The first artist is my man Bobby Ray aka B.O.B. I was first introduced to B.O.B watching MTV Jams this summer when I saw his video "Put Me On." Immediately I was drawn in by his flow and the beat of the song. Downloaded the song and never even thought to further research the cat. A few months back, someone sent me his mixtape B.O.B Vs. Bobby Ray. That tape has definitely been in rotation since I got it. I was extremely shocked to find out that he is only 21. Dude is crazy talented and I love his retro style flow; it's pretty different from a lot of the music that's out right now and I commend him for coming with a fresh, new style. His single "Put Me On" didn't get as big as I had expected it to but with the release of his new single "Nothin' On You" ft Bruno Mars(another EXTREMELY talented artist, whom will probably have a feature on here shortly) has definitely started to get him the publicity that he needs. He's actually signed under Grand Hustle and Atlantic Records. He has released previous mixtapes, but I'll only include the link for his most recent, and my favorite, B.O.B Vs. Bobby Ray. He will be releasing his debut album B.o.B Presents The Adventures of Bobby Ray, supposedly on April 27. So be on the lookout for that because you'll definitely need that in your collection. Youtube him, Google him, however you do it, find out more about this guy. He's got BIG things going for his future.
Actually, both B.O.B and this next artist, Blu(without the "e"), have been featured on XXL's cover for their Top 10 2009 Freshman issue. Blu is a rapper/producer from California who is one of the most talented and lyrical artists I've heard and liked in quite some time. Typically, I'm not too fond of west coast rappers, something about their flow bothers me, so I was really relieved when I heard Blu's music and then found out he was from Cali; he gave me hope. I hadn't heard anything from him until recently, but I constantly saw people quoting lyrics from him on Twitter. My friend introduced me to him and I immediately fell in love. I have yet to find a song that I dislike, and this is after hearing most, if not all of his mixtapes/albums.
I love the fact that his music has such an old school feel to it. He samples a lot from the classics such as Billie Holiday, but samples from a wide variety of styles and beats. "A lot of my influences now come from older music. I got into stuff while growing up like Curtis Mayfield, Al Green and Marvin Gaye. I listened to a lot of Jazz that my grandparents were listening to like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, Dorothy Ashby. My musical approach even more so right now is influenced by the scene in L.A. like Sa-Ra, Flying Lotus, J. Davey, Ta’Raach, Madlib. The L.A. scene is kind of smashing cats. It’s not street or Hip Hop but it’s all rooted from both. It’s kind of like people say Hip Hop is dead but it’s not. It’s true but only in the sense of that original feeling or sound not being replicated well. But if you open up your ears you can see where Hip Hop is going. It’s just branched off. A lot of new artists are merging many different genres of music." -Blu He speaks what's in his heart and on his mind, not thoughts from the fantasy world full of women, liquor and money that most of our artists today speak from. His lyrics are poetic, thoughful, and thought provoking. "As I was coming up, the rapper that made me want to rap was DMX...[T]hen I got into Common. I actually heard “I Used to Love H.E.R.” after missing the first album. When I heard it, it really changed my life. I felt like I had heard Hip Hop for the first time. It made me change my content and my whole approach. It made me serious about writing and wanting to say something." -Blu
If you've never heard anything from Blu, check out one his mixtape HerFavoriteColo(u)r and his album Blu & Exile-Below the Heavens
Enjoy :)
