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Words by RANDY ROPER
y now you’ve heard the name, seen the promotional posters and t-shirts, heard his single “Haterz Everywhere” and at least, seen the cover of this very magazine in your hands. And you’re still probably thinking to yourself, “Who the fuck is B.o.B.?” If you ask him, he’ll run down a list that describes his various acronyms—business over bullshit, billions over bitches, bring one blunt, bring one beer—-the list goes on and on. But none of those really describes who B.o.B. truly is. Born Bobby Ray Simmons, this rapper/producer from Decatur, GA, grew up making music to escape the complexity of being a kid, and, well, he has always been “different.” He doesn’t rap about being in the club, guns, money, cars, jewelry or drugs (well, he does rap about smoking, but not dealing). Not to knock anyone that does, but B.o.B. and his music may come off slightly left field. For a 19-year-old, who signed his deal with producer Jim Jonsin’s Rebel Rock/Atlantic Records imprint at only 17, B.o.B. has loads to get off his intricate mind. “The only thing people talk about is being amped in the club and there ain’t nothing wrong with that, but we gotta address a lot of shit,” he explains. “People experience death, people experience depression, a lot of people experience addictions, a lot of people experience someone going to jail. It’s a lot of other shit that can be talked about.” With his debut album The Adventures of B.o.B. slated for release later this year, OZONE sat down with the new school ATLien to educate you so that the next time you hear his name, you won’t have to ask, “Who the fuck is B.o.B.?” You’ll know. You’re from Decatur, Georgia. So has Decatur always been greater for you? I’ve been in Decatur since I was 2. I was born in Winston-Salem, NC and we moved down to the Eastside [of Atlanta] and I’ve been there ever since. In Decatur, it’s like any other hood. You know how every city’s got the hood side, so coming up I didn’t go to school in Decatur. For the first part of school years, I was in the magnet program. So I was going over to the other side [of
PHOTOS BY WUZ GOOD Atlanta] and that experience was real diverse. You’re in a class with a lot of Asian kids, a lot of white kids, a lot of African kids, and you really see the different mind states. And then, coming back home to the Eastside, and seeing how the hood is and how it all operates, it really makes you see what’s going on. So, since I was a kid, I really had a broad picture. And plus, when I was coming up, my family was struggling. I don’t wanna say we were in poverty, but we really were struggling. But I feel like struggle isn’t really determined by being in the hood. I feel like struggle is a spiritual thing. Because spiritually, when you’re struggling with something, it shows in your environment and it shows in your actions and it shows in everything that you do. So, that’s why “the hood” is in the state that it’s in. Cause a lot of people are struggling with themselves, or struggling spiritually, struggling with addiction, whether it be addiction to food, addiction to sex, addiction to cars, addiction to money, everything. So, going over to the other side of town and seeing how they live, it’s not necessarily good or better, cause you’ve got equal opportunity, anywhere you are. But it’s just that you’re seeing the state that it’s in and it’s a really good comparison. Did you turn to music to escape the hood? You know what’s crazy? Back in the day, we didn’t really buy albums. Most of the time my brother used to tape-record the radio and we’d catch all the freestyles and all the songs, and that’s how we’d listen to [music] when we wanted to listen to it. My brother found a $20 bill one day and he bought the DMX album [It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot], and I listened to his album and I studied it. I wrote out his lyrics and I’d study his raps. And I’d figure out how he rapped. So, I started doing my own shit, and he had skits on his shit, so I started doing my own skits and then recording them with my tape player. I used to go in the bathroom and hang up sheets to get some sound proofing. I used desk mics, [would] download beats off the internet, and I’d try to do my own thing. Do you start making beats back then, too? Back then, I used to want to but I didn’t know how. And I didn’t learn how until I got into the ninth grade, and my cousin Swag showed me how to make ‘em. So, my love for rapping really grew into a love for music in general, since
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