B.O.B Biography

Bobby Ray Simmons (born November 15, 1988), also known as Bobby Ray, or B.o.B, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is currently signed under the labels of Grand Hustle and Atlantic Records.

B.o.B was born in Atlanta, Georgia. In December 2008, he appeared on the cover of XXL magazine along with Asher Roth, Charles Hamilton, Kid Cudi, and Wale as "Hip-Hop's Class of '09". In October 2008, B.o.B was featured on the cover of Vibe along with some of these same young musicians and was similarly identified as promising young talent. He has described his influences as "80's music, rap, techno, rock, funk, even doo-wop…".

2010–present: B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray

His debut album, B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray, was originally expected to be released on May 25, 2010, but due to the commercial success of his song "Nothin' on You", was pushed up to April 27, 2010. The album was released under T.I.'s record label Grand Hustle and includes features from Lupe Fiasco, T.I., Playboy Tre, Hayley Williams (of Paramore), Rivers Cuomo (of Weezer), Janelle Monae, and Eminem. B.o.B first began to gain major recognition in 2007 after the success of his song "Haterz Everywhere" featuring Wes Fif. His first single, "I'll Be in the Sky", was released in late 2008. About.com called the song a "smart, funky artrap and a strong prelude to his album" and included it at #13 on its subjective ranking "Top 100 Rap Songs of 2008". Incidentally, another song produced by Bobby Ray called "Generation Lost" listed alongside the song on the ranking at #32. The music videos for "Haterz Everywhere", "I'll Be in the Sky", "Generation Lost", "Lonely People", "Put Me On", and "No Mans Land" can be found on MySpace or YouTube. B.o.B recently released the video to his hit single, "Nothin' On You." He recently released a remastered version of his song "Bet I" (originally featured on his May 25th mixtape). The song now includes a verse from T.I.. B.o.B has recently released three new singles that will be featured on his debut album, "Don't Let Me Fall" (April 6, 2010), "Airplanes" (April 13, 2010) and "Bet I" (April 20, 2010). His recent single "Airplanes" features vocals from Hayley Williams of Paramore, and "Bet I" features T.I. and Playboy Tre. A video for "Bet I" has recently been released on Atlantic Videos on Youtube.