top of page
Search
albykovfezi

Bob Underground Luxury Album Dow: The Reviews and Reactions to B.o.B's Fusion of Hip-Hop and Pop



B.O.B. went on Instagram to reveal the cover of his new album Underground Luxury. Buoyed by the singles "Headband" (Featuring 2Chainz) and the just released "Ready" (Featuring Future), B.O.B. is primed to follow the harder more trap sounding songs that his Grand Hustle Records cohorts specialize in, but with B.O.B.'s own eclectic flow and rhyme schemes. Underground Luxury is set to release on Dec 17.




Bob Underground Luxury Album Dow



"John Doe" is a song by American rapper B.o.B, featuring guest vocals from American singer-songwriter Priscilla. It was released on December 3, 2013, as the fourth single from B.o.B's third studio album, Underground Luxury (2013). It has since peaked at number 69 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.


2013: Following his bold claims made throughout most of the year that his next album would be the best musical album of 2013, Georgia rapper B.o.B. dropped his third studio album, Underground Luxury, exactly five years ago through Grand Hustle Records.


After first unveiling that the title of his next project would be Underground Luxury through a simple tweet in May of that year, the member of XXL's 2009 Freshman Class spoke highly of the state of the rap game in 2013. "This year was a crazy year, everybody put out an album, but I feel like just the energy that's back in hip-hop, it's like back what you saw in the '90s when it was real superstar energy," B.o.B. said when it was announced that his third album would be released in December. "I feel like that's very present among us."


So with that, the "Strange Clouds" artist set the bar high in a year that saw acclaimed releases from some of the game's top acts, saying that Underground Luxury would outdo them all. "I would have the best musical album out this year, like hands down," said Bobby Ray, who had become known as a well-rounded artist who could rap, sing, play the guitar and produce. "That's no knock to anybody, any of the greats like Jay and Kanye because I enjoyed their albums, but musically, what I put into this album is gonna be the best album this year."


Underground Luxury's lead single, "Headband," featuring 2 Chainz, was released at the tail end of May, shortly following the B.o.B.'s announcement of the album. The track was produced by DJ Mustard and peaked at No. 53 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Next up was the Rock City-produced "All I Want," a single that highlighted the theme in which Bobby intended to take the album as a whole, representing "anybody who grew up having nothing," but were able to "take what they had and make it luxurious." Two more singles, "Ready," featuring Future and "John Doe," featuring Priscilla, preceded the album's release, while Underground Luxury's final single, "Throwback," featuring Chris Brown dropped in March of 2014.


B.o.B.'s third studio LP is an album that predominantly shows off the artist's excellent rap skills, while staying true to the eclectic nature of his sound that brought Bobby Ray to the dance.


2013 release, the highly-anticipated third studio album by the famed rapper. Underground Luxury features the radio hits 'We Still In This' (featuring T.I. and Juicy J), 'HeadBand' (featuring 2 Chainz) and 'Ready' (featuring Future). The album also includes guest appearances from Ester Dean, Priscilla, Playboy Tre, Mike Fresh and Chris Brown.


B.o.B quickly rose to fame after his commercial debut single "Nothin' on You", reached number one in both the United States and the United Kingdom. He would later release his third single "Airplanes", which also topped several major music charts. His fifth single "Magic", became his 3rd top 10 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100. B.o.B's debut studio album The Adventures of Bobby Ray, which was preceded by two extended plays (EPs) and several mixtapes, was released in April 2010. The album reached number one on the US Billboard 200 and was eventually certified 2 platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2016. B.o.B was named the ninth "Hottest MC in the Game of 2010" by MTV, on their annual list.


B.o.B released his second studio album Strange Clouds, in May 2012. The album spawned six singles, four of which charted exceptionally well internationally. The album's eponymous lead single became his fourth top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The singles "So Good", "Both of Us" and "Out of My Mind", followed behind, with the former two being certified platinum by the RIAA. The album itself debuted at number five on the Billboard 200. His third album Underground Luxury, was released in December 2013 and supported by the lead single "HeadBand". In August 2015, B.o.B unexpectedly released a new project Psycadelik Thoughtz, via digital distribution, with little-to-no promotion. B.o.B is an outspoken believer that the earth is flat.


In 2002, after meeting his mentor and co-manager B- Rich at the age of 14, B.o.B sold his first beat to former Slip-n-Slide recording artist Citti, for a song titled "I'm the Cookie Man". Meanwhile, B.o.B felt he had made it: "I went and blew all of my money on fast stuff like a chain and ballin'. Soon I was broke again, but I learned two important things from it; make sure I save my money and that I was hooked on music." Back to square one, B.o.B continued performing at open mics and underground venues, to perfect his craft. In 2006, because he was underage, B- Rich helped sneak B.o.B into Club Crucial, a night club owned by Atlanta-based rapper T.I.. There, B.o.B performed a song titled "Cloud 9", a self-produced, spoken word-like ode to marijuana. In attendance was producer and industry veteran, T.J. Chapman, chief executive officer (CEO) of TJ's DJ's. Chapman agreed to co-manage B.o.B, which only a month later led to B.o.B's signing with Atlantic Records and subsidiary imprint Rebel Rock, run by Florida-based producer Jim Jonsin. His first single for Atlantic, 2007's "Haterz Everywhere", reached the top five of Billboard's Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart. Along with his solo production career, B.o.B is part of a production/rap group called HamSquad, along with Playboy Tre, DJ Swatts, DJ Smooth, Moss B, B-Rich and TJ Chapman.


B.o.B first began to gain recognition at the start of 2007. The underground single, "Haterz Everywhere" featuring Wes Fif, gained the rapper attention by peaking at number 5 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles. The remix to "Haterz Everywhere" featuring Rich Boy, was included used in the video game Fight Night Round 4, and a music video was later released for that version. Another single, "I'll Be in the Sky", was released in 2008 and it has reached at number 15 on the same charts. About.com called the song a "smart, funky artrap and a strong prelude to his album" and included it at number 13 on its subjective ranking "Top 100 Rap Songs of 2008". Incidentally, another song produced by B.o.B called "Generation Lost", listed alongside the song, on the ranking at number 32. This was followed by another single titled "Don't Let Me Fall". B.o.B made his first big feature appearing on T.I.'s highly acclaimed album Paper Trail (2008), on the song "On Top of the World", alongside fellow Atlanta-based rapper Ludacris.


On January 13, 2010, B.o.B announced his debut studio album, tentatively titled The Adventures of Bobby Ray, was expected to be released on May 25, 2010. To promote the album, B.o.B announced a mixtape titled May 25, in reference to his album's release date. May 25 was released on February 1, 2010, to critical acclaim. The mixtape features guest appearances from J. Cole, Asher Roth, Playboy Tre, Charles Hamilton and Bruno Mars. The latter of whom was featured on the bonus track and B.o.B's debut single, "Nothin' on You". Due to the commercial success of his mixtape May 25 and his single "Nothin' on You", the release date of his debut album was advanced to April 27, 2010. Three other singles followed: "Don't Let Me Fall" (released April 6, 2010), "Airplanes" (April 13, 2010; featuring Hayley Williams), and "Bet I" (April 20, 2010; featuring T.I. and Playboy Tre). A video for "Bet I" was released on Atlantic Videos on YouTube. 2ff7e9595c


1 view0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page