They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but judging from the frames of footage being captured at B.o.B’s video shoot for his debut single, “Haterz,” three will suffice: Underground. Atlanta. Motion.
Observe the weekend afternoon shoot at Motion nightclub, one of the few new bright spots inside Underground Atlanta. During his first real video shoot, B.o.B is doing anything he can, from marching in place to performing jumping jacks, to inject as much energy into things as he can. And nderground Atlanta could use it. The once-bustling subterranean retail complex used to be a tourist draw for the city, but it’s been mostly forgotten and now exists as the kind of homegrown landmark that gets bulldozed in favor of glass ’n’ steel luxury condos developed for savvy ATL newcomers.
Atlanta’s music scene is undergoing a similar transition. Over the past few years, interlopers have taken advantage of ATL’s fertile musical soil, drowning out native voices with their idea of what “Southern hip hop” is supposed to sound like. But recently, a musical renaissance has begun to take shape, and locals like B.o.B are putting a new movement in motion.
“I’m leading the way to a new genre of music,” says Bobby Ray Simmons. His latest mixtape, Hi! My Name Is B.o.B, finds him rapping and singing on songs that sample everyone from Eazy-E to The Beatles. “Really, it’s bigger than music. It’s about the spread of ideas and inspiring people to think outside of the box.”
Borderless brainstorming is what got B.o.B discovered in 2006. Before a typically rowdy bunch at Bankhead hotspot Club Crucial, he performed “Cloud 9,” an airy, half-sung ode to cannabis. Industry player TJ Chapman noticed Simmons immediately. A few months later, thanks to Chapman, he was linked and inked with super-producer Jim Jonsin’s Rebel Rock imprint through Atlantic.
His expansive debut, The Adventures of B.o.B, slated for release later this year, is the work of an artist with deep roots in his native Decatur—but B.o.B follows a musical map that reaches across cultures. “My fan base is so broad,” he says proudly. “In Tallahassee, I can do a show at both Florida State [mostly white] and FAMU [mostly black] and get the same love.” Now that’s breaking boundaries.
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Comments
1.
shli says:
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Could you imagine this exhilarating man is confiding his tender heart in a club of lonely single tall???Can you suppose to be an audience for his actual charming and sly demeanour ?Of cause,simultaneously starring from his smiles ,his pictures ,his profiles
July 16, 2008 at 10:14 am