Exclusive: B.o.B. Breaks Down His New Album Strange Clouds

B.o.B. is a pretty interesting guy. He’s a chart topping artist, but he’s rarely brought up in barbershop conversations of the next crop of young artists. He’s a multi-talented producer, piano playing, guitar strumming, singing rapping music machine who kept T.I.’s Grand Hustle a float while serving a bid. Despite scoring with three platinum singles in his debut, Bobby Ray will be the first to tell you that he still has a whole lot to prove on his sophomore follow up, Strange Clouds. Without a homerun smash of a single such as “Nothin’ On You” to lean on, Strange Clouds is a more cohesive body of work that will rely on the entire body of work to have the project stand on its on. With guest appearances ranging from Andre 3000 and Nicki Minaj to Taylor Swift and Morgan Freeman; B.o.B. breaks down his new album as well as his thoughts on where he sees his career heading after this album.

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Photo: Atlantic Records

A big knock that people had against you on your first album was that it sounded too pop. Did you go into this album attempting to mold a different opinion? 

–          In the studio I produced more of the tracks myself and wrote a lot of the songs myself, but at the same time I collaborated with a lot of artists and producers like Dr. Luke, and I really wanted to expand myself and my horizons on this album. But at the same time I didn’t want to deny my sound. I know a lot of people may have said my first album had a real “poppy” sound, but I’m not going to deny that sound. It’s what works for me and what took me to the stratosphere. But what I did was incorporate a lot more of what is totally and complete me. I really allowed myself to make rap music, I allowed myself to play the piano, play the guitar, I allowed myself to sing. I mean I really gave myself a lot of creative space to make what I wanted to make.

Do you feel you don’t get the respect you deserve as an artist who has accomplished what you’ve accomplished? It almost seems like when it comes to Hip-Hop artists in your age bracket, it seems like you get overlooked a lot. 

–          For me it really doesn’t matter who I’m compared to because there is nobody out there like me. Nobody is doing what I’m doing. On this album, people are going to realize just what makes me, me. And what makes me stand out in my own world. What makes me Bob and what makes me B.o.B. A lot of people really didn’t understand fully who I am after that first album, and this album successfully does that.

How did the record “Out Of My Mind” featuring Nicki Minaj come about? 

–          Well originally I came up with the concept. And I was trying to figure out who would sound really good on it. I had the beat and I was just thinking “man, I got to get Nicki on this one. She would go Ham on this track.” So I hit her up and let her know the concept. The whole idea was we were both in an insane asylum, and it’s kind of a fun thing where we are both in there and we going ham and she does not want to be there. So she goes ham on me.

The album had a couple of hiccups with push backs, and one of those was the “Play The Guitar” record with Andre 3000. Why do you think that record didn’t take off as expected? 

–          When it comes to records, I only expect for them to do what they are supposed to do. Whatever happens and whatever comes out of that is what it is meant to be. But I really love that song, because of the guitar element on it and all the type of things that me an Andre both bring to the table.

You are still relatively young, so where do you see your music taking you past this album?

–          I see myself continuing to staying the direction that I am in now, musically. I even see myself doing some acting one day, who knows? I think music is definitely going to take me into a lot of adventures.

Out of all the collaborations on this album, who do you think brought the best out of you?

–          I feel like Nicki Minaj really brought her A-game to the table. I think Taylor (Swift) sounds amazing on my record, Morgan Freeman’s voice sounds amazing on the record and it just made it a quality project.