It’s not kind to toot horns. We at Fresh Scouts know this. But we at Fresh Scouts also can’t help ourselves.

We nailed the whole B.o.B. thing. (Toot toot!)

There. Now that that’s out of the way, we can move forward with the rest of the article explaining why the whole B.o.B. thing is going so well at the moment. Currently, his first single, “Nothing on You,” is sitting pretty at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 after eleven weeks of rising up the rankings. But eleven weeks puts the debut of that single somewhere at Groundhog Day. We featured it in our Weekly Jukebox just 72 hours after New Years—almost a full month before the song even hit the airwaves.

There we go again. Okay, we’re done tooting this time. Promise. Cross our hearts.

That particular single, which seems to do nothing but get catchier and catchier every time you hear it, melts like a hot fudge sundae on your tongue in the middle of the summer time. It’s got this oldschool vibe to it that makes people just want to jump on the bandwagon. No one blames you guys for loving the song. It’s good. It happens.

But B.o.B. is probably a whole lot more than you realize. He raps (and raps well), but he also produces a lot of his own music and plays multiple instruments. Bobby Ray (B.o.B.’s a.k.a.) has been a mixtape stud for a few years now, and the relationships he’s developed working on those underground projects have put him together with some pretty impressive names for his first major-label album, “Introducing Bobby Ray,” due to release on Tuesday.

Check out this cast of characters: Eminem, Hayley Williams of Paramore, Lupe Fiasco, T.I., and Rivers Cuomo of Weezer (among others). All for a guy that’s got one hit and has never put out his own LP before. That says something about how respected this feller is among musical insiders.

The reason we write about him now is because we heard a second song from him recently, and we probably enjoyed it more than “Nothing on You,” if you can believe that. It’s “Airplanes,” the track featuring the hot lead singer of Paramore, as well as Eminem on the remix. It capitalizes on the hip-pop style the Black Eyed Peas have made work so well, except the rapping is like a bajillion times more reputable.

Other sneak peaks of the album (courtesy of several YouTube pirates) were equally impressive, leading us to believe that the album is going to keep B.o.B. at the top of the Billboard charts for a while. “Airplanes” is going to be a hit. You should believe us. We tend to get these sorts of things right.

Check out “Airplanes Part 2” right here:

And, of course, “Nothing on You” over at Lala:

B.o.B. featuring Bruno Mars – “Nothing on You”

Something about this track makes us feel like we’re back in the mid-‘90s, probably one of the summer months. No, definitely one of the summer months. But then the song gets warped through a time machine and resurfaces in 2010, fresh and clean and maybe full of ice crystals. We’re assuming the journey through space and time is a cold one. Ice crystals or no ice crystals, this is a head-bobber. Nineties-tested, Fresh-Scouts-approved.

Amazon Music

Cavo – “Crash”

At first you’re all, “This is a nice little rock track I guess.” Then you’re all, “Oh, some harmonies? How quaint.” And you tap your toes and slap your palms on your knees soberly to the beat. That’s when the hook hits and then you’re all, “Holy crap!” Then you stop talking to yourself and go download the song because it’s awesome. And you all lived happily ever after.

Amazon Music

iTunes

J. Cole – “Lights Please”

This is the track that got J. Cole signed to Jay-Z’s label, and it’s a generally safe motto that if it’s good enough for Jay-Z, it’s good enough for us. And why not? The beat rolls like drifting lava in a warm lamp while J. Cole flows over the beat with a sort of Lupe Fiasco pinash. True hip-hop right here, folks. Like we said, if it’s good enough for Jay-Z, it’s good enough for us.

Amazon Music