Article: Soulja Boy Cranks It Up Big-Time; DIY Rapper Is Making All the Right Moves

Love it or loathe it, "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" is the biggest pop novelty of 2007, and only partly because it was the country's No. 1 single for seven weeks this fall. With Soulja Boy's rudimentary, shouted (mostly indecipherable) rhymes, spare steel drum hook and snapping fingers, the song is equal parts irresistibly catchy and endlessly annoying. If Charles Dickens were a music critic, he might have written that "it was the best of tunes, it was the worst of tunes." The track recently received a Grammy nomination for best rap song.

Realistically, it's the easy-to-do, better-in-a-group choreography that has made "Crank That" the biggest dance sensation since the Macarena. Bigger, ...

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