Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr. (born November 15, 1988), known professionally as B.o.B, is an American rapper from Decatur.
B.o.B decided to drop out of school in ninth grade in attempt to pursue a music career, but he wasn't signed to a record label until later in 2006 when he was discovered by American record producer Jim Jonsin, who would later sign him to his label Rebel Rock Entertainment. Two years later, he signed a joint venture with Atlantic Records and T.I.'s Grand Hustle Records.
In 2007, he released his debut single via Atlantic, "Haterz Everywhere", which peaked at #5 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
In 2010, his first mainstream hit, "Nothin' On You" (featuring Bruno Mars, who would also breakthrough thanks to his appearance on the song) reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, thus being his highest-peaking hit of all time. He then released his debut studio album B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and quickly managed to sell 84,000 copies upon its release. The album also produced his follow-up hits "Airplanes" (featuring Hayley Williams of Paramore) and "Magic" (featuring Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo). The former remains his second best-known hit of all time, peaking at #2, while the latter peaked at #10.
Discography
- Cloud 9 (2006, Mixtape)
- The Future (2007, Mixtape)
- Eastside (2007, EP)
- Hi! My Name is B.o.B (2008, Mixtape)
- 12th Dimension (2008, EP)
- Who the F#*k is B.o.B (2008, EP)
- B.o.B vs Bobby Ray (2009, Mixtape)
- May 25th (2010, Mixtape)
- Bobby Ray Presents: The Adventures of B.o.B (2010)
- No Genre (2010, Mixtape)
- E.P.I.C. Every Play Is Crucial (2011, Mixtape)
- Strange Clouds (2012)
- iTunes Session (2012, EP)
- Fuck 'Em We Ball (2012, Mixtape)
- G.D.O.D. (Get Dough Or Die) (2013, Mixtape with Hustle Gang)
- Underground Luxury (2013)
- No Genre Pt. 2 (2014, Mixtape)
- G.D.O.D. II (2014, Mixtape with Hustle Gang)
- New Black (2014, Mixtape)
- No Genre: The Label (2015, Mixtape)
- Psycadelik Toughtz (2015)
- NASA (2015, Mixtape)
- W.A.T.E.R. (We Are The Enemy Really) (2015, Mixtape)
- F.I.R.E. (False Idols Ruined Egos) (2016, Mixtape)
- Live & Direct (2016, Mixtape)
- E.A.R.T.H. (Educational Avatar Training Habitat) (2016, Mixtape)
- A.I.R. (Art Imitates Reality) (2016, Mixtape)
B.o.B's examples of the following tropes:
- A Wild Rapper Appears!: He does this in Jessie J's "Price Tag".
- Cluster F-Bomb: Most of his Strange Clouds-present material.
- Capitalism Is Bad: A recurring theme in his songs. For example, some of his biggest hits: "Price Tag" (in which he does the rap feature), "Nothin' On You" (where he compliments his lady love for paying her taxes), and "Airplanes" (where he raps against the monetization of music as an art form).
- Conspiracy Theorist: "Flatline" covers everything from the Earth being flat to Holocaust denial to Lizard Folk secretly running the world.
- Flat World: "Flatline"
- Fun with Acronyms: E.P.I.C., W.A.T.E.R., F.I.R.E., A.I.R..
- "I Want" Song: "Airplanes" is about his desperation to go back to the days when fame wasn't an issue for him.
- Ladykiller in Love: "Nothin' on You" is about a former skirt-chaser that wants to settle down and find real love.
- Ode to Intoxication: A vast majority of his Strange Clouds-present material qualifies.
- Singer Namedrop: He mentions his real name in "Airplanes": This is for Decatur, what's up, Bobby Ray?
- Take That!: "Flatline" is a Take That at Neil DeGrasse Tyson and everyone else who doesn't share B.o.B's wacky views.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: Psycadelik Thoughtz.
