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With so many new musical artists coming out these days, it’s really hard to know which ones to pay attention to, without having to waste your time listening to their lame-ass mixtape. Nothing is worse than hearing great news about so-and-so and finishing listening to their music with that feeling of “That was straight garbage, I just wasted one hour of my life.” On my on-going quest to find new and talented artists i strike gold with an example of a true artist’s artist. One that refuses to be pigeonholed into a certain category and is easily liked by all for his originality, honesty and passion for what he does best.
I hear that B.o.B. stands for many things, can you tell us what it stands for these days? These days it stands for Bring One Blood, Ball out of Budget, Banging out Beats, Burnin’ on Blunts… all types of good stuff. It’s obvious that your success did not come over night and coming from Atlanta, where there is a lot of talent coming out all the time, how did you make it so that you would be noticed? Really man it’s about being noticed ,you gotta really grind and put yourself out there, and it’s all about the familiarity. If you just explode out of nowhere peeps will be like “Where is this guy from?” I feel like with me people are familiar with me 'cause they seen me, they know I’m grindin’ and I’m really about my music, and it shows in everything that I do. For those that have yet to hear about B.o.B. how would you describe yourself to them? Really man, I’m just an out of space alien that just came to earth and called himself B.o.B, and my music is so left field that it’s just stands out. So many types of music influence me, that you can’t really describe my music, you know what I mean? And I know when my album comes out, whatever category I’ll be put into, imma redefine it. Call it what you want, it’s B.o.B, it has many different meanings. Being so different, what are some of your musical influences? I listen to a lot of… Well coming up you know, obviously, I hear this all the time, Andre 3000, The Dungeon Family, Gnarles Barkley, that’s a given. But I got a lot of rock influences, overseas rock influences, Trance, Techno, Chinese, Vietnamese, Blues, just a lot, just anything you can think of, I’ve heard it. People may have first heard of you on the song “Haterz Everywhere” ft. Wes Fif, how did you end up hooking that up with him and later hooking up with Rich Boy for the video? Well you see Wes-Fif had the beat and sent it to me saying "Yo, B.o.B this is a crazy beat, I wanna see what you can come up with,” I sat down and came up with “Haterz” and when I sent it back to him he was like “Yo! this is dope.” He put his verse on it, and cleaned it up and it started goin on its own. So I performed it at TJ’S DJ one time where Wes-Fif just happened to be there, at the TJ’S DJ conference in Tallahassee and both of us performed it and the crowd was like “Damn!” and wanted to hear it again. So I was like “Shit…this just might work,” and so I started performing it and Greg Street in Atlanta, Who’s always been supporting me and played Cloud 9 way back when I didn’t even have a name, straight outta love spun it back like five times on the radio and when I got "Haterz", he was saying he wanted to hear this on his mixtape so he got Rich Boy on it and he really got behind me and broke “Haterz” in Atlanta. When it came time to do the video we got the version with Rich Boy, which aired around April 20th on MTV Jams. Now we got many remixes, like Rick Ross, Juvenile, Country Kane… we got lots of remixes out there. The other smash hit that everyone’s been talking about is “Grip Yo Body” featuring Ms. Amy Winehouse. How did that come around to being set up, and what is the response you been getting from that? The response has been incredible. On the track you got Amy Winehouse, she’s a Grammy award winner so you know it’s already there, plus her voice just sounds good. My homeboy Cutta did the beat and they sent it to me with Amy on the hook and I was like “Hell Yeah, imma definitely do that,” and layed it. I actually did that last year and after “Haterz” we decided we needed to do something new and leaked the track to see what it would do, and it started to do its own thing like “Haterz” did, and so I started performing it and it’s getting there. Music is definitely changing every few years, what is the biggest change you’ve noticed lately to Hip-Hop music? It’s definitely different, it’s changing so fast… it’s so many different things. I feel a lot of artists that have come out, like T-pain, have put a lot of influence into Hip-Hop music, with the presence he’s made and the friends he makes with music, it’s pretty much like he made a mixtape and put it on the radio for the year, It’s like a lot of producers and performers are feeling the techno and trance vibe. I feel like Hip-Hop is the link that ties together all music. Because you can take any music and make it fit and tie it all in, you can mix different genres into Hip-Hop, and I believe Hip-Hop is the most diverse music that there is period. I feel that’s why it’s so influential around the world, from Australia to Japan and all hemispheres in the world; Hip-Hop is that melting pot for everything. What changes would you like to see in music? I feel like the changes that I want are really the changes that I am doing. I feel like my music is what is gonna make that change, and my music is gonna bring a whole new spice to the Hip-Hop pan, like “Here comes B.o.B, he’s gonna drop this spice in the dish, let’s see what it does,” and I just feel like I’m bringing in even more shit, like I’m coming back home to Hip-Hop saying, "Hey Hip-Hop look what I brought home!” Can you tell us what’s in the future, about B.o.B TV and your collaboration with T.I.'s Grand Hustle? Oh yeah! B.o.B TV, you know I got my lil’ flip camera and it’s just everything. We got a lot of more footage we gonna leak out there, once we get that edited. It started out as a weekly blog that I did, and it got so crazy that I had to do it once a month. About Grand Hustle, We linked up with Grand Hustle and it’s crazy ‘cause they wanted to sign me from the beginning, but you know I was a new artist and was fairly new to the game. I felt comfortable with Rebel Rock and that’s why I signed with them, but in the end we hooked up with Grand Hustle, and it’s always love, when I go there it’s like it’s my fam, it’s like we never missed a day. It’s good, it’s a huge movement goin' on in Atlanta, and I feel like the world has still yet to see what’s gonna happen in the "A". People wanna know what B.o.B. is about, is he about sneakers, hats, vinyl, etc, what hobbies do you keep yourself busy with when your not working on making music? Uhnnnnn…That’s the toughest question to ask me the whole interview, ‘cause music is all I do. Even when I have free time I’m like “Yea! I get to make more music,” I mean that’s my hobby, I guess guitar… but that’s still music. What would you like fans to realize about B.o.B., which they might not already know? I feel like from what people say, I feel like they only seen the tip of the iceberg, and to everybody whose been following me since Cloud 9, and to say that you have been following me since then, shows you just as crazy and open to music as I am. And to the haters keep the hate alive and thugged out… somebody has got to do it. Be on the lookout for the B.o.B Vs Bobby Ray Mixtape out now … I’ll see you next time! Before we go I gotta ask, is there still haterz everywhere you go? Definitely. They always gon’ be there, they ain’t goin anywhere (chuckles). DJ Paul & Juicy J - Commodore Ballroom - Vancouver, BC 2008.
"Chillin' w/ da homies at the crib bumpin PAC DIV, dis the life i live, u ain't know 'bout it..."10/26/2020 Big Congratulations to British Columbia's Very own Steve Nash who was recently appointed as Head Coach of the Brooklyn Nets! The 2-Time NBA MVP will be joined alongside friend and former teammate Amar'e Stoudemire who will serve as the Nets assistant coach.
*Nash pictured here alongside former teammate Raja Bell for Nash's Charity Classic in Vancouver, B.C. (2005). |
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