B.o.B.
May 17, 2010
Multi-instrumentalist mixtape vet B.o.B is a one-man second coming of Atlanta's Organized Noize era. But where OutKast's best spun elastic funk through cinematic psychedelia, The Adventures of Bobby Ray is a hip-hop Scary Movie, tossing off references (Vampire Weekend sample, Rivers Cuomo cameo) while struggling to establish a distinctive identity. Ironically, the high point is straightforwardly buoyant R&B hit "Nothin' on You." Elsewhere, dazzling rhymes are saddled with generic riffage ("Don't Let Me Fall"), a Sublime-lite groove ("Lovelier Than You"), and emo melodrama ("Airplanes," featuring Paramore's Hayley Williams).
Hip-hop's oddest couple has been unleashed by B.o.B, the chart-topping Atlanta rapper who brought Hayley Williams and Eminem together for his new song "Airplanes (Part II)."
The track, off the April 27th release of the rapper's debut, B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray, features a piano-based melody, Williams' wistful vocals, and Em's angry rhymes: "Marshall you never gone make it / Makes no sense to play the game / It ain't no way that'll you win," he raps.
Williams and Em never actually shared the studio, but that didn't stop the pop-punk singer from praising her vocal counterpart: "I only found out about Eminem getting on the track like a month ago. As if the song couldn't get any better. He just slays me, he's such a genius," she said.
"Both versions of the track are incredible, that's all I'll say," Williams added. "I'm so proud to be a part of this!"
The 21-year-old rapper's chart topping single, "Nothin' On You," has sold 84,000 copies so far and Bobby Ray leads Billboard's Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums, Top Rap Albums, and Top Digital Albums charts as well.