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who was the first rapper on youtube

The most widely credited answer is Soulja Boy , but it’s not a 100% provable fact so much as a strongly supported claim and internet consensus.

Who Was the First Rapper on YouTube?

Quick Scoop

If you’re asking “who was the first rapper on YouTube?” the name you’ll see almost every time is Soulja Boy Tell ’Em.

  • He has long claimed: “I was the first rapper on YouTube.”
  • His early videos date back to around March 2006 , just a few months after YouTube’s official launch in December 2005.
  • Articles and hip-hop outlets often describe him as the first rapper to really use YouTube as a platform for his music and self-promotion.

So in practice, when people online ask “who was the first rapper on YouTube?” , the accepted, pop‑culture answer is: Soulja Boy.

Why People Call Soulja Boy “First”

There are a few reasons Soulja Boy is tied so closely to YouTube’s early rap history.

  1. Timing
    • YouTube went public in late 2005.
 * Soulja Boy’s first uploads hit the platform roughly **three months later** , making him an **early adopter** for artists, especially rappers.
  1. DIY Internet Hustle
    • As a teen, he leaned heavily on the internet for exposure: YouTube, social platforms, and ringtone sales.
 * He treated YouTube like his own TV channel, pushing songs, dances, and viral content directly to fans.
  1. Huge Viral Breakout
    • His song “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” blew up online, became a massive dance craze, and topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2007.
 * The viral success of “Crank That” is often cited as an example of how YouTube helped a rapper go from bedroom recordings to mainstream superstardom.

In internet culture, being the first is often less about strict technical proof and more about who defined the moment. Soulja Boy is that figure for early YouTube rap.

But Was He Literally the First?

Here’s where the nuance comes in.

  • YouTube in 2005–2006 was chaotic; not every early video is archived, and not every small rapper is known.
  • Other early names appear in discussions, like Reed Dollaz , who also posted rap content very early in YouTube’s life.
  • There’s no official “first rapper ever on YouTube” certificate from YouTube itself, so the claim can’t be absolutely verified.

Many music and culture pieces, therefore, frame it as:

  • Soulja Boy was the first major rapper or first big artist to build a career via YouTube , rather than literally the first human being who rapped on the site.

So a more precise phrasing would be:

Soulja Boy is widely regarded as the first rapper to successfully leverage YouTube to launch and popularize his career, and he personally claims he was the first rapper on the platform.

Related Names and “Firsts” in the Conversation

When people dig into this topic, a few other names and “firsts” pop up.

  • Reed Dollaz
    • Early battle/cypher videos on YouTube, gaining traction in the mid‑2000s.
  • Wiz Khalifa
    • Not first, but one of the most successful YouTube-era rappers later on, with huge view counts like “See You Again.”
  • Eminem
    • Recognized as the first hip‑hop artist to cross 20 billion YouTube views , which is a different kind of “first.”

This is why online discussions and forums sometimes turn into:

“Soulja Boy was the first rapper to really blow up from YouTube.”
vs
“There might have been lesser‑known rappers uploading before him.”

Both can be true at the same time.

Mini FAQ

Q: So who should I say if I need a simple name?
Say Soulja Boy. That’s the name most articles and fans associate with the question “who was the first rapper on YouTube?” even though it’s technically a debated and unverified absolute.

Q: Did he really prove it?
He has shared screenshots and timelines showing how early his uploads were, which support him being an early YouTube rapper, though not definitive proof that no one preceded him.

TL;DR:

  • Common answer: Soulja Boy.
  • Why: Very early uploads (around March 2006), viral success with “Crank That,” and a fully YouTube-driven come‑up.
  • Caveat: It’s more an accepted cultural claim than a legally verified technical fact.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.