Not everyone can succeed, and those who do have a nice blend of luck, skill, and motivation. B.O.B established a formidable name for himself in the underground hip-hop circuits, until he scrapped together a major label deal and released his debut studio LP B.O.B. Presents: the Adventures of Bobby Ray. Silly titles aside, the thing was a success, driven largely by single Airplanes” which featured Hayley Williams of Paramore with a hook and Eminem who is gold in rap form. It also contained the Bruno Mars fronted track “Nothin On You.”
B.O.B. returns with ‘Strange Clouds,’ which released the first of May. The record was pushed by single “So Good” and furthered marketed with the release of “Both of Us” May 22.
The title track ‘Strange Clouds’ debuted months ago, and featured Lil Wayne, which helped the album establish a strong name for itself prior to release. Despite lacking a massive “Airplanes” caliber single, ‘Strange Clouds has gone on to sell 75,000 in its first week, and sits comfortably at position 5.
But sales aren’t everything, especially in this musical climate. ‘Strange Clouds’ features Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, and Trey Songz and Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic. The album has a whole slew of producers, reminiscent of most major label mainstream releases.
Like Nicki Minaj’s latest album Roman Reloaded, Strange Clouds came out of the gate modest but is hoped to retain sales figures as the album singles dwindle out slowly over the course of the next year. Strange Clouds is garnering solid critical reception and is being praised for its strong pop hooks, but lacking in excellent rapping where B.O.B. sounds slightly lazy for many tracks.
Regardless, the thing is gathering to be a hit, and that’s good enough in modern hip-hop.
Image Source, B.O.B. Strange Clouds Promotional Cover Shoot 2011
