Did B.O.B actually “fall f” or was all of it a plot his personal devising?
When B.O.B’s debut album descended on the Billboard Sizzling 100, it signposted the arrival a brand new crossover celebrity. Only one 12 months on from changing into an XXL Freshman, B.O.B Presents: The Adventures Of Bobby Ray achieved a feat that not even his 2009 classmate Kid Cudi has equaled: immediately securing the highest spot. Catapulted to primary because of radio pleasant hook-ups with Bruno Mars and Paramore’s Hayley Williams, the success his sprightly pop-rap was a far-cry from the developmental turmoil that prompted 2DopeBoyz’ Shake to construct his own B.O.B debut again within the days his web buzz.
Perched on the high the world, the Atlanta rapper appeared predestined to change into an integral half hip-hop’s business foreground by the point he netted 5 Grammy nominations in 2010. But like these nominations by no means translated into wins, the upward trajectory step by step slipped by means of his fingertips, reworking him into an attention-grabbing anomaly fairly than the globe-trotting pressure that he was groomed to change into. Launched as the primary single from his debut LP, the feedback on the video for “Don’t Let Me Fall” has altered its meant function as an empowering anthem right into a grimly prophetic observe that foretold his plummet from the mainstream.
How did a person that had allegedly been “passed the torch” by Andre 3000 on 2012 “Play The Guitar” secede from the forefront hip-hop? Primarily based upon all of the proof that’s earlier than us, it could primarily be attributed to an identification disaster that was waged between inventive and business pursuits. Previous to the discharge his Three Stacks collab, B.O.B was the image optimism so far as his profession path went. Primed to be one the “lead singles” from his new album, the Decatur native noticed his sophomore effort Unusual Clouds as a massive step-up:
“I don’t actually like hyping issues up past perception and all that shit, however the album is certainly progressed tremendously. I sacrificed – I ain’t sleep, lacking household occasions, all the things. Simply mainly dwelling within the studio, so this subsequent undertaking, I’m actually enthusiastic about it.”
The place his debut album attained first week gross sales 84,000, its 2012 follow-up fell quick its lty success by peaking at quantity 5 and shifting 76,000 items upon launch. Though many artists would clamour for these bodily figures at this time, they’ve a far larger significance in B.O.B’s profession as they mark the start a downturn that he’s by no means been in a position to shake f. In reality, the tip Could 2012 marks his final look on the Billboard Sizzling 100, courtesy Taylor Swift team-up “Both Of Us,” earlier than he’d fade from the pop-realm as soon as and for all. Only a 12 months on from Unusual Clouds and two lowkey mixtapes, B.O.B offered his subsequent main launch on Atlantic with Underground Luxurious. Whereas its title appeared oxymoronic, B.O.B clarified his intentions with one other confident statement. “That is connecting the dots, from who I used to be as an artist earlier than the key success to the place I’m at now,” he defined. “And it’s much more unfiltered and unedited than something I’ve ever achieved.”
In the course of the undertaking’s promotional circuit, a go to to Sizzling 97 resulted in a hotly contested debate with Ebro round whether or not or not his profession had reached its apex. In his rebuttal, B.O.B not solely claimed that hip-hop had “tunnel imaginative and prescient” by not taking his abroad influence into consideration however believed he was set to artistically course-correct. “It’s like a reintroduction,” he acknowledged. “For the individuals who caught wind me from “Airplanes” and “Nothin’ On You”, that’s how they know me. So, it’s like nah you gotta know the entire image.”
For all that he’s by no means shied away from collaboration with top-tier business artists starting from Eminem, his mentor T.I, Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown and 2Chainz, all his put up debut-album rhetoric highlighted an unease with the confines being a chart-topping artist. Even within the lyrics “Airplanes” itself, Bobby Ray appeared reticent about buying and selling ardour for pritability and pined for the times when “he was rappin’ for the hell it, however these days we rappin’ to remain related.” Other than his appreciable pedigree as a lyricist, B.O.B is a proficient multi-instrumentalist and has been waging a warfare to be beholden to No Style for a few years. Expressed by means of mixtapes such because the funk-laden Psycadelik Thoughtz, a pivotal consider why he’d by no means attain the heights his debut is because of his imaginative and prescient flying within the face his label. Though he expressed his gratitude to T.I’s Grand Hustle imprint for his or her continued assist, he blasted its mothership Atlantic Information on Twitter for “suppressing” him, claiming that “they boycott me, they’re afraid I’ll get an excessive amount of publicity.”
Within the years which have elapsed since his business excessive watermark, his transfer to impartial artist and CEO No Style have been unmistakably productive however overshadowed by a gradual stream public controversies. Lengthy earlier than Kanye opted to forego typical knowledge in favour f-kilter theories, B.O.B was discovering himself within the headlines for his various views. The place he’d been largely bypassed within the mainstream press for the reason that begin the last decade, he was abruptly garnering column inches once more in 2016 as a proponent the flat earth principle. Because of his refutal trendy science, he discovered himself in a collision disembodied worlds when Dr Neil Degrasse Tyson took issue with his claims. Two ill-advised diss tracks later, the animosity the “beef” could have simmered however it did appreciable injury to B.O.B’s credibility to the informal observer. Versus being an remoted incident, B.O.B has doubled down on this new position a conspiracy theorist and provocateur in recent times by claiming that the slave commerce by no means occurred amongst a litany different controversial views on thoughts programming and cloning.
Granted, there’s nothing to say that artists- or humanity in general- ought to take all the things we’re advised at face worth however the actual situation lies in the truth that it has made him into an web punchline. Because of satirical web sites and message boards making remarks about how “Flat Earth Theory Explains What B.o.B’s Career Fell Off Face Of”, the notable profession renaissance the previous couple years has been eclipsed. Since parting methods with Atlantic, Bobby Ray has been lauded by followers who’ve been keen to solid apart the wariness over his radical pondering and embrace the fabric itself.
After embracing his genre-blurring tendencies on the Components mixtape sequence, B.O.B produced his greatest work in a few years on fourth studio album Ether. Distributed by Empire, the 2017 file pressured many critics to side-line their misgivings and objectively reward the deserves this Jacque Beats and 3O Roc-helmed undertaking. A 12 months later, B.O.B would observe up with NAGA, claiming it to be his remaining album. If that certainly proves to be the case, then he left the right epitaph for his hip-hop profession on “Good N***a Sticker (Freestyle).” Quite than the normal fall-f, B.O.B rationalizes his fall from the pop charts in consequence a acutely aware determination to be an outlier:
“These are the chronicles a black magician, left the rap enterprise, Made some plaques with an unthreatening a black picture. However that is completed, you n****s nonetheless ass kissing, catfishing. Earlier than I used to be rap fishing, I had visions principally hundreds of thousands and packed buildings.”
As evidenced by the above quote and the confounding punk rock Halloween observe “Thoughts Management,” B.O.B is now not catering to the viewers that embraced the pop-rap stylings The Adventures Of Bobby Ray. When it got here to his placement on a serious label, B.O.B was at all times a sq. peg in a spherical gap, trying to compromise on his artistry with a view to appease his Atlantic overlords. 1,000,000 miles faraway from the highlight that “Nothin’ On You” had positioned on him, B.O.B could have faltered within the eyes the mainstream however retains a cult fanbase that can observe him and all his idealistic quirks to the hilt.