B.o.B. gets 'strange' for his latest album Thursday, June 07, 2012 By Joseph Cardenas/Section Editor - Atlantic Records Advertising After remaining underground for three years with his exceptionally brilliant rap techniques, releasing four mixtapes and one studio album and garnering three top 10 singles, B.o.B returns with the sophomore studio album ‘Strange Clouds,’ a turn for the Georgia rapper in style as he decides to utilize the loud noise that is dubstep.  As expressed in the album’s first promotional single, ‘Strange Clouds’ featuring Lil Wayne, this new approach is odd though unique and fresh.  It sort of felt like he was going for a sound similar to Katy Perry’s ‘E.T.’ remix with Kanye West while also building upon what was already there. B.o.B would then continue going through the year releasing promotional single after promotional single, leading his fans on and on with the Andre 3000 assisted track ‘Play The Guitar’ and two solo singles )‘So Good,’ which cracked No. 11 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and ‘So Hard To Breathe’). The new album debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 5, and the latest single is the fan-famous Taylor Swift collaboration ‘Both of Us.’ It uses two simple lines which allows for Swift to sing in a soft, perfect harmony, and then it spontaneously breaks into dubstep rap.  It’s about being strong enough to go past the life of the underdog and becoming an image of inspiration. This is most definitely the ‘Airplanes’ of this album. To be frank, even B.o.B’s new style made the Chris Brown feature, ‘Arena,’ tolerable despite Brown’s singing the chorus.  B.o.B and T.I. basically save the song.  B.o.B doesn’t hesitate to add some more feel-good, inspiring, underdog anthems (‘Both of Us,’ ‘Castles’ featuring Trey Songz and ‘Never Let You Go’ featuring OneRepublic’s lead singer Ryan Tedder). If there are any bad songs off this pretty good album, they’re the ones that feature either Nicki Minaj or Playboy Tre.  Some other songs that are worth a listen are ‘Ray Bands’ and ‘Circles.’  Rap isn’t a very impressive genre to me because all I find it to be is people talking really fast to a cool beat.  However, there are the few rappers that do defy my claim, and B.o.B is one of them.  He continues to amaze with not just his lyrics but also his use in adjusting to an experiment.  I’m not one for dubstep either, yet I still think that he made it work.  Trust me when I say that this album is really good. ‘A-’

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