 | B.o.B |
Certainly one of the biggest breakthroughs this year has been the success of Decatur, GA rapper B.o.B (aka Bobby Ray) and his hugely successful debut album B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray. By now everyone has no doubt heard the huge singles from this record including “Nothin’ On You” which features Bruno Mars, “Airplanes” which features Hayley Williams of Paramore and “Magic” which features nerd-rock king Rivers Cuomo, frontman of Weezer. These singles are really undeniable in their universal appeal and their cross-over potential. While certainly Bobby Ray is first and foremost a rapper, what marks this album and what makes it such a huge crossover hit album is that he blends a lot of elements of R&B, popular hip-hop and indie/rock together to create an album that is less a rap album than an album that is loosely grounded in hip-hop, but touches on many different genres throughout. It is certainly clear that this album is aimed to be that sort of crossover smash and the singles play into that as well, and while it delivers strongly in that arena, it comes across a little shallow and slightly lacking in a broader musical sense. The album is not rocket science, but it has some undeniable hits.
So the biggest thing to note here is that while rapping is certainly a big part of the album, the biggest feature of this album is the melting pot of styles and influences taken together here. You have all of the collaborations mentioned above in addition to an appearance of current R&B/hip-hop “it” girl Janelle Monae as well as T.I. and several others. Bobby Ray is certainly someone you would put in that class of up and coming young superstars to the hip-hop/rap game and he has surrounded himself as such with fellow up and comers and heavy hitters alike. He also shows his indie/rock influences with the appearance of Rivers Cuomo from Weezer and a semi-sampling/revision of a Vampire Weekend song becoming the basis for one of his songs (“The Kids” which features Janelle Monae has a reworked choruse of Vampire Weekend’s “The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance”). Additionally there are songs on here that have heavy rock influences, most notably “Airplanes” and “Magic”, but additionally “Lovelier Than You” which is basically some kind of alt-folk-ballad sung in an R&B style. This album is definitely not one that features standard hip-hop conventions of beats and drums and eschews that in the interest of some real cross-genre mixing and collaborations that only serve to strengthen the cross-over feel of this album.
While the album is clearly engineered and directed to be a very mainstream, cross-over hip-hop album designed to appeal not only to rap fans but rock/indie fans as well, and the album delivers a ton of ‘hit’ type songs, as an album and as a real musical exploration and development it is a little bit lacking. The songs are generally pretty basic in terms of lyrics and structure, and it covers a lot of territory concerning getting famous, dealing with fame and where you came from, but not really in a very intense or dramatic way. By far the most intense and dramatic moment of the album is Eminem’s rap on “Airplanes II” which dicusses some dark moments from his past such as his school and home life and how discouraging and tough that was, but the strong angsty tone of his rap is a far cry from how the rest of the album comes off. But honestly, the album really is a strong play in terms of hits and radio gems, and that seems to be its goal, and that is exactly what Bobby Ray has done here. The hits are here, the production is slick as hell and he has all the right people in place to make this thing work on a massive level, and I think we are certainly seeing the results of that.
B.o.B, while he hasn’t created what I would consider a great rap album, has shown a real knack for putting together hit songs and wide appeal R&B/hip-hop crossover songs that will get heard again and again by a ton of people. The hit-making power of this album is undeniable. The hooks on “Nothin’ On You” and “Airplanes” may be extremely mainstream and hip-pop, but they are really good and completely on the money. So while it may not be the deepest or most intriguing rap album you will ever hear, it certainly shows the strengths of this young talent and how we are going to continue to hear a lot from this guy in the near future for sure.
