B.O.B is one of the year’s biggest success stories. The 21 year-old Atlanta-native and Grand Hustle signee has managed to score 3 Top 10 Billboard Hits off his debut album The Adventures of Bobby Ray (‘Nothin’ On You’ hit #1 on the Hot 100, while ‘Airplanes’ peaked at #2 and ‘Magic’ currently sits at #10). On top of that, he was chosen to open up for Jay-Z and Eminem‘s Home to Home stadium tour, and as if that wasn’t big enough it was recently announced that B.O.B is going to be performing for President Obama at this year’s Gen44 summit. This would be impressive for any debut artist, but in an era where rappers with enormous internet/industry ‘buzz’ fail on the regular, and others struggle to even get a solid release date, what he’s managed to do is nothing short of incredible. No doubt about it, B.O.B is a star, but when you really think about it, the majoity of listeners don’t know much about him at all. To quote the title of one of his early mixtapes, Who The F**k Is B.O.B?
NEXT PAGE: WHY B.O.B NEEDS TO RELEASE A SOLO HIT.
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While B.O.B is currently a force at radio and on the charts, the man himself remains something of an enigma. This has a lot to do with the fact that his three hits so far are all driven by their show-stealing guests. Honestly, most people couldn’t quote a B.O.B line from ‘Airplanes’ or ‘Nothin’ On You’ if put on the spot. ‘Nothin’ On You’ is all about Bruno Mars‘ jubilant chorus. ‘Airplanes’ is driven by Hayley Williams’ of Paramore and Eminem. Rivers Cuomo is what makes ‘Magic’ magic. In essence, these songs could have any rapper on them and would have been giant hits (an early version of ‘Nothin’ On You’ leaked which sees Lupe Fiasco rapping instead of B.O.B, and the song is just as big). B.O.B is charismatic, yes, but on these songs he comes off as somewhat anonymous and nondescript. Considering his immense talent – alongside rapping, B.O.B writes, sings, plays guitar, etc. – this is an absolute shame.
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Now that he’s made his name known with ‘Nothin On You,’ ‘Airplanes,’ and ‘Magic’ it’s time for B.O.B to release a solo single. He’s done a ton of songs on his own on his excellent mixtapes, so it’s not an issue of his talent or ability to do so, it’s more show the masses that he can carry a song by himself and still have pop appeal. He’s a much bigger talent than the anonymous status he has on his hit records would lead one to believe,
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