B.O.B. exploded onto the music scene in 2010 with his debut album release The Adventures of Bobby Ray and lead single "Nothing on You" ft Bruno Mars. From this album spawned a series of hits and features from B.O.B. and was one of the most successful crossover Hip-Hop/pop albums of the year. The Grand Hustle records emcee's passion and good ear for pop helped him become an instant superstar and later led to collaborations with a range of artists. He achieved what many newcomers to the mainstream music world set out to do and thats have a hit first record. With Strange Clouds he enlists a wide range of artists and producers to achieve the same success.
Reaching the level of stardom that B.O.B. has, you have more freedom to experiment and enlist talents like Ryan Tedder, Bei Maejor, Alex Da Kid, Lil Wayne, StarGate, Playboy Tre, Taylor Swift, Trey Songz, and others offer their skills to create an eclectic sound that exceeds the boundaries of only one genre of music. Opening with the narration talents of Morgan Freeman on "Bombs Away", B.O.B. addresses the critics and challenges of success while staying true to himself over the past few years. Still focusing on appealing to mainstream, Strange Clouds includes songs about smoking weed ("Strange Clouds" ft Lil Wayne), groupies ("Ray Bands"), and aggression ("Play for Keeps"). What saves many of these tracks from just being a generic single for the club is his exceptional lyrical flow. For those who do not believe that he can hold his own and has passion when on the mic should just listen to the tracks "Arena" ft Chris Brown and T.I. and "Out of My Mind" ft Nicki Minaj.
The rest of the album takes a deeper and darker tone as the sound changes from just Hip-Hop/pop to a variety of alternative, rock, and some singing. With "So Hard to Breathe", he opens up over an alternative percussion heavy beat about his journey through fighting and achieving success/fame. This theme of vulnerability carries through the cross-over song "Both Of Us" ft Taylor Swift, the haunting "Just a sign" ft. Playboy Tre, percussion heavy "Chandelier", and R&B pop-friendly tracks "Castles". Although the Strange Clouds can take a serious turn at times, he still has a few upbeat feel-good tracks. With his second single off the album "So Good", he draws a little inspiration from his first super hit "Nothing On You". "Castles" ft Trey Songz celebrates the accomplishments of achieving his dreams.
With the dope lyrics and some of the best production fans have heard from the ATL emcee, Strange Clouds sets B.O.B. apart from most mainstream artists. His good ear for sound and raw emotion in his lyrics are some of the qualities that make Strange Clouds seem genuine while still keeping it appealing to a variety of listeners. Like Hip-Hop and rap culture, his sound has changed and evolved from his earlier days of "Haterz Everywhere I go". Now this album may not be for every fan of rap, especially those who keep 2 Chainz and Gucci on heavy rotation, but one thing I have noticed about B.O.B. is that he is not about that type of life at all. Instead of portraying the uber-masculine image that greats of the past have done and succeeded, B.O.B takes influences from popular genres to make a solid piece of work. Where other Hip-Hop artists try to cross over the genres and appeal to a mass audience, it can come across as lackluster and generic *cough* Nicki Minaj *cough*. At times Strange Clouds can come across a little too pop friendly, rappers have to eat and pop is still one of the highest selling genres of music and B.O.B. can deliver good music.
"Strange Clouds"
"so good"
"Never Let You Go"
"Out of my Mind"
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