Nothin' on You

"Nothin' on You" is the debut single by American rapper B.o.B. The song features vocals from Bruno Mars. The song is included in B.o.B's debut studio album, B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray. An official remix version of this song, which features Big Boi, debuted on March 21, 2010. The song reached number one in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. The song was nominated for three Grammys, including Record of the Year, on December 1, 2010 for the 53rd Grammy Awards.

Background

During the summer of 2009, The Smeezingtons (Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine) were booked for a week of writing sessions for Lupe Fiasco, B.o.B and Travie McCoy. Atlantic A&R Aaron Bay-Schuck told HitQuarters that one of his responsibilities is in encouraging Mars and Lawrence to develop the best of the original melodies he often heard them casually humming, and it was one of these melodies that formed the inspiration to "Nothin' on You". By the end of the week the group had created a scratch chorus-only demo of the song featuring Bruno Mars singing on a guitar track. The Travie McCoy song "Billionaire" was also conceived at this time. Several weeks later B.o.B joined The Smeezingtons in the studio to complete the full song. In an interview with MidWeek, Mars explained the lyrical inspiration for the song, "Every song I write has to do with a real-life experience, whether it's at the time or me back-tracking to how I felt at another moment. So, yeah, it was about someone; let's leave it at that."

Bruno Mars

Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), professionally known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and choreographer. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age and performed in various musical venues in his hometown throughout his childhood. He graduated from high school and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a musical career. Mars produced songs for other artists, co-founding the production team The Smeezingtons.

Mars had an unsuccessful stint with Motown Records, but then signed with Atlantic in 2009. He became recognized as a solo artist after lending his vocals to the songs "Nothin' on You" by B.o.B, and "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy, which were international successes, and for which he co-wrote the hooks. His debut studio album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010), was anchored by the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles "Just the Way You Are" and "Grenade", as well as the number-five single "The Lazy Song". His second album, Unorthodox Jukebox, released in 2012, peaked at number one in the United States. The album spawned the international singles "Locked Out of Heaven", "When I Was Your Man" and "Treasure".

Wiz Khalifa

Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American recording artist, songwriter and actor. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007. His Eurodance-influenced single, "Say Yeah", received urban radio airplay, charting on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot Rap Tracks charts in 2008.

Khalifa parted with Warner Bros. and released his second album, Deal or No Deal, in November 2009. He released the mixtape Kush and Orange Juice as a free download in April 2010; he then signed with Atlantic Records. He is also well known for his debut single for Atlantic, "Black and Yellow", which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album for the label, Rolling Papers, was released on March 29, 2011. He followed that album with O.N.I.F.C. on December 4, 2012, which was backed by the singles "Work Hard, Play Hard" and "Remember You". Wiz released his fourth album Blacc Hollywood on August 18, 2014, backed by the lead single We Dem Boyz. In March 2015, he released "See You Again" for the soundtrack of the film Furious 7 and the song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.