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B.o.B (feat. Asher Roth & Charles Hamilton) - Change Gonna Come

Bobby Ray - Put Me On

Already labelled as Southern hip hop's "renaissance man", you can tell this dude's onto a good thing. I didn't know much about him apart from his propensity for being pictured with acoustic guitars and Fender amps in promo shots and I listened to his latest mixtape (B.o.B Vs Bobby Ray) with no ideas or expectations apart from "maybe he'll throw in a solo like Weezy". But what a mixtape. The first half, under his original B.o.B moniker, is mainly comprised of the bombastic, down south beats aesthetic but made malleable to his style. Think T.I. crossed with Killer Mike, though maybe how they would've sounded like if they had put out records in the 90s coupled with badly photoshopped album covers. Y'know? The kind you always saw in ads in The Source back in the day. The second half is when things really get interesting. Recorded under his new "Bobby Ray" title, he sings, he croons, he raps, he strums, he solos and straddles beats that can be equal parts Andre 3000 one minute and Devin The Dude the next. Oh, and he plays riffs. With distortion.

I honestly can't believe how "musical" a simple mixtape can be but B.o.B's take on hip hop is the freshest I've heard in a while.

[B.o.B MySpace]

[His debut The Adventures of Bobby Ray is due for release in November. Get schooled on his mixtapes via the MySpace link above.]