| Pitchfork |
 B.o.B began griping about the trials of fame long before he had any. "They say that I'm changing/ Cuz I'm gettin famous," went the chorus to 2008's "Fuck You", a bluesy lope of acoustic guitar and twangy harmonica that recalled vintage Dungeon Family. The logic was counterintuitive, even a little ridiculous, but the song itself was warm, fluid, and surprising. It was B.o.B in a nutshell: arrogant, self-aware, undeniably promising. The long road from that to The Adventures of Bobby Ray seems dominated by record execs who manicured, man-handled, and placated the rapper. They catered to all his worst instincts, and he gladly surrendered himself to theirs. The result should serve as a cautionary tale to all involved, except for one small detail: The Adventures of Bobby Ray was the No. 1 album in the country last week.
To put that in perspective: Bobby Ray sold 84,000 copies. In 2003, when people still bought CDs, these numbers would have been embarrassing for a high-profile hip-hop debut, but in 2010, they are, apparently, victory-lap worthy. Atlantic invested time and effort into "grooming" B.o.B, and since record companies tend only to take notice when their pre-planned strategies pan out (ground-level phenomena like Gucci Mane tend to get dismissed as flukes), we can expect to see a lot more records patterned explicitly on The Adventures of Bobby Ray. And that's a truly depressing prospect. As a primer on what major label execs think they need to do to sell a rap record to a mass audience in 2010, Bobby Ray is a queasily fascinating document. As an actual album, it is wretched-- a dishearteningly generic and hollow product with no soul or demographic or viewpoint that arguably bottoms out three separate times....full text |
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| Prefixmag |
| Funky Atlanta MC B.o.B. comes from the line of slightly oddball hip-hoppers like Outkast’s Andre 3000. While B.o.B., who also goes by Bobby Ray, hasn’t built an empire just yet, he’s remained relevant for several years with mixtapes, singles, and scattered TV appearances. That seems to be the way it goes these days, though, with mixtapes more often acting as debut material than proper LP. But B.o.B’s true debut, The Adventures of Bobby Ray, is actually just that. In the works since 2007 and pushed back a number of times, this album features a guest list just as eclectic as his music. Eminem, Weezer, Lupe Fiasco, and Bruno Mars make an appearance, as does T.I., who is also the executive producer. B.o.B. and the Smeezingtons round out the producer lineup....full text |
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| Hiphopsite |
In today’s market, longevity calls for more than just a hit single, dance craze, or even the ability to kick a hot 16. Either you have to be incredible on the mic, or have the talent to write and produce your own music, to insure your career lasts well beyond a decade. That being said, the multi-talented rapper/ singer-songwriter / one-man band, B.o.B., has a long career ahead of him.
After being featured in XXL’s Class of 2009, alongside Kid Cudi, Asher Roth, Wale, Blu, and others, B.o.B. was picked up by Atlantic Records and signed under T.I.’s Grand Hustle imprint. He very quickly caught a buzz with his hit single “Nothin’ On You”, a thoughtful, melodic duet with ’bout-to-blow singer Bruno Mars, so much that the label pushed up the release of his debut album, a month before the original street date of May 25th....full text |
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