Interview with B.o.B

Give us some insight into where your name B.o.B. comes from.

I was outside of a club and an artist by the name of Willy Joe…I went by B at the time. He knew my name was Bobby and he would always be like “yo B.o.B. what’s up?” I was like, dog, you just gave me my name. Since then I’ve been sticking with it.

So you grew up in Decatur?

Yea, born in North Carolina and when I was a baby I moved to Decatur.

When you were growing up, what types of music did you listen to? Influences?

I’m gonna start from the roots and go up. Michael Jackson, James Brown, the O’Jays. The O’Jays really made an early impression on me. My mom also listened to a lot of Tina Turner. You can just imagine all of the musical elements I was exposed to at a really young age. Also, one of the major musical influences I had was my dad, he got me playing the trumpet. This is how he did it though, reverse psychology. I was in first grade and he was like “ok son, if you make A’s” or something along those lines…he showed me the trumpet, this shiny little object and then he closed the case up. I wanted it so I started playing trumpet when I was a kid until about high school and I quit in high school. I learned music that way.

Coming up I also got really deep into rap from artists like DMX, Eminem, Nas. I was really deep into Eminem because at that time in my life it was so relateable. A rebellious teenager. Then I started to get into more south music. I started out of the south and then grew in. The first down south artist I got into was TIP (T.I). Ironically enough because now I got a joint issue with his label Grand Hustle. You know how you always hear the songs on the radio, you know just being in the city, I never really went and bought albums but TIP was like the first album that I bought, the Trap Musik album. Then I got into Lil Wayne, Ludacris, Outkast. Obviously Outkast, I remember listening to Outkast in kindergarden. That song “if you like fish and grits and all that pimp shit everybody let me hear you say oh yea yer” and then I started getting into rock music.

How’s your upcoming album The Adventures Of B.o.B. coming along?

It’s coming along great. I keep making music that I keep getting even more excited about so songs keep getting pushed off of the album. I’ve also been writing a lot with Playboy Trae. If anybody out there has beats send them to bobbeats@gmail.com. We just been writing, we’ve got stuff on TIPs album, John Legend. I’m on Big Boi’s new album and possibly something with Ludacris I’m working on. I’m just all about the music, I just love making music.

If you could work with anyone in the game right now who would you work with?

I really want to work with Danger Mouse and Gnarles Barkley and get in with them. Also, Coldplay, I would love to do a song with Coldplay. I’m really a huge Coldplay fan. I’ve got to be the biggest undercover Coldplay fan. I’m not really secretive about it but more conservative. I went to their concert about two weeks ago in LA and it was crazy. It really inspired me seeing them perform. I’m trying to get into other music but that’s how I really find music. I just search and search and search until I find some really good music. I play the hell out of it until I get tired of it and then I go find more music. I strive to make music that cracks peoples minds open. That’s really what I strive to do and I find enjoyment in it so it’s like I get to have fun and make a living while helping peoples minds so I can’t complain. The only stressful thing about this industry is the traveling and the scheduling. No complaints over here though.