B.o.B. has been featured as an artist to watch in various media outlets (including AllHipHop’s Breeding Ground in Jan. ‘07, EARLY). B.o.B., a Decatur, GA reppin’ rapper, connected with the good TJ Chapman (of TJ’s DJ’s infamy), signed with Jim Jonsin’s Rebel Rock label and is prepping his Atlantic Records distributed debut.

B.o.B. has been featured in ads for the LRG clothing line and dropped a blistering mixtape (Hi! My Name is B.o.B.) hosted by Mick Boogie. Then, of course, B.o.B.’s ubiquitous hit “Haterz Everywhere,” has enjoyed a longer shelf life than Hillary Clinton.

Nice accomplishments and all, but B.o.B. still gets hated on. So goes the Hip-Hop life.


AllHipHop.com: So how did “Haterz Everywhere” get made?

B.o.B: I was in the studio and when I actually did it I didn’t think much of it, Wes Fif he brought TJ the beat and said get B.o.B to do this and they sent it to me and I was sitting down and the beat was jamming, Ribah made it. I was just vibin’ to it and I just  came up with the melody [sings ] and I just laid it, laid it and sent it back to him and put a verse on the background and he was like damn this s**t is dope.

So West put a verse on it and at TJ’s DJ’s Conference 2006] we performed it just on some random s**t. We just wanted to perform it. But at the end of the night when we did it people were like run that back do it again. So we were like s**t…we did it again.

At the time I was performing “Cloud 9” so I just put it in the show and started performing [“Haterz Everywhere”] before “Cloud 9” and I still do my show like that now. It just caught on and I really created a following with it. It’s amazing how long it’s lasted ‘cause I recorded that song two years ago, I’ve been working for two years and I got so much more music than that but it’s great that it lasted this long.

[B.o.B. f/ Rich Boy “Haterz Everywhere”]



AllHipHop.com: Was the song always B.o.B featuring Wes Fif or was it a joint project?

B.o.B: We actually did two remixes to it. It was Wes Fif on the original and we did a Rick Ross, Juvenile and Big Kuntry King remix and then we did a remix with Rich Boy and Greg Street was behind that because he blasted off on that song. He’s from for Atlanta and we were real cool and he got Rich Boy on it and he did his own version for his mixtape and blasted off on it and that’s really what did it for Atlanta in addition to all the work me, B. Rich and TJ have been doing over these past couple of years.

AllHipHop.com: Now the official video is you and Rich Boy.

B.o.B: Yeah.

AllHipHop.com: Is that the song that’s going to be on the album?

B.o.B: Yeah, quite possibly.

“The hate, it’s like a disease that I’m trying to get rid of so that was really my intent of the song…to spread the awareness of that disease: the hater disease.”

AllHipHop.com: Alright, what’s your definition of a hater?

B.o.B: A definition of a hater. Alright, good, glad you asked that. A hater is not necessarily someone who hates on an individual because the hate starts from within themselves so they may hate something about themselves but they might link it to somebody else. You know people may be looking at me in the club and they be looking like that n***a think he cool, that n***a ain’t cool. He probably thinks he ain’t cool ‘cause like he doesn’t even know that n***a or even seen him [before]. Or it could be like, you might be at a red light, somebody pull up by you on some big rims and they’re like ‘man that n***a probably spent more on them rims than his car’, he’s probably hatin’ cause he can’t do it himself, you know what I’m sayin’?

[It’s] something within himself that he carries around and some people are a hater sometimes when they don’t know it. They may be on the other side sometimes but the hate it’s like a disease that I’m trying to get rid of so that was really my intent of the song… to spread the awareness of that disease: the hater disease. That hater virus…so you could be positive for hater virus, you know what I’m sayin?

AllHipHop.com: I is there one moment that you got hated on and it sticks out?

B.o.B: Ohhh man. People think ‘cause I got the song it actually doesn’t happen. At some of my shows people will actually be hatin’ in the crowd. Like I remember at this one show this happened twice in the middle of the crowd this n***a threw his middle finger up from the time I did my first song up until the time “Haterz” came on I did my show and when “Haterz” came on said, “Man we got a motherf***in’ hater in the building! I can’t believe it!” And we pointed him out and it’s crazy ‘cause sometimes people won’t know who I am when I perform and then when it comes to ‘Haterz’ the same folk will be jamming. “Yeah that’s my s**t!” It’s crazy though, but it’s all love man.

AllHipHop.com: How do you draw the line between honest criticism and hate?

B.o.B: It’s all within the intent like you can kind of tell when somebody’s hatin’ cause usually hate doesn’t make sense. When you just look at it it’s kind of like, Well that don’t really make sense at all why is he doin’ that? Or why is he talking like that? Why is he askin’ that? Some people don’t know that they like, you got angry haters and passive haters.

Passive hating is when people don’t know that they’re hating so you cant really get too mad at passive haters because they don’t know they’re positive for the hater virus yet. Then you got the angry haters who intentionally hate and when you intentionally hate those are the people that the song is directed towards and it spreads the awareness, like I said, for the people who are passive haters who don’t really know that they’re haters, but they are.

Sometimes when you give criticism you got to know how you’re doing it. Like some people they may give criticism but they’ll do it in a hateful way. They’ll be like, “Man that song sucked man, you need to go back in the studio and just work for a couple [more] years.” It’s kind of like s**t man that’s kind of hateful saying that, you got to be positive with it like, I see potential you should go and work some more because you’re not ready.

[B.o.B. “Cloud 9”]



AllHipHop.com: That said how do you fight this hater virus going on?

B.o.B: You can only fight it with positiveness, that’s the only way to kill it. People say you gotta fight fire with fire but in this case you cannot fight hate with hate because it just adds even more hate. If you’re in the club and you try to fight hate with hate it ends up with shooting, people getting their throats slashed.

I remember I was in this one club, I did a show you know brought all the positive energy in the world that I could bring and that my body could facilitate and then at the end of the show after we left I found out this dude got his throat slit after the show. I’m like damn that s**t happened right after that? I thought we left on a positive note? That’s why I still perform because some people still don’t get it that you can’t just walk around with hate.
When I perform I just got my hater blockers on you just gotta have your hater blockers on, be cool, put your hater blockers on.

But me and TJ and B. Rich and Ham Squad, that’s my clique, we’re a no hater force field so no hate gets in. We may get into it sometimes amongst ourselves but it’s all cool ‘cause we know we gotta do that to get that hater virus out cause it’s cancer, that s**t is really contagious. But we got to just walk around with that positive energy and keep the hate away.

AllHipHop.com: Finally, tell me something about the album, when can we expect it?

B.o.B: The album I’m looking forward to probably the end of 2008, the beginning of 2009, I think that’ll be a real good time to get ready for the album and also get people ready for the type of music I’m doing ‘cause I feel like “Haterz” is just the tip of the iceberg so I’m tryin’ to give time for people to get to know me. You can’t really force on people, you got to just let it grow.

AllHipHop.com: Okay, you don’t want to get caught up as the hater dude basically.

B.o.B: Yeah, I don’t want to get caught up in like, “Here this n***a go with this hater song again.” [Laughs]