B.O.B.

B.o.B aka Bobby Ray was born in North Carolina on November 15, 1988 and grew up on the east side of Atlanta. He first considered making music only as a hobby which he did in his spare time. Despite taking it not so seriously, he had formed a production duo called The Klinic when he was just a high schooler. At the age of 15, he had successfully sold one of his beats to a recording artist Citty. When his partner left for college, he continued pursuing his music career as a solo artist. Still underage, he sneaked into into Club Crucial, which was owned by T.I., in 2006. Successfully impressing the crowd with his self-produced tune, he was approached by TJ Chapman who happened to stand among the crowd when he performed. A month later, he was signed to Atlantic, becoming T.I.'s labelmate and releasing a mixtape "Cloud 9". B.o.B then started working on his debut album "B.o.B Presents The Adventures of Bobby Ray". The effort suffered from several pushbacks but eventually got moved forward after the lead single "Nothin' on You" was proven to be a hit by ruling several singles charts and going platinum in the United States. "The Adventures of Bobby Ray" is set to be released on April 27, 2010. Bruno Mars, Lupe Fiasco, Paramore's Hayley Williams, T.I., Janelle Monae, Weezer's Rivers Cuomo and Eminem are lined up for featured guests. Recalling how he got the Slim Shady on deck, B.o.B told MTV, "Paul Rosenberg [Eminem's manager] played him the 'Cloud 9' mixtape and it kind of gave him an idea of what my music [sounds like]. Eventually he started playing Em more of my stuff and was keeping him updated on my progress and eventually he wanted to get in the studio with me, so that was a gift."