B.o.B

Out of all the rap artists who emerged from Atlanta during the late 2000s, B.o.B -- who was only 17 when he signed his first major-label record deal -- has remained one of the most unique. Early on, his offbeat artistry, belied by his music's conventional Dirty South sound, raised his stock above that of his Southern contemporaries and welcomed comparisons to OutKast, specifically that group's André 3000. B.o.B's commercial breakthrough came in 2010, when he released the chart-topping The Adventures of Bobby Ray, scored three Top Ten pop hits, and earned Grammy nominations in five categories (including Record of the Year for "Nothin' on You" and Best Rap Album). After two more albums for Atlantic, B.o.B's album discography has more than doubled in size with releases through the artist's own No Genre label. These recordings range from 2017's The Upside Down to 2020's Somnia. Although he was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr. grew up on the east side of Atlanta in Decatur, an intown suburb. Making music became an early hobby, and he played trumpet and other instruments throughout grade school. By the time he was in high school, he'd already secured management and had formed a production duo called the Klinic. At age 15, he even successfully sold a beat of his own to Slip-N-Slide recording artist Citty. When his partner left for college, B.o.B launched a solo career and subsequently recorded a hazy, spoken word-like ode to marijuana named "Cloud 9." It became the title track of his debut mixtape. Around that time, B.o.B's manager helped sneak him into Club Crucial, owned by Atlanta rap star T.I., and the teenaged MC wowed the audience with a self-produced song. Industry veteran TJ Chapman was part of that crowd and agreed to co-manage B.o.B, a partnership that only one month later led to B.o.B's signing with Atlantic and its subsidiary imprint, Rebel Rock, run by Florida-based producer Jim Jonsin. His first single for Atlantic, 2008's "Haterz Everywhere," reached Billboard's Bubbling U