Bobby Ray Simmons (born November 15, 1988), also known as Bobby Ray, or B.o.B,[1] is an American recording artist and producer from Atlanta, Georgia. He is currently signed under the labels of Grand Hustle and Atlantic Records. In December 2008, he appeared on the cover of XXL magazine along with Asher Roth, Charles Hamilton, and Wale as "Hip-Hop's Class of '09". In October 2008, B.o.B was featured on the cover of Vibe along with some of these same young musicians and was similarly identified as promising young talent. He has described his influences as "80's music, Rap, techno, rock, funk, even du wop…"
His debut album, B.o.B. Presents The Adventures of Bobby Ray, was expected to be released on May 25, 2010 but was recently pushed up to April 27, 2010, which is very rare especially for a debut album. The album is expected to be released under T.I.'s record label Grand Hustle.
The first single, "I'll Be in the Sky", was released in late 2008. About.com called the song a "smart, funky artrap and a strong prelude to his album" and included it at #13 on its subjective ranking "Top 100 Rap Songs of 2008".Incidentally, another song produced by Bobby Ray called "Generation Lost" listed alongside the song on the ranking at #32. The music videos for "I'll Be in the Sky", "Generation Lost", "Put Me On", and "No Mans Land" can be found on MySpace or YouTube.