’s our mission and our goal.”

“Social Misfit, we’re the next regime, we got artists on Social Misfit who are really gonna change, push the pen, and raise the bar. It’s coming, stay tuned. I’m happy with the state of Hip-Hop right now.” Def Soulja mentioned his upcoming album on stage at the Jazz Café, and I asked him after the show what we could expect from this release:

“Yeah! It’s called Moonlight Marauder. It’s produced by Sebb Bash, who’s from Switzerland. It’s… a real, I wanna say, different sound from what you’d usually hear but still my sound, when you hear it, it’s gonna be very broad, it’s not gonna be something that makes you think: “It’s not straight hard-hitting, straight to your face” but it will have those cusses and it will have that storytelling, I’mma shed that little light and peel back a few layers, you know what I’m saying? As far as me being an artist. I can’t just box myself in. That’s what this album is gonna do, it’s kinda pushing through the cylinder: “Oh, he’s just that type of rapper.” Nah, we cutting that out and breaking through that ceiling, we’re gonna show a different side of me that I think people will really like.”

Just a few days before heading to Detroit for the first show of the tour, Def Soulja signed a deal with Equity/Roc Nation under Social Misfit, alongside his compatriot Rome Streetz, who signed the deal under Bad Influenyce: “Yes! I just signed a deal with Equity/Roc Nation and let me tell you this I’m here now! Y’all stuck with me! This deal was a big deal for me because now I’m in a space where I can make an impact on a higher level. Some artists are able to crack open the door with just one song or one album, some have to keep grinding to catch the eyes of the people. I’m one of the ones who had to keep grinding, keep sacrificing to get where I’m at. It wasn’t easy and I wouldn’t trade the experience for nothing in the world. But now that I’m here the real work begins; everything that lead to this point was just a small sample size of what’s about to really happen. I stayed Militant through all the ups and downs and now I got a chance to make my mark. The Militant Misfit is here to stay.