Oh, The Adventures.

I know it’s hard for rappers to wait when they see a fleet of Bentleys glistening on the horizon, but trust me, in hip-hop patience is a virtue. When a rapper is catapulted to fame overnight, without taking the time to truly lay down a foundation, nine-times-out-of-ten they watch that success evaporate faster than Tiger Wood’s marriage [uhh paging dr. mims? j.kwon?]. So while I’m sure that B.o.B truly hoped his debut album The Adventures of Bobby Ray would have dropped in 2008, as he told DJ Z ages ago, in retrospect the delay was a blessing in disguise. So now, when the fame and adulation Bobby Ray deserves finally arrives at his doorstep, and to some extent it already has, the man will be in the perfect position to make sure his name stays in the spotlight for years.

The CD has been playing on repeat everywhere i go. So far... my two faves are Fame [ill explain why later], and Airplane.. because I am in LOVE with Haley Williams and her firey red hair. She's got a voice, dang.

Although I am excited about the musical talents on this cd, I am more interested in who B.o.B. is, not who he sounds like. Just take Fame, a track that’s my favorite on the album not only because beat sticks in your head like a shotgun shell to my skull but because Bobby dodges and weaves in and out of the big band production like Sugar Ray Robinson in his prime. The same could be said of the dancehall-tinged The Kids and the starkly done Ghost in the Machine, both tracks that could only have come from the mind of one man, and that man’s name is B.o.B…or Bobby Ray. Regardless, it’s the music that matters, not the moniker, and if The Adventures of Bobby Ray is any indication, the music is some of the most exciting work we’ve heard in a very, VERY long time.

The wait is finally over. B.o.B. has arrived.