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Rapper B.o.B connects with the mainstream-pop audience
Rapper B.o.B's single, "Nothin' On You," is a Top Ten hit
To most pop listeners, he’s a fresh breeze on the Billboard charts: a sharp-witted Southerner with a playful delivery and an ear for an irresistible hook.
But don’t call B.o.B an overnight sensation. And don’t let the friendly insouciance of the rapper’s singles fool you. He’s unusually serious about making music. Consider him part of a notable trend in contemporary hip-hop: he’s just as comfortable flexing his instrumental talents as he is showcasing his lyrical skills.
“I started playing trumpet as a kid,” explains the 21-year-old rapper, whose real name is Bobby Ray Simmons. “I studied guitar, piano, music theory. I’m even picking up the cello now. I’m always trying to make myself a better musician.”Attendance at a B.o.B concert means an encounter with a genuine Southern hip-hop band. And this weekend, that band will be bringing the act north. B.o.B (the initials don’t stand for anything, he says, “it’s just short for Bobby”) opens for Lupe Fiasco at Atlantic City’s House of Blues on Friday and at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza in New York on Saturday and Sunday, and will stay in New York to headline at S.O.B.’s on Monday.
According to the young emcee, Lupe Fiasco’s famously discerning audience has been receptive to the project.
“Lupe’s crowd is a lot like mine,” he says. “They come for the music.”
Even before he stormed the Top Ten with the butter-smooth “Nothin’ On You” — the second-biggest song in the country — B.o.B had established himself as one of the most engaging voices in Atlanta. His ‘07 single “Haterz Everywhere” won him a national audience.
Followup “I’ll Be In The Sky” earned him comparisons to fellow Atlantan (and fellow pop iconoclast) André Benjamin. As part of “Hip-Hop’s Class of ‘09”, he shared the cover of XXL magazine with Wale, Asher Roth, Kid Cudi and Charles Hamilton.
B.o.B shares plenty of positive qualities with the rest of that freshman class: deft lyricism, irrepressible energy, youthful optimism, good humor. But those other emcees haven’t connected with the mainstream pop audience like he has. “Nothin’ On You” has become a genre-busting crossover hit — a track that plays equally well with alt-rap aficionados and casual radio listeners.
The popularity of the single even caught the rapper’s label, Atlantic, flatfooted. But it has recovered and is bumping up the release date of B.o.B’s debut album, “The Adventures Of Bobby Ray,” to April 27 — an unusual move in a genre infamous for delays.
B.o.B attributes the song’s resonance to its sentiment — it’s addressed to a girlfriend who needs reassurance that her man won’t stray — and the immediacy of its production.
“It fits into a radio format, but the vibe is organic.”
Indeed, for a contemporary hip-hop single, “Nothin’ On You” sounds arrestingly live. The splashy drums, busy, fluid bass, and twinkly electric piano were all performed by B.o.B’s band. The compositional architecture of the track resembles that of a conventional rock song — chord changes on the verses, and an anthemic chorus sung by co-producer Bruno Mars.
B.o.B promises further acts of sonic fusion on “The Adventures Of Bobby Ray.” Rappers Eminem, T.I. and Lupe Fiasco will guest, but so will cosmic soul singer Janelle Monáe, Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo, and Hayley Williams of the mainstream rock favorites Paramore.
“I do see myself as part of a bigger movement, linking techno and rock, R&B and soul, pop and hip-hop. Even though the music I make is digitally recorded and contemporary-sounding, I’m influenced by all these styles.”
B.o.B
Where and when: April 12 at 9 p.m. at S.O.B.’s, 204 Varick St., New York. Opening for Lupe Fiasco April 9 at 8 p.m. at the House of Blues, 801 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, and April 10-11 at 9 p.m. at the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, New York.How much: $30-$35 for House Of Blues; call (609) 236-2583 or visit HouseOfBlues.com. $43.50 for Fillmore; call (212) 777-6800 or visit LiveNation.com. $15 in advance, $17 day of show for S.O.B’s; call (212) 243-4940 or visit SOBS.com.
Adam Graham / Detroit News Pop Music Writer
The adventures of Bobby Ray are just beginning.
The Atlanta rapper -- who goes by the artist name B.o.B -- releases his debut album, "B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray," this month. The album was pushed up a month from its May 25 street date thanks to the surprise success of the first single "Nothin' on You," a crossover hit that's an early favorite to be one of the summer's hottest songs.
"Nothin' on You," a cool, contemporary love song that sits at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart, deftly straddles the lines between pop, R&B and hip-hop, much like B.o.B himself. The 21-year-old, born Bobby Ray Simmons, began rapping during middle school but also plays piano, guitar and trumpet.
Having such a wide range of musical influences can be a double-edged sword, Simmons says.
"On one hand, it's hard for people to follow you, but on the other hand you never really get bored because you're always changing," says Simmons, who opens for Lupe Fiasco on Wednesday at Royal Oak Music Theatre. With "Nothin' on You" acting as his introduction to the masses, "now I can start to tell my story and go deeper into my own personality through my music," he says.
Simmons says he began writing rhymes in seventh grade as a way to vent about the usual teenage frustrations. As he sharpened his rap skills, he picked up piano, trumpet and, eventually, singing and guitar.
At school he was a self-described "in-betweener," floating between jocks and kids playing with Pokemón cards with ease. "I was kind of like an all-around guy," he says on the phone last month from Atlanta, just hours after turning in the final copy of his album to his record label. "I wasn't necessarily a popular guy. I was a chameleon."
By high school he was completely concentrated on music, and after graduation signed to T.I.'s Grand Hustle label in 2008. That year he appeared on his boss' "Paper Trail" album, and in 2009 was one of 10 emerging artists named to XXL magazine's Freshman Class of '09.
Now he's poised to be one of the year's breakout artists, but he sounds wary of getting tied up in music industry politics. "Even though I'm a musical artist, not a lot of my time is spent making or performing music," he says cautiously. "Moreso, the music is my tool to meet people and experience different things, go to different parts of the world."
Still, he says it's his love of music that drew him to become an artist and drives his career. And as he begins to shine, he says he knows he was meant for what's coming to him.
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