Bobby Ray aka B.o.B.
Last night, Strange Clouds covered Atlanta’s Tree Sound Studios as breakthrough artist and hometown representer, B.o.B. hosted a listening session for his upcoming album, Strange Clouds. Strange Clouds is set to release March of 2012, but B.o.B. picked seven exclusive tracks on Monday to get feedback from industry pros, media and fans alike. After the session, we had a chance to chat it up with B.o.B. about the upcoming project.
With candles lit and a mic in hand, B.o.B. gave the audience a peak into his creative process and how each song started from just a sound or lyric and organically grew into a finished piece. B.o.B. stated that he has over 70 tracks for the new album, but is still in the process of narrowing down which ones will make the final cut.
Steve Raze (allhiphop.com), Dennis Byron (Editor in Chief HHE) & Maurice Garland (XXL, MauriceGarland.com)
I’ll take this moment to admit that my love for B.o.B. faded pretty quickly after “Haterz Everywere” and “I’ll Be In the Sky” as he seemed to be taking too much of a Pop approach to his music, for my liking. Not this time though. Strange Clouds has something for everyone, as Bobby Ray seems to get back to his Southern roots with bass-heavy tracks like 5 on the Kush featuring Big K.R.I.T., which any hardcore Hip Hop fan could ride to, but still has a couple of lighter, crossover songs that middle America high school kids will love. One of the standout tracks of the night was “Play My Guitar” featuring Hip Hop veteran, Andre 3000. Honestly, 3 stacks spits one of his best verses we’ve heard from him in a while, and as you probably expected, plays his guitar too.
Strange Clouds, which will be B.o.B.’s sophomore album definitely seems like it’s going to reflect a more mature B.o.B. whose developed not only as a rapper, but also as a producer, and an artist who knows his sound and how he wants the world to hear his music.
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