The cover of B.o.B's fourth studio album "Ether," released in June. The album concludes B.o.B's "Elements" series. (Submitted photo)

In January 2016, B.o.B released “Flatline” on his Soundcloud page, expressing his belief in a flat earth.

The Decatur, Georgia, rapper, producer and multi-instrumentalist, born Bobby Ray Simmons Jr., dropped the diss track aimed at astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson after a protracted Twitter argument. “Flatline” also found Simmons diving into other conspiracy theories involving Holocaust denial, lizard people and Freemasons.

The internet — and Tyson — pounced on Simmons. Most noticeably, Tyson and his rapper nephew dropped a response track, “Flat to Fact.” Suddenly, Simmons — who impressed audiences and critics over the last decade with his daring, multi-genre musical productions, instrumental prowess on guitar and piano and heartfelt lyrics — found himself ridiculed in the mainstream.

The numbers show Simmons’ fall from pop culture grace. His fourth studio album “Ether,” released last month, peaked at only No. 179 on the Billboard 200, lower than any of his other official albums (and a far cry from his No. 1 debut album “B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray”).

But Simmons, whose Elements Tour in support of “Ether” and its four preceding mixtapes hits the Midtown Ballroom on Thursday, didn’t sound too worried about the naysayers when GO! Magazine caught up with him at a tour stop in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

“The people who have some s— to say aren’t people who buy my music or come to my concerts anyways,” he said. “So I don’t really care much. I never really paid that too much attention.”

If anything, speaking up about his beliefs has earned him a new audience, he said.

“I’ve really exposed myself to a whole new crowd I never knew was there to that degree,” Simmons said. “I really thought it was just me that thought like that, but then you find out there’s hundreds of thousands of people who have taken the time to really analyze the same content and information that I’ve analyzed. It really opened up the doorways, really, and I’m pretty sure I introduced (Tyson) to a lot of people that never knew who he was.”

And while he’s not apologizing for his beliefs, he seems to be ready to move on with “Ether.” Whereas the “Elements” mixtapes — “Water,” “Fire,” “Earth” (which features a reworked version of “Flatline”) and “Air” — delved into more conspiracy theories, societal ills and politics in the conscious hip-hop mold, “Ether” expands the musical and lyrical palette.

“The approach to the mixtapes was that I was gonna say everything that I’ve ever been afraid to say, so all I had to do was just say it,” Simmons said. “And I had a lot of time to produce and a lot of time to — I had a lot of inspiration. When you have a lot of inspiration, time is nothing. Time and difficulty mean nothing when you’re inspired to do something.”

The mixtapes, which featured Simmons handling production by himself, came out in rapid succession between December 2015 and August 2016. For the concluding “Ether,” Simmons brought in co-producers Jaque Beatz and 30 Roc and guests such as Lil Wayne, Big K.R.I.T., T.I., Cee Lo Green and Usher.

“Jaque Beatz … he’s a genius, man” Simmons said. “He’s like me, but just a prodigy, man. He plays guitar — if you look on my Snapchat, there’s footage of him playing guitar and I’m like, ‘How the f— do you know how to do that?’ … And so, him and 30 Roc — I feel like 30 has a fresh sound that kind of gave my sound new life and really kind of revitalized it. The combination of all three of us producing is just bound to win, bound to be great.”

Critics have agreed, with 
hiphopdx.com, XXL Magazine and more praising the album as a return to form for B.o.B, especially musically. The album’s dark production accompanies lyrics that address blow-back from the flat-earth incident (opening tracks “Fan Mail” and “E.T.”), the current political situation (“Peace Piece,” which Simmons originally wrote for longtime friend T.I.) and drug addiction (“Substance Abuse,” featuring a send-up of late-night drug infomercials).

“Some of the ‘Ether’ songs have been around before the ‘Elements’ project, and I’ve been saving them,” Simmons said. “Like certain songs — I literally picked songs for the different elements and the different vibes and everything that I wanted to do. It was a lot of momentum behind those ‘Elements’ mixtapes, a lot of momentum from ‘Water’ to ‘Ether.’”

The album marks Simmons’ first album release on his No Genre label, after a falling out with his previous label Atlantic.

“Because I’ve always been hands on, it’s the same amount of work, to be honest with you,” Simmons said. “It just takes a lot more — I don’t know, man. It really just feels like freedom. … The new labels are like Spotify, Apple Music, Empire. Those are the new models for what the artist wants to do — not like be signed and sat on the shelf, or made to record certain records you don’t want to record. Nobody wants to do that.”

What: B.o.B, with London Jaye, Jaque Beatz

When: 9 p.m. Thursday, 
doors at 8 p.m.

Where: Midtown Ballroom, 51 NW Greenwood Ave., Bend

Cost: $22 plus fees, $99 plus fees for V.I.P. meet-and-greet

Contact: redlightpro.com, eventbrite.com or 541-408-4329