B.o.B's 25 Favorite Albums

Bobby Ray talks about his favorite albums from Kanye West, Beach House, Santogold, and more.

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Image via Complex Original
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Next week, B.o.B will be dropping his highly anticipated sophomore album Strange Clouds. Packed with chart toppers like the Lil Wayne–assisted title track as well as “So Good,” we’re expecting Bobby Ray to have a big impact on the charts.

With his second album on the way, we figured we’d get down with the ATLien to talk about what his 25 favorite albums are. He told us about his love for indie rock, what album he bought when he found $20 at school, and what record gets him in the clouds...

As told to Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin)

Bob Marley and The Wailers, Legend (1984)

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Bob Marley and The Wailers, Legend (1984)

Label: Tuff Gong/Island

B.o.B: “That album has everything you need on it. That was one of the albums where he was letting loose.”

Bjork, Homogenic (1997)

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Bjork, Homogenic (1997)

Label: One Little Indian

B.o.B: “A cousin of mine used to listen to her music in his headphones, when I was like nine years old. I never heard the music, but I would hear him singing the words. One day, I randomly started buying her music, after looking on YouTube for artists and remembering her name.

“I became a really huge fan of ‘Earth Intruders,’ the song she did with Timbaland. After I bought that song on iTunes, I started to work backwards through her catalog and found myself on Homogenic. That album was crazy. When you listen to it, you really feel like it’s coming from another planet. There’s nothing that sounds like it.”

Lenny Kravitz, 5 (1998)

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Lenny Kravitz, 5 (1998)

Label: VRA

B.o.B: “I’m a big fan of Lenny Kravitz.”

DMX, It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot (1998)

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DMX, It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot (1998)

Label: Ruff Ryderz/Def Jam

B.o.B: “I remember that I found a $20 bill at school, and his album just so happened to come out. This was when “Ruff Ryders Anthem” was out. My brother was old enough to buy it, so he went to the store and bought it for me. I dubbed it to a tape, and would listen to that album over and over and study it, to learn how to rap.”

Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)

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Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)

Label: Aftermath/Interscope

B.o.B: “That album—as with all of his albums—was like a picture that was captured of that moment in his career. Those were the songs that were recorded, based on how he felt during that time. You can never really get that again, because it was done when he was first catapulted into the stratosphere. It was crazy.”

Outkast, Stankonia (2000)

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Outkast, Stankonia (2000)

Label: LaFace/Arista

B.o.B: “That album is definitely a classic. We used to listen to it the whole night, because we’d keep it on loop. They definitely paved the way for artists to feel free and to not have to fit into the mold of what ‘Atlanta music’ should sound like. They kind of opened up the doorways for us. The whole Dungeon Family sound was crazy.”

Jay-Z, The Blueprint (2001)

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Jay-Z, The Blueprint (2001)

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam

B.o.B: “That’s an absolute classic. I would have to get up early as fuck—around 5am—to catch the bus, and I would loop that album for the whole two-hour bus ride. This was before the handheld mp3 players, so I had to dub the tape.”

T.I., Trap Muzik (2003)

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T.I., Trap Muzik (2003)

Label: Grand Hustle/Atlantic

B.o.B: “That album made me a fan. When you live in Atlanta, you’re aware of all the artists and what’s going on in the music scene, but to really become a fan of something, and to follow it and understand it, is different. That’s what the Trap Muzik album was for me.

I remember the mental space that I was in, when I was listening to these artists and writing my lyrics. So now, to be able to work with everyone that I was a fan of, it shows that time really moves fucking fast.”

Sia, Colour The Small One (2004)

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Sia, Colour The Small One (2004)

Label: Universal International/Go Beat/Astralwerks

B.o.B: “That’s one of those albums that you play when you’re just really, really catching clouds.”

Gorillaz, Demon Days (2005)

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Gorillaz, Demon Days (2005)

Label: Parlophone

B.o.B: “That was a dope album. I’ve kind of stumbled [into being a big Danger Mouse fan]. But Danger Mouse is an absolutely great producer.”

Coldplay, X&Y (2005)

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Coldplay, X&Y (2005)

Label: Capitol/Parlaphone

B.o.B: “My buddy was into Coldplay, and he would try and play it for me, but I was just a kid. That was before I could really appreciate the musical value of what it was. It wasn’t about the stuff you think about as a kid, when you’re worried about cartoons and cars. So the song concepts didn’t pull me in that much.

This album was a different direction from the one that they had started in. I eventually became a fan of this project and a fan of theirs, and it made me go back and listen to their other albums.”

Wolfmother, Wolfmother (2005)

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Wolfmother, Wolfmother (2005)

Label: Modular

B.o.B: “That’s an album I always played when I was driving through traffic. It’s good for that. He’s got a classic voice. You don’t hear too many voices like his.”

Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere (2006)

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Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere (2006)

Label: Downtown/Atlantic

B.o.B: “If you were already an Outkast fan, or just a fan of the Dungeon Family movement, you used to follow it and could appreciate the music. But ‘Crazy,’ man? That song did a lot for other artists.

“Cee-Lo was already part of Goodie Mob, which is one of the greatest rap groups of all time. So to do something that eclectic and all the way left—and for it to be a classic— made other artists think, ‘Shit... I don’t have to keep all of these songs sitting on my hard drive.’”

Lupe Fiasco, Lupe Fiasco’s Food And Liquor (2006)

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Lupe Fiasco, Lupe Fiasco’s Food And Liquor (2006)

Label: 1st & 15th/Atlantic

B.o.B: “That album was dope. It was a really solid hip-hop album, all the way through.”

My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade (2006)

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My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade (2006)

Label: Reprise

B.o.B: “I got into them from seeing one of their videos. After that, I bought their album and went back through their discography. A lot of times, on an artist’s second album, they get more exposure to people who may not have been checking for them, and they gain new fans. That’s what happened here.”

Amy Winehouse, Back To Black (2006)

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Amy Winehouse, Back To Black (2006)

Label: Island

B.o.B: “That album was how I discovered her music. I had heard that her earlier work was pretty dope, and I went online and researched it, but Back To Black was when I really discovered her voice. It was classic, and you don’t really find it. You could only go to Amy Winehouse for that.”

Paramore, Riot! (2007)

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Paramore, Riot! (2007)

Label: Fueled By Ramen

B.o.B: “That album made me a fan of theirs. It was a pretty crunk album. When you talk about classic rock songs 10 to 15 years from now, you’re definitely going to have to mention ‘Misery Business.’ It’s one of the catchiest songs to the touch the face of the Earth.”

MGMT, Oracular Spectacular (2007)

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MGMT, Oracular Spectacular (2007)

Label: RED Ink/Columbia

B.o.B: “That whole album was dope. We used to play it on loop.”

Santogold, Santogold (2008)

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Santogold, Santogold (2008)

Label: Downtown/Atlantic

B.o.B: “I always heard of her, but I became a fan of hers when I opened up for her, at a college, about three years ago. After seeing her perform, I went and bought her album.”

Kanye West, 808s & Heartbreak (2008)

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Kanye West, 808s & Heartbreak (2008)

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam

B.o.B: “A lot of dudes felt like he went too far left for them [on 808s], but the fact that he went that far and stepped out of his comfort zone to try something different, was what made me a huge fan of [this album].”

Pheonix, Wolfgang Amadaeus Pheonix (2009)

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Pheonix, Wolfgang Amadaeus Pheonix (2009)

Label: V2/Loyauté/Glassnote

B.o.B: “That album is kind of like the song you’ve always heard, but don’t know why or where you’ve heard it. ‘1901’ was a song you’d hear in a store or a car commercial.

“My guitar player is really heavy into rock music, so I asked him whose song it was. When he found out for me, I went and bought the album. I like albums that have a sound to them, like all the songs were recorded at once. There’s a cohesive flow, all the way through.”

Beach House, Teen Dream (2010)

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Beach House, Teen Dream (2010)

Label: Sub Pop

B.o.B: “That album was great. When I first heard it, I couldn’t tell if it was a guy or a girl. It had this haunting creepiness to it, but it still felt comfortable.”

Broken Bells, Broken Bells (2010)

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Broken Bells, Broken Bells (2010)

Label: Columbia

B.o.B: “That was an album by the lead singer of The Shins, and Danger Mouse produced it. It’s one of those albums you can just play on loop.”

The Black Keys, Brothers (2010)

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The Black Keys, Brothers (2010)

Label: Nonesuch

B.o.B: “That was an album that had that vintage sound to it. About two-and-a-half years ago, I opened up for them. Seeing two people rock a crowd like that was pretty rare. I got to see how they set up the amps, how they mic’d them, and all the energy flowing onstage. It sounded like a full band. That experience is what led me to buy their album, and then I became a fan of all of their stuff.”

James Blake, James Blake (2011)

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James Blake, James Blake (2011)

Label: ATLAS/A&M/Polydor

B.o.B: “Just a great album.”

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