"Play the Guitar" is a song by American hip hop

recording artist A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who w ...

B.o.B Bobby Ray Simmons Jr. (born November 15, 1988), known professionally as B.o.B, is an American rapper and record producer. Raised in Decatur, Georgia, Simmons was signed to Jim Jonsin's Rebel Rock Entertainment imprint in 2006. Two years late ...

, featuring fellow American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

André 3000 André Lauren Benjamin (born May 27, 1975), better known as André 3000, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is best known for being a part of southern hip hop duo Outkast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi. ...

."B.o.B, Andre 3000 'Play The Guitar' On New Single"MTV News
Retrieved January 3, 2012.B.o.B Debuts Second Single, 'Play The Guitar,' Feat. Andre 3000 - The JuiceBillboard.com
Retrieved January 3, 2012. Produced by

Salaam Remi Salaam Remi Gibbs (born May 14, 1972) is a Grammy winning American record producer known for his association with Nas, Amy Winehouse, Robby, Fugees, Fergie, Estelle, Black Thought, and Miguel, and for his reggae-tinged (often referred to as ...

, it is a guitar driven hip hop song that samples "

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, inc ...

" as performed by

as well as "

Fancy Fancy may refer to: Places * Fancy, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a settlement * Fancy River, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Music Albums * ''Fancy'' (Bobbie Gentry album), 1970 * ''Fancy'' (Idiot Flesh album), 1997 * ''Fancy'' (video ...

" as performed by

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

Swizz Beatz Kasseem Daoud Dean (born September 13, 1978), known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American record producer, rapper, disc jockey (DJ) and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, Dean embarked on his musical career as a DJ. At the ag ...

and T.I. It was recorded for his second studio album, '' Strange Clouds'' (2012), however failed to make the final cut."Andre 3000 Joins B.o.B. On ‘Play The Guitar’"MTV RapFix
Retrieved January 3, 2012.B.o.B: 'Play The Guitar' F. Andre 3000 , Prefix
Retrieved January 3, 2012.B.o.B - "Play the Guitar" (ft. Andre 3000) • Click Hear • exclaim.ca
Retrieved January 3, 2012.

Background

Mack of Sound-Savvy was invited to the October 25th listening session at Tree Sound Studios. B.o.B played 8 songs from the album for a private audience, then sat down with Mack of Sound-Savvy to talk about the new album. One of the tracks premiered was "Play the Guitar", B.o.B’s ode to his instrument of choice. He describes the song as one that expresses his "love for music and love for the guitar". The song features André 3000, who rarely does

guest appearance In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...

s for other artists. Of the song, B.o.B says: "I feel like it shows people that we are two different artists and we actually do sound different and have our own styles. Not to say that I wasn’t influenced by Outkast and Andre, but I feel like it’s a ‘pass-the-torch’ type of moment. He really gave me a lot of love on the feature and I’m looking forward to hearing what people have to say about it.” The song's

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

features a sample of T.I.’s verse from

’s ‘

’. B.o.B. introduced this one with his origins on playing the guitar, which he picked up after urges from his brother. When asked if it was T.I.'s line on "Fancy" that inspired the song, B.o.B responded: "I was in the studio with roducer

and it seemed like it all came together at the same time. We were listening to an old

record and we were like, ‘let’s take this and put it in the club,’ because it has that classic guitar feel, and he was like ‘yeah man you play the guitar on it, we can add a guitar lick in there.’ Then I was like, ‘we should put the “feel good, play the guitar / feel good” and so we actually had to get t We had Tip’s

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

send us over his verse rom the Drake songand we chopped it up, and we put it in there. And the actual thing is, ipwent back and rerecorded it, with his voice. It really was a … I think it was meant to happen. And then Andre got on it, and that was great. Plus, the guitar solo ndredid was great. So it really came out the way we planned it, and structured it."

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

was released on August 8, 2012. The video shows the Atlanta rapper - as well as other

pixelated Pixelization (British English, pixelisation) or mosaic processing is any technique used in editing images or video, whereby an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorshi ...

objects and words - represented as black-and-white dots. However Andre 3000, like most of his music videos as a featured artist, does not appear in the video.

Chart performance

The song debuted on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100, on the week of January 14, 2012, at number 98.

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2011 singles B.o.B songs Songs written by B.o.B André 3000 songs Songs written by André 3000 Song recordings produced by Salaam Remi Songs written by Salaam Remi Grand Hustle Records singles Atlantic Records singles Songs written by T.I.