Artist description The Soulja has been droppin lyrical bombs for 12 years and is currently one of the foremost cutting edge emcees in the underground. Never sacrificing the three key ingredients, Heat, Heart and hunger, the soulja maintains what most emcees lose to the game: His roots! The soulja has been felt in Spin magazine, Gods of Music, chosen as one of the very few rap bands in the 2000 angel citi film and music festival in Los Angeles, and chosen as rapper of the month many, many times by many rap sites on line! His label, Wreckin stone Records, has released two double cd projects in the same year (2001)!! He has many ep project credits and has worked on various movie soundtracks. Never getting lost in the struggle, the soulja finds his way through experimental and off the beaten track projects. Always original, always hard and always at the top of his game, the soulja is about to set this planet off its axis!!!~

Music Style Very west coast influenced, but rock many stylz, mostly depends upon the track. Don't like to be limited to one style.

Musical Influences Scarface, Tu- Pac, bone, easy-e, dr. dre, king t, and many west coast influences.

Artist History "I feel at most times that I am the struggle, Can't escape it, Can't beat it.....And every damn time I feel like i done made it, Like I done beat the struggle....It throws another obstacle or death in my path to make me stumble and fall......." The Soulja of Black Souls has endured. In his personal life and in his endeavor to become a hip hop legend. He has endured the pain of friends turned to enemies, The tears of close souljaz departing to the cross roads from needless deaths and worse still, the break up of his marraige of 12 years. "She (Renita) was my music, with me from the first track I laid on them old kareoke boom boxes. Somewhere along the way our vision of things just wasn't the same. Like two peoples eyes in the same head- one looking one way and the other looking in different direction.." The Soulja defines the term of "Real" in a way unheard of anymore- By staying true to his beliefs and most importantly staying true to the music. "The music is the art, I am only a mouth who puts speech to the picture. The music tells me what to say as long as i listen. The very second that feeling becomes tainted, the art is lost..." His sound is very diverse, with each song bringing a new style of lyrical flow. From tracks to make ya bounce like "And I love this *hit!" to absolute darkness as in the legendary track called "Lord I'm so sorry" which is considered to be one of the greatest rap tracks ever written by Gods of Music*. "I love to experiment with sound and lyrics, I absolutely hate to keep working on a succesfull recipe just to make the dollar. I wanna feel great about my accomplishments in music long after the dollar is gone." Living in Kentucky until the age of 21 has defintely given the soulja a unique sound as well as that down home importance of family. "You can be a soulja or you can be a family man, both very important. But in my eyes if you can do both at the same time, your already a legend!!" The lyrics of the soulja started in KY writing verses for other rappers but the soulja's sound didn't come into play until 1993 when he moved to Lancaster Pa (outside of Philly) and started the group known as brainwave with two of his latino partna's. "Truth be told, we where probably the first if not one of the first to mix spanish lyrics with english lyrics in the same song. That song was "you better jet" and damn, the crowd loved it!!" Demon 1 was the master of the tables with an endless supply of instrumentals from the crates and Nas-t-v (the soulja) and M.C. Sbull(the spanish bull) where the rhyme sayers. "I loved those days - nothin but drinkin and stayin smoked out and rockin the mic thinkin we was gonna be stars. I truly miss my boys." Brainwave won a few local talent shows and just when things where starting to shine M.C. Sbull was shot in the mouth with a .38 at point blank range leaving him paralyzed from the neck down for two years until his death. "my heart hurt, terribly, it was a wake up call. Then, we never thought we would end up in that position, we where bangers, unafraid and untouchable. But even tu-pac knew it- any man can be touched. The closer you sleep to the bullet, the sooner you wake up dead." Demon 1 and nas-t-v tried to maintain but eventually lost the vibe. The soulja hooked it up with another local favorite d.j. known as d.j. freeze and this lead to the creation of Black Souls in 1995 and also to the first official release single called "Black Souls and Foolz Gold". "I was finally in a real studio. No bull*hit kareoke *hit. I was in heaven - nuff said" The Soulja and Freeze worked on many tracks but nothing ever really became solid. Freeze was tired of not making any money and so the two split ways. "Freeze and I are still friends to this day, and wether or not he knows it, even through our differences, he was a very big influence to my music, and damn he can rip the wheelz of steel in half!!" Again solo, the soulja was angry and unsatisfied turning to the streets to hustle. Staying high and drunked up seemed to take over the soulja's drive to release music. "Everthing was dark, I was constantly in the face of death, always trying to see how close I could get. I was on a rampage, didn't nothin matter to me, not even my own seeds." Then on a roller coaster ride of alcohol and drugs, the face of death firmly snatched the soulja up and took him to the brink. With his hand nearly severed and left laying bleeding to death, the soulja was only minutes away from his grave. "I really only remember the blood spraying out of my arm coating the walls and ceilings of the house. The police and ambulance arrived and i remember hearing the paramedic screaming about my condition-- then blackness...." The soulja had lost all use of his right hand with most doctors feeling as if this would be permanent- all the tendons where severed with several being severed in multiple places. But -- again-- He endured. 3 operations, two years of rehabilitative therapy and by the miracle of God-- he regained almost full use of his hand and lower arm. "I knew this was Gods will- He was sending me my final message -there would be no more. I had to control my anger and resolve my inner conflicts The Soulja believes there are no such things as coincidences, everything has a purpose and meaning, and one thing leads to another as long as you allow your life to progress. Follow your signs to your destiny, it is there waiting for you. "Very shortly after my last operation my father bought me a complete analog 16 track studio. It was the greatest gift i ever recieved and this led to the come back of Black Souls, out of the darkness we came- 2-g and beyond..." Black Souls first album was released in 1998-1999 called "2-G and Beyond" under the new Safehouse label created by the soulja. One of the most impressive and memorative tracks on this project was "where you at" which featured the soulja's son dat lil g aka gregory fletcher in the third verse. With an elaborate skit and excellent vocals this song shined brightly indicating the Soulja was back from Hell and ready to rip mic's in half!! "and then the hold ups, and more obstacles, my career was flourishing but my personal life was again in serious trouble" Family drama pushed the soulja to move back to the city and state he grew up in in 2001-2002 and into the lowest point of his life. "I had mad issues to resolve, deep rooted family issues, prejudice, hate and it seemed as if everything was crashing on me- the word avalanche would be a vivid picture of how I was feeling." But he endured,... "I just kept on pushing through one problem to the next- till i could breathe again- the one problem really messing me up was a bad deal i signed with an indie label known as impaq recordings and Management. I had based my life around this deal and then it s*it all over me" The soulja released 6 new tracks while he was at home in maysville ky and even featured a couple talented new comers to the rap game. Sometimes at the absolute bottom you can create your greatest work and that is just what the soulja did. "My favorite being "lemme die a soulja" and "dirtiest cop alive", but most people are really relating to "Bad Blood" because it deals with real family issues. But these songs where exactly my life at the time, maybe that is why the fire is so hot" The release of "slo thug anthem" set everyone on fire- the short version of only a little over two minutes had the whole state screamin for a longer version. This track featured D.Q. aka damion williams singing some super smooth vocals asking people why they always have to judge others by the color of their skin or their first appearance. "Jaz fx productions out in cali, wanted the song to advertise a compilation but they needed a longer version, me and dq where having some personal problems and basically having beef when he was suddenly tragically killed in a terrible car wreck, Again i was dropped to a new low.." The soulja moved back to Lancaster Pa shortly after the death of D.Q. and is currently working on shopping a deal through the great peeps of Talent 2-k. "It's my time and i haven't even hit my peek yet, all i want is bread money to feed my family while i'm makin my greatest project to date "Ride On - Here and After"." The Soulja has achieved and accomplished so much, from having a track called "feel my pain" circulated world wide in Spin Magazine to being chosen as one of the very few rap bands out of thousands to attend the Angel Citi film and music festival. He has been featured countless times on web sites such as gods of music and Riffage.com. He has worked on two indie movie soundtracks and is currently in the running to have his music on a new playstion 2 video game releasing next year. He has blessed many compilation cd's with his talent and even appeared in the top ten pop charts in Italy. He has released two double cd's under his new label known as WreckinStone Records and productions and has worked with many, many rappers in the come up. "it's funny now- one of my biggest goals back in the day was to have an unlimited amount of production at my fingertips- and now producers the world over send me music to bless- It's a great feeling ---- now if i could only have the money to stay in the studio full time...." If it isn't understood by now then let me repeat-- the soulja has endured,,... and he's only just beginning...

Group Members Virgil "The Soulja" Nelson

Albums Black Souls- 2-g and Beyond

Additional Info Looking for some talented rappers to join the Black Souls Franchise..

Location Lancaster, Pa - USA

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