When it comes to prodigies, very few in history can hold a candle to the man born Shad Gregory Moss, who is 27 years old at the time of writing, and is already an astonishing 21 year veteran in the world of hip-hop and pop. His passion for hip-hop began growing at the age of three, and by the time he was six years old he had began rapping, at first for his friends and for himself, but very soon after he started, people around him realized that he was seriously good at it for his age. So good that he hopped on stage at a Snoop Dogg concert in his native Columbus and started rapping to an audience of thousands of rabid hip-hop fans. Against all probability, everyone in attendance was seriously impressed, none more so than Snoop himself, who came up to him after the show to bestow on him the new name Lil' Bow Wow, and ask him if he wanted to come to L.A with him to start a hip-hop career properly.
Moss spent the next five years in California, and wouldn't actually release anything until after he was introduced to a record producer by the name of Jermaine Dupri in 1998, who would go on to produce and executive produce most everything that the young rapper would release afterwards to this very day. His debut album “Beware Of Dog” would come out in 2000 and was an immediate hit, powered it's top twenty hit of a lead single “Bounce With Me”. While the album itself would be certified double platinum just over six months after its release, it would go on to be bettered by his first album after dropping the “Lil'” from his stage name. His third album, “Unleashed”, came in 2003, and its lead single “Let's Get Down”, a collaboration with Cash Money Records head Birdman became his biggest hit to date by a mile, peaking at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Moss spent the rest of the decade as one of the most commercially successful rapper and pop stars around, with three top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in the form of his Omarion collaboration “Let Me Hold You”, his track with then-girlfriend Ciara “Like You” and 2006's “Shortie Like Mine”. Since then, Moss has made the tricky transition from teen-idol to genuine pop star better than anyone since Justin Timberlake, and with his long awaited seventh album “Underrated” coming soon, he comes highly recommended.
From his music career to his acting career, Bow Wow is a force to be reckoned with. So it's not surprising that even in Europe he has a superb fan base. I was able to see him live in the Netherlands at Harderwijk Plaza along with a thousand other fans bouncing along to every single beat he was throwing down.
The venue had an amazing glass installation that just made the entire experience a bit more interesting as Bow Wow seemed to be in his own sparkling circle as he ran his rhymes to eager fans. No one was more eager than the ladies in the crowd though. Even when Bow Wow was screaming 'Cash Money' and not talking about being your man for the night, the ladies could not get enough of him.
Tantalizing scream after scream came from hundreds of women in the place adding to the bright lights, special effects and millions of tiny flashes as everyone got their pictures one of their favorite artist. He seemed to have a real genuine love his fans as he put himself alone out there on his glass stage and tried to please each and every one in the audience. Nothing can describe this more as thousands screaming along to "Oh I think they like this..." over and over, chanting it and insuring Bow Wow oh yeah, we like this.
B2K, named after Boy's of the new Millennium broke into the US pop charts in 2001 with their single ‘Uh Huh’. Since 1998 they played with the likes of P Diddy, R Kelly, Ray J and even supported Bow Wow on his second Scream Tour. Looking back now I'm embarrassed to say I was in love with their catchy songs, thankfully their fashion sense is no longer all the rage in 2014. The American R&B group ended in 2004, the year before though all of the members were filmed as part of the dance movie 'You Got Served', which was an interesting change for the group. When they were touring with Bow Wow the group really knew how to get the crowd warmed up with energetic performances and all of their old classics. Although they could never resist their synchronised dance moves and a few pelvic thrusts thrown in to the mix. But even with their cheesy lyrics and dance moves, they still got everyone dancing along with them. They weren't always my cup of tea but I couldn't help singing at the top of my lungs whenever they were performing. They never really had over the top strobe lights or backup dancers, but they managed to maintain the stage just the 4 of them, I can’t imagine their fan base is anything now days but they certainly knew how to entertain back in the day.