By Nick Carrabine
NCarrabine@News-Herald.com

“I don’t really know why I’m here
I guess I’m just here for the ride
I swear, it feels like I’m dreaming
It’s vividly defined
So call me whatever you want
Tie me to whatever you like
But let’s get one thing straight
You know my name
so I run this town when I’m on this mic”

-”Don’t Let Me Fall”

I didn’t want to like B.o.B.

I didn’t even have any interest in hearing his debut album, The Adventures of Bobby Ray, after hearing his breakthrough single, “Nothin’ on You” which has been extremely overplayed over the past two months.

When the album came out last month, I was intrigued by the guest appearances on the album as well as the various genres that I read about B.o.B. experiencing with.

It also doesn’t hurt that he released the album under T.I.’s Grand Hustle record label either.

So when I was scrounging through a friend’s iTunes the other day and saw the album, I figured I’d give it a listen and even go as far as putting it on my iPod. (*Sidenote* I don’t condone not buying albums. Support your favorite artists, however, when you’ve purchased more than 500 CDs in the past 15 years, you deserve a break every now and then.)

With one listen, I was instantly hooked.

The 21-year-old is a rapper first, but isn’t afraid to use his vocals to sing choruses or even sing full versus on many of the songs. Most of the album contains a large amount of electric guitars, He enlists two rockers as guest appearances from Paramore’s Hayley Williams to Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo.

As for other guest appearances on the album, well, those include Eminem, T.I. and Lupe Fiasco. Pretty impressive list for an up and comer’s debut record.

If there is any problem with this album, it may be there is actually a lack of B.o.B. on the album. On many of the songs, he only has one verse and on other songs, his verses are so short. The songs themselves, for a rap album (although, at this point, it’s sort of hard to call this a straight rap album) are short in general as half the songs come in under 3 minutes and 40 seconds.

Come to think of it, the above may not be that bad of a thing because it’s really the production and the guest appearances that carry this album with the diversity of genres and beats.

Nonetheless, it’s a solid and rather unexpected impressive debut album.

"Past My Shades" Ft. Lupe Fiasco


"Ghost In A Machine"