According to TMZ, DeAndre ‘Soulja Boy’ Cortez — American rapper, producer, actor, and entrepreneur — is starting an esports franchise that will expand across Fortnite, Overwatch, and other top competitive games.
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As you may know, Soulja Boy made the video game headlines earlier this month when he announced the SouljaGame Consule, an emulator that will allow you to play classic games ranging from classic PlayStation titles to classic Nintendo titles.
But Soulja Boy isn’t stopping there when it comes to dipping his hands into the video game world. He’s also starting an esports franchise to rival the likes of C9, Team Liquid, and 100 Thieves.
“We’re gonna be finding talent, hiring talent,” said Soulja Boy while speaking to TMZ about his plans on how to get the unnamed organization off the ground.
Soulja Boy doesn’t divulge any more specifics, but he does mention that he’s looking to get things off the ground in 2019 with teams across games like Overwatch, Fortnite, and Call of Duty. From the sounds of it, the ball has actually already starting rolling.
Soulja Boy also teases the involvement of Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins, who the rapper describes as a mentor of sorts. Soulja Boy — best known for tracks like Crank That and Kiss Me Thru The Phone — describes himself as a good friend of the world’s most popular streamer, and revealed he has learned a lot about the business of streaming from Blevins.
As for whether Ninja will play for his organization, Soulja doesn’t say, but he does acknowledge it would cost him a fortune to get him on one of his rosters. Interestingly, Ninja’s contract with Luminosity is about to run out, so there’s a chance.
If you know Soulja Boy, you’ll know he’s a big fan of gaming, and has been in and around the industry for years now. The 28-year-old Chicago-born rapper describes himself as a lifelong gamer, and so it’s no surprise the older he gets the more involved he wants to be with not only gaming, but the businesses that surrounds the hobby.
Right now, the finer details are all a bit hazy, but from the sounds of it, we should know more come 2019.
