ALBUM REVIEW: B.O.B.'s "Strange Clouds"

Here are the top 3 tracks off of B.O.B.'s sophomore album:

3. "Circles"
There's a nursery-school song theme throughout the track as he reminisces about his childhood crush, using the rhythm of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and singing the first two lines of "Miss Mary Mac" in the chorus. It reminds me of when Jay-Z sampled "It's a Hard Knock Life" from the Annie musical in his 90s hit "Hard Knock Life"...except not as epic.

2. "Castles" feat. Trey Songz
For some reason Trey sounds like the long lost member of One Direction, but it's a sweet radio-friendly summer song.

1. "Out of My Mind" feat. Nicki Minaj
Whenever rappers get into lyrical battles, I pray they use my favorite type of diss: when they quote their opponent's most popular song and use it to mock them. Not only did Nicki do that on this track using "Airplanes" lyrics, but she got paid to. Ha!

I aslo love the parts in the song where he drops the beat and just starts talking as if he's not mid-rhyme. It's one of the best produced tracks on the album.