BoB is an American rapper, songwriter, singer and record producer from Georgia, USA. Born in North Carolina, he decided he wanted to be a rapper while still in sixth grade.
Although his parents were not very supportive of his career in the beginning, they eventually allowed him to pursue his dream. Having received the keys as a gift, he began to study music on his own.
By the time he was in elementary school, he had already started playing the trumpet in his high school band.
After spending years to showcase his music to a wider audience, he finally got his breakthrough in 2007 when his single titled "Haterz Everywhere" started gaining exposure.
In 2010, BoB released his debut album BoB Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray in collaboration with Atlantic Records. The album was successful! It featured major artists such as Bruno Mars and J. Cole.
With his subsequent albums, BoB built a loyal fan base. His subsequent studio albums, Stranger Clouds, Underground Luxury, Ether and The Upside Down, were moderately successful.
However, BoB has been criticized for maintaining the same style in all of their songs. He gained attention by endorsing the Flat Earth Society, a small group of people who believe the Earth is flat.
Childhood and youth
BoB was born November 15, 1988 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to Bobby Ray Simmons Jr. His family moved to Atlanta, Georgia a few years after he was born.
He showed great interest in music in elementary school and that's when he started playing music in front of a crowd. He played trumpet until high school.
His decision to pursue a musical career was not accepted by his parents. However, given his passion and musical talent, his family decided to support him. His parents gave him keys in his early teens.
He soon began to make progress on his own. He also attended Columbia High School and played trumpet in the school band. At the same time, he created his own music and introduced his talent to record labels.
After recording a contract he earned when he was in ninth grade, BoB dropped out of high school to devote his full time to music. He was 14 years old when he sold his first beat to rap artist Citti.
Around the same time, he teamed up with his cousin to form the duo Clinic. When his cousin left BOB and started attending college, he decided to pursue a solo career in music.
In his late teens, the singer hired a manager who began promoting him. He managed to get a deal for BoB to act as a DJ in one of the most popular clubs in Atlanta.
BoB went above and beyond in gathering the public with his knowledge of hip-hop music. He later signed with Atlantic Records, one of the biggest rap music labels in the country.
Career
Before long, BoB started gaining fame with his underground singles such as "Haterz Everywhere". Some of his early singles, such as "I Will Be in Heaven" and "The Lost Generation", were regularly in the top 20 of the Billboard singles chart.
He did it for real when he appeared on rapper TI's highly successful album Paper Trail.
Between 2007 and 2008, BoB recorded and released half a dozen mixtapes. He then created a track called "Auto-Tune" for the game "Grand Theft Auto".
In January 2010, BoB announced that work on his debut studio album was nearly complete. To promote his upcoming debut album, BoB released a mixtape titled "25 May" which was a reference to his album's release date.
First albums
The album was released as "BoB Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray" in late April 2010 to positive reviews.
It sold over 84 copies in its first week of release and peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 chart in its first week.
The album's critical success earned it nominations for several awards such as the MTV Video Music Awards, the BET Awards, and the Teen Choice Awards.
He then performed live at the MTV Video Music Awards and was part of a lineup that included rappers such as Kanye West and Eminem.
He made collaborative singles with Lil Wayne and Jessie J in 2011 while working on his second studio album.
In November 2011, before releasing his second album, he released a mixtape featuring Eminem, Meek Mill and other rappers. The album "Strange Clouds" was released in May 2012 and included several big names such as Morgan Freeman, Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift, Nelly and Lil Wayne.
The album's lead single, "Strange Clouds", was released back in September 2011 to critical and commercial acclaim.
The album later received positive and mixed reviews from critics. The presence of a number of big names from the music industry made the album a success. It sold over 76 copies in its first week of release.
In December 2012, BoB showed a strong interest in rock music. He announced that he would be working on a rock record, but also said that his next release would be a rap album.
In May 2013, BoB released a single from their third album "Underground Luxury" titled "HeadBand". Another single from the album "Ready" was released in September. The album was released in December to moderately positive reviews.
The album debuted at number 22 on the Billboard 200 and sold 35 copies in its first week.
However, the album dropped to number 30 in its second week, and sales continued to drop week by week.
In June 2014, BoB announced his own "No Genre" label edition, which was a direct reference to one of his earlier mixtapes.
Tora Voloshin was one of the first musicians to sign No Genre. In October 2014, BoB released a single titled "Not Long".
In early 2015, BoB partnered with rapper Tech N9ne and created a collaborative mixtape titled "Psycadelik Thoughtz" to build anticipation for his next album.
Later that year, he released a mixtape titled "WATER". It became apparent that there were disagreements between him and Atlantic Records. BoB has publicly stated that he is "put down" by the label.
By 2017, BoB had abandoned Atlantic Records and released his fourth studio album, Ether, on his own. The album received startlingly positive reviews, with many reviewers commenting that it was finally back in shape years later.
Personal life
BoB has been known to be very outspoken in his anti-establishment views. Also supported theories that claimed 9/11 was an inside job and those that claimed NASA's moon landing was fake.
His liberal views also made him raise his voice for social reasons.
In January 2016, he openly expressed his opinion that the Earth is flat, not round. Neil deGrasse Tyson, a popular astrophysicist, responded to BoB on Twitter, citing a number of previous cases of debunking the theory.
He ignored Neil's views and officially joined the Flat Earth Society in 2016. He then launched a campaign to raise money to launch his own satellite to prove the earth was flat.
In 2014, BoB began dating singer Sevin Streeter.
The relationship did not last long, and the couple broke up in 2015. After that, BoB included it in the lyrics of several of his songs.
