Bobby Ray hails from Atlanta, Georgia and established a buzz through street mixtapes and non-album singles. He is currently signed with Mr. Clifford Harris (welcome back) and Grand Hustle. B.o.B.’s clean cut image and lyrical content provides a delightfully complementary contrast to that of T.I. making this partnership extremely effective. While rapping is B.o.B.’s forté he can also play multiple instruments and sing, all of which is apparent in his musical style. Instruments are definitely utilized more than the average rapper’s hip hop producer beats. B.o.B.’s style and hometown has also garnered him comparison to André 3000, an immense honor in itself.

In his debut album The Adventures of Bobby Ray, B.o.B. demonstrates his lyrical finesse and holds his own alongside legendary heavyweights T.I. and Eminem. The most prominent track(s) on the album is “Airplanes”. The song is impressive with just B.o.B. and undeniably epic with Eminem’s verse. If you need a song to get you through the day “Don’t Let Me Fall” is positively uplifting. B.o.B.’s flow is breathtaking on almost every song in the album and especially on “Bet I” with T.I. and Playboy Tre. However, I could live without the tracks where he is predominantly singing such as “Ghost in the Machine” and “Lovelier Than You”. His singing ability is great for a chorus or hook and unlike most rappers he doesn’t need to utilize auto-tune, but I don’t think it is enough to carry a whole song. I find myself anxiously hoping for him to rap something before the song is over and he never does. Some may argue that these songs provide a nice break in between the rapping, but I don’t reckon a break is needed! Therefore if you listen to the songs in order as it was intended, the album starts off pleasant and ends strong.

One question that has baffled me throughout is what exactly does B.o.B. stand for? The answer is: B.o.B stands for many things and anything you would like to associate Bobby Ray the artist with. For me B.o.B. stands for Best of the Best in the new generation of hip hop.

When I got the chance to play through Asleep in the Bread Aisle released on April 20, 2009, I could see that Roth’s talent for wordplay over a rhythm is undeniably apparent. One song that stands out for me is “Lion’s Roar” because the track accentuates Roth’s ability to rap with a very fast paced beat. I can hear a slight Outkast influence in the track style. Asher is able to hold his own rapping side by side with Busta Rhymes and that alone is an accomplishment. The most heartfelt song on the album is “His Dream” where Asher laments over the lost dream of a father and a promise to fulfill that dream by the son. Although the tone of his voice was a bit sluggish, the message was strong. If the other songs on the album had followed suit, then maybe Asher’s debut would have gained better reception. He could not be blamed because like any other artist he told stories about his environment and what he knew about life. Just that his life seems to consist more of partying than pain, more hallucinated fantasies than harsh realities. His idea of a bad day is forgetting his iPod and having no HBO. Plain and simple Roth’s Asleep in the Bread Aisle serves well to display his talents, but it is short of any insight to be classified as art and can easily be dismissed as a “flavor of the month” type entertainment.

After listening to the album, I browsed the internet and found some entertaining freestyle clips featuring the new MC. To my suprise the clips were quite impressive, and it is evident that Asher has been well-versed in the art of hip hop. It was no wonder that Roth was featured on the cover of XXL Magazine as one of the ten freshmen rappers emerging in 2009. Asleep in the Bread Aisle has its shortcomings, but I cannot dismiss Roth’s potential as a hip hop artist. The talent is there but the content is not quite developed. Luckily for Asher there are still many chances for him to refine his persona and practice better storytelling. Unfortunately Asher cannot stay in college forever. Everyone has to eventually move on and it is an exciting albeit nerve racking experience. The big question is what can a self-proclaimed post-college “quirky” white MC rap about next?

Unfortunately the message lacks any real substance. The lackluster lyrics for Green Day’s “Know Your Enemy” contains mostly generic content and seem to be constructed together with a checklist of words to include. Revolution, check. Overthrow, check. Insurgency, check. We are told to not stay in silence, because that too is an enemy. And at one point Billie Joe Armstrong screeches for revolution. I would not hold my breath for any significant revolution fueled by Green Day’s “Know Your Enemy” in the near future. For Green Day fans, the only enemy seems to be the fellow intoxicated concert-goer that they and others have bashed into a bloody pulp in the mosh pit that they were all a part of when the song played.

Perhaps some are reminded of a similiar song with the same name released almost two decades ago from the militant band Rage Against the Machine. Rage Against the Machine is a group known for their dedicated defiance and explicitly revolutionary lyrics. The lyrics for their version of “Know Your Enemy” is full of anger and threatening remarks. The enemy is the American government and “We don’t need a key/We’ll break in”. I know that Green Day and Rage Against the Machine are two different bands with separate agendas, but I wanted to see Green Day bring more fire in their lyrics and not just in their music video. I’d imagine that a mash-up of Rage Against the Machine and Green Day’s “Know Your Enemy” will eventually arise from some young enterprising internet DJ/producer and uploaded onto Youtube. That individual could probably use Green Day’s song in its entirety as a chorus in combination with Rage Against the Machine’s lyrics to create a meaningful and melodic mash-up.

As Sun Tzu had warned, Green Day was victorious in putting together a wonderfully composed tune and will receive generous radio play, but they suffer a defeat by not being specific and calling out a generic enemy with bland lyrics. Throughout the song Billie Joe repeatedly asks the listeners if they knew their enemy, and the same question could be reverted back to the band themselves. Green Day, do you know your enemy? Hopefully they will answer that question within the album 21^st Century Breakdown slated to be released on May 15, 2009. On a bright note, when this song comes out on Rock Band the player performing the vocals for the song won’t have too much difficulty.

Hip hop is an aggressive and critical culture dominated by mostly males. The few females that were able to break through barriers either relied on their personal sex appeal to attract an audience or hid behind a persona that resembled their male counterparts. Lauryn Hill bypassed all expectations and ventured into her own path. Lauryn only wanted to express herself and did not care whether people were willing to listen. She poured herself into her art and people were able to connect with her. Lauryn’s image remained elegant, classy and respectable. She delivered positive and meaningful rhymes in all her songs well before Kanye West was a College Dropout. The result brought her worldwide recognition beyond her own wishes. Nobody could deny her ability when The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill prevailed over the 1999 Grammys. L Boogie took home the much coveted Album of the Year award, an accomplishment that still remains difficult even for the greatest male MCs in hip hop today.

Whether L Boogie was rapping or singing, her words always contained substance. She was aggressive on the mic. She inspired thought and commanded respect. After only hearing the first verses of “Lost Ones” and “Final Hour” on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, fans of hip hop can already see that Lauryn is a force to be reckoned with. Every verse is thoughtfully put together with intricate rhymes and every line serves to convey a message to the listener. My favorite line comes from “Superstar”: “And if your rhyme sound like mine, I’m taking a percentage/I’m unprecedented, and still respected when its finished.” These words accurately sum up the essence of Lauryn Hill as an artist.

Many artists spend a lifetime releasing multiple volumes of music, but never come close to crafting a classic. Craig Mack once told his adversaries, “Your whole album couldn’t fuck with one line”. Lauryn graced us with only a few verses, but it is hard to find another album from a female MC that is comparable. She chose to withdraw from the distress that comes with fame at the peak of her career. Just as Kurt Cobain revolutionized the grunge movement before his untimely death, Lauryn cemented herself as a leader in the hip hop world. Lauryn, I believe that you never stopped creating music or writing lyrics because you are a true artist and will always want to express your emotions in your art. Maybe one day you will choose to share with the world once again. Until that day comes Lauryn, we miss you.

The high-profile rapper has made such an effort to shun any public appearances during the last couple of years that the media decided to label him reclusive. Fans are still intrigued by Marshall Mathers and that is one of his biggest appeals. He raps about almost every aspect of his life, more so than a lot of other artists, and yet even his biggest fans have not the slightest clue to understanding him as a person. Eminem maintains an aura of mystery with the public. He only finds solace in his music and that is what makes him a great artist.

I will not call it a comeback because Eminem only took an extended break, but the new single “We Made You” is definitely a throwback to the early 2000′s. Slim Shady maintains his persona and definitely has not lost his touch. The rhymes as only Eminem can deliver them is all there. The beat holds Dr. Dre’s unmistakable signature. The list of pop celebrities and political figures to throw jabs at have been updated. Everything comes together with a hilarious music video directed by Joseph Kahn. We are given a treat with Charmagne Tripp (and not Eminem himself) singing the catchy chorus. Eminem starts off with a disappointly high pitched accent reminscient of “Ass Like That” from his last album Encore. It was piercing to the ears and I was glad that he toned it down throughout the song. Trying to catch the complete list of celebrities and drugs he mentions is a good enough reason to justify listening to the song multiple times. Like most of Eminem’s first singles, the song takes multiple plays before it grows on you. Notable targets are Sarah Palin, Kim Kardashian, Jessica Simpson, and Amy Winehouse. Eminem enlists Lisa Ann, the pornstar infamous for portraying Sarah Palin to appear in his music video.

There are however some key ingredients that I find absent from “We Made You”. The first is a strong central underlying message. If we take a look back at “The Real Slim Shady”, Slim points out that we live in an already imperfect world and he should not be judged for his brash rap style. His follow-up “Without Me”, Eminem declared that his rhymes may be offensive but the world would be boring without that controversy. Other than the declaration that Slim Shady was back and the world adores him, I did not find any sort of statement from “We Made You”. The new single also lacks any sense of sarcasm and anger. In Eminem’s past work especially for his first pop single, his remarks were mostly sarcastic or angry and at the same time comical. With “We Made You” the comedy is still present, but the sarcasm and anger seems to have calmed. This may be a sign of Eminem’s maturity as an artist and will be interesting to follow.

Any Eminem fan knows not to judge his album based on his first single. The single only serves to attract attention and draw interest to the album. With the slew of issues in the world and Eminem’s loss of his close personal friend Proof, he will definitely be putting out a heartfelt ensemble. In the song Eminem says “Why should I wash my filthy mouth out?/You think thats bad, you should listen to the rest of my album”. The new album called Relapse comes out May 19, 2009 and that is exactly what Eminem’s legion of fans will be anxiously awaiting.