B.o.B Artistfacts

November 15, 1988
B.o.B's real name is Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr. In an interview with DJBooth's DJ Z, the rapper explained the variety of meanings this pseudonym can have. "On the weekend, when I'm takin' it easy, I'm just Burnin' on Blunts, the Best of Buds," he said. "And when it comes Monday, I gotta get back in the studio, so I got my Business over Bulls--t, Business over B--ches. And I'm quick with it, like a Bullet outta a Barrel, and I'm just Bangin' out Beats and Bustin' on Beats when I'm rappin'."
He started rapping at the age of 13 after studying classic albums from DMX and Eminem.
While still in junior high school, B.o.B formed a group with his cousin Swag called The Klinic. When his partner left for college, B.o.B decided to launch a solo career and subsequently recorded a hazy ode to marijuana called "Cloud 9."
B.o.B is from Atlanta, where he was discovered at T.I.'s Club Crucial in 2006. Atlanta had a red-hot rap scene at the time, with T.I., Lil Jon and Ludacris leading the way.
He had a huge hit early on with "Nothin' On You," which went to #1 in May 2010, around the same time he released his debut album, B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray, which also hit #1. The song features Bruno Mars and was his first hit; later in 2010 Mars released his debut album and became a huge star.
His album B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray includes contributions from Lupe Fiasco, T.I., Playboy Tre, Hayley Williams, Rivers Cuomo, Rico Barrino, Eminem, Janelle Monáe and Bruno Mars.
His hit "Airplanes," featuring Hayley Williams, was recorded without B.o.B. and Williams even meeting each other because Williams was touring with her group Paramore. Eminem joined Haley Williams to provide guest vocals for the sequel, "Airplanes, Part II."
B.o.B. features in the song "New York New York" that was used in the launch trailer for the first-person shooter video game Crysis 2.
He can play the guitar, the piano, the trumpet, the French horn and the cello. The singer-songwriter Sevyn Streeter, who was dating B.o.B, told The Boombox how she was inspired by his endeavors as a multi-instrumentalist. "He'll come back from out of town and he has this new instrument at his studio that... kind of like a round bowl-looking thing but it's like a xylophone," she shared. "You hit the inside of it and every time you hit someplace different, it has a different sound."
His father is a preacher. Going to the church and listening to gospel music every Sunday influenced his songs "I'll Be In The Sky," "Satellite" and "The Lost."
In the mid-2010s, B.o.B became better known for conspiracy theories than music. He became a vocal proponent of the Flat Earth theory - the claim the Earth is, in fact, a disc rather than spherical. Much of his music from this time reflects this, notably his 2016 track "Flatline." Atlantic Records dropped him in 2018, so he started releasing his music independently.

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