January 9, 2002
29TH ANNUAL AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS
Lil' Bow Wow during The 29th Annual American Music Awards - Press Room at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, United States.
January 22, 2002
LIL' BOW WOW WATCHES NBA GAME
Lil' Bow Wow looks on during the game between the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. The Nuggets won 107-91.
February 8, 2002
MTV ROCK AND JOCK GAME
Antoine Walker #8 of the Boston Celtics has fun with recording artist Lil Bow Wow during the MTV Rock and Jock Game at the NBA Jam Session Center Court in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
February 9, 2002
NBA ALL-STAR READ TO ACHIEVE CELEBRATION SHOW
Jermaine Dupri & Lil Bow Wow during NBA All-Star Read to Achieve Celebration - Show at Philadelphia Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
February 9, 2002
FILMING LIKE MIKE MOVIE
Lil Bow Wow drives to the basket for a scoop shot during the 2002 NBA .com Slam Dunk presented by Realone during the NBA All Star Weekend at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
February 10, 2002
NBA ALL-STAR GAME
Lil" Bow Wow at the "NBA All-Star Game" at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pa.
February 25, 2002
PLAYSTATION 2 GRAMMY PARTY
Jermaine Dupri and Bow Wow during Playstation 2 Grammy Party hosted by Jermaine Dupri - Arrivals at Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, California, United States.
March 20, 2002
16TH ANNUAL SOULT TRAIN MUSIC AWARDS
Lil' Bow Wow during The 16th Annual Soul Train Music Awards - Arrivals at L.A. Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California, United States.
March 30, 2002
NBA GAME
Lil' Bow Wow gets a close view of the game between the Charlotte Hornets and the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
April 2, 2002
MTV TRL CELEBRITY HOST WEEK
Lil' Bow Wow performs during a special week of celebrity hosts on TRL at the MTV Studios in New York City.
April 17, 2002
WHO LET THE LIL' DOG OUT?
L''il Bow Wow is all smiles as the Cleveland Cavaliers lead at half time 52 - 50 against the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada.
April 20, 2002
NICKELODEON KIDS CHOICE AWARDS
Lil Bow Wow arrives at Nickelodeon's "15th Annual Kids' Choice Awards" held at Barker Hanger, Santa Monica Airport.
April 21, 2002
BOW WOW WATCHES GAME
Lil' Bow Wow watches Game one of the Western Conference Quarterfinals of the 2002 NBA Playoffs between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on April 21, 2002. The Lakers won 95-87.
April 22, 2002
LIL' BOW WOW ANNOUNCES SCREAM 2 TOUR; TOUR SUPPORTS HIT ALBUM 'DOGGY BAG' AND 'LIKE MIKE' FILM DEBUT
With Doggy Bag, his sophomore album on So So Def/Columbia Records, hitting the RIAA platinum mark, Lil Bow Wow is about to launch his Scream 2 U.S. tour, the eagerly-awaited follow-up to last year's sold out and highly successful Scream Tour. Scream 2 will kick-off on Thursday, July 25 in Memphis, TN (see itinerary following).
Since the success of Beware Of Dog, released in 2000, Lil Bow Wow has become a household name. The album debuted at #8 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart and kicked out the #1 Rap single "Bow Wow (That's My Name)." Two of Bow Wow's videos -- "That's My Name" and "Puppy Love" -- were voted #1 Videos on BET. His much-heralded follow-up, Doggy Bag, was certified gold less than a month after its release on December 21, 2001. Doggy Bag entered the Billboard Top 200 album chart and #6 and contains his current hit single, "Take Ya Home."
In conjunction with success of Doggy Bag, Bow Wow recently completed finished filming "Like Mike" his first starring role in a major feature film. Set for release on July 12th by 20th Century Fox, "Like Mike" stars Bow Wow as an orphan teenager who finds sneakers that were "allegedly" worn by NBA legend Michael Jordan. By wearing the sneakers, Bow Wow becomes an extraordinary basketball player and subsequently the youngest player to enter the NBA. The movie features cameos by NBA stars Jason Kidd, Alonzo Mourning, Chris Webber, Tracy McGrady, David Robinson, Rasheed Wallace and others.
Most recently, Bow Wow was nominated for his second straight Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Award: "Best Male Artist" award (an award he won in 2001). He has also appeared in MTV's feature presentation, "Carmen," a hip-hopera based on Bizet's classic opera. Bow Wow's new clothing line, among other ventures, will be announced later this year.
April 22, 2002
LIL' BOW WOW VISITS LOUISIANA
Fifteen-year-old rapper Lil Bow Wow greets fans from the rooftop of a radio station April 22, 2002 in Shreveport, LA. An additional appearance by Lil Bow Wow was altered when local school officals denied permission for invited high school honor students to attend, deeming it too commerical. Many of those students skipped classes to see the rapper, who was ostensibly there to promote the importance of staying in school.
May 14, 2002
2ND ANNUAL BET AWARDS NOMINATIONS PRESS CONFERENCE
Morris Chestnut, Bow Wow, Cedric The Entertainer, Ashanti, Ja Rule & Steve Harvey at the 2nd Annual BET Awards nominations press conference held at the Kodak Theater in Hollyood, California.
May 18, 2002
RAPPER BOW WOW LIVE IN LAS VEGAS
Lil Bow Wow performs at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, NV.
May 31, 2002
BOW WOW WATCHES THE GAME
Lil' Bow Wow watches the Sacramento Kings take on the Los Angeles Lakers in Game six of the Western Conference Finals during the 2002 NBA Playoffs at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on May 31, 2002. The Lakers won 106-102.
May 31, 2002
ESSENCE AWARDS
Lil' Bow Wow and Heather Headley during 2002 Essence Awards - Backstage Creations Talent Retreat at Universal Amphitheater in Universal City, California, United States.
June 1, 2002
MTV MOVIE AWARDS ARRIVALS
Bow Wow during 2002 MTV Movie Awards - Arrivals at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, United States.
June 1, 2002
MTV MOVIE AWARDS SHOW
Katie Holmes and Lil' Bow Wow during 2002 MTV Movie Awards - Show at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, United States.
June 1, 2002
MTV MOVIE AWARDS BACKSTAGE
Lil' Bow Wow and Greg the Bunny during 2002 MTV Movie Awards - Backstage and Audience at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, United States.
June 2, 2002
LIL' BOW WOW PROMOTIONAL VISIT IN CHICAGO
Lil Bow Wow arrives at Niketown to meet and greet fans in Chicago, Illinois in June 2002.
June 2, 2002
LIL' BOW WOW LIVE IN CONCERT
Rapper Lil Bow Wow performs at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago, Illinois
June 8, 2002
LEWIS VS TYSON
Lil' Bow Wow attends the WBC/IBF Heavyweight Championship bout between Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson at The Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee.
June 9, 2002
BOW WOW HOSTS CYBERCHAT
Bow Wow hosts a Cyberchat on NBA.COM during Game three of the 2002 NBA Playoffs between the Los Angeles Lakers and the New Jersey Nets on June 9, 2002 at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Lakers won 106-103.
June 14, 2002
LIL' BOW WOW WITH NBA PLAYERS
Lil' Bow Wow with NBA players Elton Brand, Michael Finley, Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles at the W Hotel Times Square New York City.
Like Mike star Lil' Bow Wow signing autographs at the W Hotel Times Square in New York City.
Lil' Bow Wow playing basketball with NBA players at Gaucho's Gym in the Bronx, New York City
June 16, 2002
MUCHMUSIC VIDEO AWARDS
Bow Wow on the red carpet at the MMV Awards
June 23, 2002
REHEARSALS 2ND ANNUAL BET AWARDS
Bow Wow during 2nd Annual BET Awards - Rehearsals - Day One at The Kodak Theater in Hollywood, California, United States.
June 25, 2002
2ND ANNUAL BET AWARDS
Bow Wow during The 2nd Annual BET Awards - Arrivals at The Kodak Theater in Hollywood, California, United States.
June 25, 2002
LIL BOW WOW LIVE AT 2ND ANNUAL BET AWARDS
Bow Wow performing "Take Ya Home" during The 2nd Annual BET Awards - Show at The Kodak Theater in Hollywood, California, United States.
June 27, 2002
LIKE MIKE PREMIERE
Lil Bow Wow (C) and Morris Chestnut (R) pose with director John Schultz at the film premiere of "Like Mike" on June 27, 2002 in Westwood, California. The film opens nationwide on July 3.
NBA Inside Stuff on NBC co-host Summer Sanders listens to star Bow Wow at the premiere for "Like Mike" in Westwood, California.
June 30, 2002
PUPPY LOVE
Wearing an oversize Cincinnati Royals jersey that goes down to his shins, Shad Moss, better known as Lil' Bow Wow, is riding through Los Angeles in the back of a Ford Explorer, surrounded by a dozen or so boxes of brand-new size 7 1/2 basketball shoes. The sneakers come compliments of Nike, whose footwear is prominently placed in the 15-year-old rapper's feature film, ''Like Mike,'' a sort of cross-pollination of ''Hoop Dreams'' and ''Harry Potter'': a scrappy orphan is supernaturally transformed into an N.B.A. star when he puts on a pair of old high-tops with the initials M.J. Today is the last day of production, and Lil' Bow Wow, accompanied by a driver, his bodyguard and one of his managers, is heading toward the Great Western Forum to film a final basketball scene with Vince Carter, the star shooting guard for the Toronto Raptors and, as it happens, a friend of his.
Bow, as those in his circle call him, is an avid N.B.A. fan, and at barely over five feet tall, an impressive player; the slam dunks and 30-foot jump shots he executes in ''Like Mike'' may be digitally enhanced, but the rest is all him. Still, 20th Century Fox is not placing a large Fourth of July weekend bet on him simply because he can dribble with his knees.
This raspy-voiced rapper from Columbus, Ohio, has established himself as the leader of what might be called youngsta rap, a PG version of the NC-17 gangsta rap with a similar brand of braggadocio, only about teenage crushes instead of booty calls. Under the creative guidance of Jermaine Dupri, a producer and rapper, Lil' Bow Wow has made two albums -- ''Beware of Dog'' in 2000 and ''Doggy Bag'' last year -- that together have sold more than four million copies, all without a single profanity uttered. He is listed in the Guinness World Records book as the youngest solo rap artist ever to score a No.1 hit, with the party anthem ''Bounce With Me,'' released when he was 13.
While a rapper like Eminem -- Bow's current favorite -- sets off lyrical dirty bombs of obscenity and ultraviolence, Lil' Bow Wow has struck a more delicate balance, appearing sufficiently attitudinal to maintain credibility with young rap fans but not so threatening as to worry their parents, cute enough to make girls scream but not so cute the guys won't respect him. On one track, he'll brag of being a ''lil' man with big checks . . . big girls wanting to teach me about sex,'' while rapping on another that he attracts ''more family than Ringling Brothers.'' In testament to this formula's potency, other young Lil's have emerged, the most prominent being Lil' Romeo, son and protégé of the rapper Master P. Some in the hip-hop world have played up the rivalry between the two, but Lil' Bow Wow shrugs it off. ''We're on different levels,'' he says. ''He's 12, and I'm 15. It's a big, big, big, big difference.''
As he picks through the Nike freebies, Lil' Bow Wow turns the conversation to cars. ''Big D, guess what I think I want now,'' he calls up to his bodyguard and constant companion, Darrell (Big D) Davis, who is in the front passenger seat. ''I want that Audi, that little itty-bitty two-seater. I want that car so bad.'' ''Naw, man,'' Big D says with a scowl, ''don't go out like that.'' His manager, Lucy (Juice) Raoof, agrees: ''That ain't a good car for you, Bow. We'll get you a Porsche.'' Big D points out a silver Mercedes-Benz truck in the next lane. ''What do you think of that?'' ''I'm getting that, but it's gonna be red, with 22 rims,'' Lil' Bow Wow says. ''Then I'm gonna get me an Audi.'' ''What happened to the Prowler?'' Raoof asks, referring to a flashy Chrysler model with enormous rear wheels that appears in Lil' Bow Wow's ''Ghetto Girls'' video. ''My mom won't let me get it,'' he says quietly.
That's the thing about being a rap star at 15. Lil' Bow Wow may enjoy many of the perks older rappers do -- the adoring fans, famous friends, diamond-encrusted pendants -- but if he wants a Prowler or a Bentley, if he wants to party with P. Diddy or if he wants to grab his crotch onstage, he has to deal with his mom.
At most times, Lil' Bow Wow is cocooned in a group of no fewer than a half-dozen handlers, the key figures being his mother-manager-stylist, Teresa Caldwell; her two co-managers, Raoof and Michael Mauldin (who is Raoof's brother and Dupri's father); his aunt and personal assistant, Donna Jones; his publicist, Patti Webster; his road manager, Bobby Sanders; Big D, a mountainous but genial former Atlanta cop; and a tutor. This posse, he points out, is not the sort of large, intimidating samurai affair associated with hip-hop stars like Jay-Z or Nas, however: ''People don't act certain ways toward kid rappers, so you don't need all them people -- you ain't scared.''
Aside from signing autographs and taking photos with fans -- never smiling, always stone-faced, with one index finger pointing at nothing in particular -- Lil' Bow Wow spends remarkably little time in the company of kids. Along with Dupri and Big D, some of his closest friends are the rappers Snoop Doggy Dogg and Fabolous and N.B.A. players like Carter, Baron Davis and Darius Miles. ''People are always telling me, 'You let Bow around Snoop and those hard-core guys?''' Caldwell says. ''But they are the sweetest people ever. Whatever they do, they don't bring it around Bow. I haven't ever seen anybody even smoke weed around Bow. Everybody wants this kid to make it.''
By late morning, much of the Lil' Bow Wow team has gathered in the rapper's trailer outside the Forum, as he waits for the ''Like Mike'' crew to call him to the set. On the kitchen table sits a stack of flashcards printed with vocabulary words: ''taciturn,'' ''impervious,'' ''plethora,'' ''ameliorate.'' During downtime like this, Lil' Bow Wow is supposed to get an education. He hasn't attended school full time since the eighth grade but has different tutors in different locations: in Columbus, he works with a student from Ohio State; in Atlanta, where he and his mother live most of the time, with Raoof's 18-year-old daughter, Lindsay Ryans; and here on the set of ''Like Mike,'' with Rhonda Sherman.
To attain enough credits to complete the equivalent of his sophomore year in high school, Lil' Bow Wow, who says he would ultimately like to attend Duke, needs to ''go to school'' for around three hours a day. At the moment, though, he is keeping Sherman at bay with all manner of stall tactics -- cranking up the stereo, introducing everyone to his invisible friend Dwayne, gathering opinions on whether or not he should cut off his cornrows. ''You only got in one hour yesterday,'' she says. ''Let's see how much we can get done today.'' As Lil' Bow Wow pokes moodily at the remains of a takeout container of IHOP pancakes, Big D stirs and comes to Sherman's aid. ''She's trying to work with you,'' he says. ''You're hard to get along with, buddy.''
''I'm very complicated,'' Lil' Bow Wow grumbles. ''Complicated!'' Big D says with a laugh. ''Spell complicated!'' With that, the 6-foot-4 bodyguard scoops his young boss out of his chair and carries him out of the trailer to work on English -- an indignity Snoop Doggy Dogg likely never has to suffer.
It is his second awards show in as many days, and Lil' Bow Wow is slumped in the back of a stretch limousine, wearing a white Gucci hat, diamond Mickey Mouse and dog-bone necklaces and an expression that says he would rather be playing N.B.A. 2002 on his Xbox. At last night's Essence Awards, he and Dupri performed a single from the ''Like Mike'' soundtrack. Despite some protesting beforehand (''I don't even know what the Essence Awards is,'' he told Raoof. ''If I ain't nominated, I don't care''), he left his $210 seat at Game 6 of the Lakers-Kings playoff series after the first quarter with little complaint to sit backstage at the Universal Amphitheater for three hours with Big D, Dupri and some of Dupri's posse, watching the game on TV until it was time to tape his 2-minute-15-second performance.
Today, it is the MTV Movie Awards, where, paired incongruously with Katie Holmes from ''Dawson's Creek,'' he will present the award for Best Villain. As he rides toward the Shrine Auditorium with Mauldin and his mother, he asks: ''Which awards are these? The Video Music Awards, right?'' The part of the awards-show experience Lil' Bow Wow finds least appetizing is the red-carpet celebrity perp walk. ''It's the same people over and over,'' he says. ''There's that one guy who's always saying, 'Bow, I'm from Columbus!''' ''Then there's that Asian woman,'' Mauldlin says. ''Is she 'Access Hollywood'?'' ''CNN,'' Lil' Bow Wow says. ''That's right,'' Mauldin says, smiling. ''See, Bow's got it down.''
Shad Moss has, after all, been a performer for most of his life. He was turned onto gangsta rap as a toddler by one of his mom's boyfriends (she split from his father when he was only a few months old) and began memorizing the rhymes of Eazy-E and Ice Cube before he started school. By the time he was 5, he was winning local talent shows under the name Kid Gangsta.
In 1993, Moss took the stage during a Snoop Doggy Dogg concert in Columbus. Afterward, Snoop invited him backstage, where he bestowed him with his moniker and offered him a spot on the rest of his Chronic Tour. The newly christened Lil' Bow Wow relocated to Los Angeles with his mother, made a guest cameo on Snoop's ''Doggystyle'' album and expected to sign a record contract with Suge Knight, head of Snoop's label, Death Row Records. It was an awkward fit: Dr. Dre and Knight, the co-founders, were busy establishing Death Row as the home of hard-core West Coast rap with acts like Snoop and Tupac Shakur, and an elementary-schooler from Ohio hardly supported that image. The record deal never materialized.
Caldwell moved her son back to Columbus and persisted in trying to keep his career prospects alive. ''Bow was devastated,'' she remembers. ''He'd say: 'Please call Snoop, Mommy. Tell him I want to come back out there.' But when I'd call up Death Row Records, they were, like, 'We don't know no Bow Wow' -- click.'' Finally in 1998, Snoop, who was leaving Death Row to join the rapper Master P's No Limit label, suggested that she contact his friend Steve Prudholme, then an executive at Epic Records. Sony, Epic's parent company, signed Lil' Bow Wow and asked Dupri to produce his first record.
In the early 90's, Dupri had created the blueprint for kid rap, and a sizable fortune for himself, with Kris Kross, a hip-hop duo from Atlanta who sold more than four million copies of their debut album, ''Totally Krossed Out,'' and started a brief fad for wearing clothes backward. While Dupri had gone on to produce hits for adult artists like Mariah Carey and TLC, he believed the marketplace was ready for a new prepubescent rapper and figured Moss could be the one. ''I wanted him to get my vibe, to turn basically into me as a little guy,'' Dupri says. ''I'd write all the lyrics and do all the demos. Everything you see from Bow is basically from me.''
Caldwell was happy to let Dupri run the creative side. ''I don't even come to the studio,'' she says. But when Dupri's father, Michael Mauldin, approached her about co-managing Lil' Bow Wow, she was wary. ''I was, like, what's going on? Do all of Jermaine's acts have to be managed by his father? That's, like, you've got your hand in every pot. Then, when I found out Lucy was Michael's sister, I'm, like, this is crazy.''
But Caldwell's lawyers persuaded her to sign the co-management deal -- Dupri hadn't begun recording her son's album, and without the agreement, she might have had no career to manage. Eventually, the rest of the team would be assembled almost entirely through Dupri; even Big D, whom she considers ''like family,'' came on a recommendation from one of Dupri's two bodyguards, Big Bob. Two years into a three-year contract with Raoof and Mauldin, Caldwell seems satisfied with the agreement, though she clearly considers herself her son's closest adviser. There is a certain unsavory association with parents who manage their kids' careers, but Caldwell, a former purchasing-department manager for a computer-resale company, is unapologetic: ''Who's going to protect your child better than you are? Some parents might be money-hungry, but I'm not in this business to see how much I can make. At the end of the day, I have something I can fall back on: I can go back to corporate America. People sending me $100,000 offers for Bow to do a show -- you think I wouldn't do it if I was just about the money? I sure would. But I will not let anybody make a slave out of my son.''
Caldwell prides herself on fulfilling as many of Lil' Bow Wow's wishes as she can. ''He used to say, 'I want to meet Michael Jordan,' and I'd say, 'Mommy's gonna make sure you meet him one day,''' she says. ''Everything I've told him came true.'' Still, when it comes to the more lavish accouterments of a hip-hop star's lifestyle, she insists she is less indulgent: ''Bow's a minor, and all of his money goes through the courts. He can't call them and say, 'I need $10,000 to buy this diamond watch,' so if he wants something, a lot of times it comes out of my pocket. I'm not buying a Bentley. And Bow will not have his own house at 15 years old. Not gonna happen.''
There is one thing her son desires that money cannot buy: he would like to drop the Lil' from his name and just go by Bow Wow. The older he gets and the longer his teenage growth spurt takes to kick in, the more irritating that diminutive modifier becomes. ''At first it didn't bother me,'' he says glumly, ''but now I can't stand it.''nNo one around him seems eager to put through the name change, however. Aside from legal complications -- ''All of his contracts are as Lil' Bow Wow,'' Caldwell explains -- there is some obvious resistance to mucking with a proven brand, one that will be expanded next year with a Lil' Bow Wear clothing line. ''Bow's getting tired of everybody being a Lil', and he wants to be different,'' Dupri says. ''But it'll never happen. He's gotta make them change.''
Later the rapper tells me: ''Forget what Jermaine said. I am Bow Wow. Please believe it. It's Bow Wow. That's how I look at it. When you write this up, you say 'Bow Wow.'''
It would seem to be, literally, a little thing: just three letters and an apostrophe. But in many ways, the Lil' issue encapsulates the predicament he and his managers face. His stardom is, for now at least, predicated on a sort of state of suspended animation between childhood and adulthood, innocence and worldliness, that is impossible to sustain, especially for a young rapper. Being Lil' has given him an invaluable marketing niche -- it is difficult to imagine a studio throwing its weight behind a summer family movie starring Jay-Z -- but it is a tenuous one. Though he insists he could ''do 80 albums without cussing, it really don't matter to me,'' his love for Eminem and Snoop suggest otherwise. If he were to suddenly start rhyming about ''hoes'' and gunplay, however, would anyone buy it? Kris Kross's last album, ''Young, Rich and Dangerous,'' was a flop, and that was six years ago.
Lil' Bow Wow seems to expect Dupri to have the answers. ''I'm gonna always stay with Jermaine through my whole career,'' he says. ''I have to. I mean, I might try producing myself sometime, but if things don't work out, I'm gonna leave it to Jermaine.''
Dupri says Lil' Bow Wow needs to just stay in the game: ''We've got to keep coming. As long as we don't stop making records, he's going to grow up how Michael Jackson grew up.'' He means it as a positive statement, but you have to wonder whether this would really be a good thing.
For several days, Lil' Bow Wow has been eagerly awaiting the delivery of a new watch he got on Rodeo Drive. ''It's like this big,'' he has been saying, spreading his fingers, ''and the diamonds go all around the face, surrounding it. All the way around.'' Now that it has finally arrived, he is proudly showing it off to everyone at the So So Def recording studio in Atlanta, including his mother, who has, in fact, signed off on the purchase. He goes looking for Dupri, but when he finally finds him, Dupri teases him about how much smaller it is than his own, calling it ''a nice baby watch.'' ''Maybe I should have gotten more diamonds,'' Lil' Bow Wow says in a low voice.
Whenever he has free time in Atlanta, the rapper gravitates toward Dupri's studio. ''Jermaine is like a brother and father he never really had,'' Caldwell says. ''When Bow gets on my nerves, sometimes I could knock him out. Before Jermaine, I never was able to have a break. But, like, when we got to Atlanta yesterday, I paged Jermaine and said, 'I'm going to drop your bad, spoiled brat off, and he's gonna hang with you for a couple of days,' and he said, 'O.K.''' Chilli and T-Boz from TLC are in the studio today to record with Dupri. As he waits for Game 1 of the N.B.A. finals to begin, Lil' Bow Wow plays air hockey with T-Boz and then goes out to get some fast food with Chilli and Big D. By 9 p.m., the crowd at So So Def has thinned out. Big D, Caldwell, Aunt Donna and Webster have gone home. Dupri sits down to watch the game. Lil' Bow Wow is nowhere to be seen.
In a couple of days, the young rapper will be heading to Fresno for a radio promotion and ''meet and greet'' with fans, then to Memphis for the Tyson-Lewis fight, then back to Atlanta for a World Wrestling Entertainment event, then to New York for Game 3 of the N.B.A. finals -- and then comes ''Like Mike'' and, starting July 25, a nine-week, 43-date concert tour. But at this moment, one of the few he has had to himself in the past week, Lil' Bow Wow is sitting at an electronic drum kit in an empty studio, contentedly banging out a beat no one else can hear.
Over dinner at an Italian restaurant the previous night, I asked him whether he ever feels as if he's working too much. ''I always feel like I'm being worked too hard,'' he said. He considered this a second, then changed his tack: ''But if I'm feeling tired, I'll always tell people I want to stop. And they say all right. They have no choice.'' He turned around and poked his publicist. ''Who's in charge?'' he asked her. Webster looked confused for a moment. He repeated the question, and then she got it: ''Bow Wow,'' she said.
Satisfied with the answer, he turned back around and finished his crab cakes.
July 1, 2002
BOW WOW PROMOTES LIKE MIKE
Bow Wow promotes Like Mike at Planet Hollywood Times Square in New York City, New York, United States.
July 2, 2002
LIL' BOW WOW SOARING, SCORING
I'm done maturing," Lil' Bow Wow declares, lying his 4-foot-something body across two chairs in an office at the NBA Store. "I've got my own movie. I've got a street named after me. I'm the only entertainer-street rapper that has their own street named after me, besides Martin Luther King, Malcolm X." The 15-year-old hip-hop sprite, who makes his acting debut in the jock fantasy Like Mike, opening Wednesday, has kids of all colors as his disciples.
Beware of Dog (2000), Lil' Bow Wow's first record, dubbed "gangsta-lite" by critics, sold more than 2.5 million copies. His latest, Doggy Bag, has sold more than 790,000 copies since its release last December. Producer Jermaine Dupri writes most of the lyrics. The words would probably not make Tipper Gore spill her tea, but some of the verses make a pointed reminder that Bow, which he prefers to be called, is a commodity. "Sold-out shows, pocketful of cake, What you know about sellin' tres mil out the gate?" he raps on his single Take Ya Home.
Now Bow says he wants to be a movie star before he attends college, before he gets his hands on the millions of dollars gathering dust in a trust fund, before he becomes a pro basketball star. In Like Mike, Bow plays an orphan transformed into an NBA phenomenon when he puts on a pair of old high-tops with the initials "M.J." written on them. But it's a movie. Bow believes he can overcome his height and actually play with the big boys. Hey, the kid went one-on-one with Madonna at the Grammys, so who's to stop him against the likes of 6-foot-7 Kobe Bryant? "I don't gotta be big enough," Bow says. "Look at Muggsy Bogues. Look at Spud Webb." The aforementioned both succeeded in the NBA despite standing at least a foot shorter than most of their peers. Bow's conquest of the hip-hop world is also a product of, well, doggedness.
When Bow, also known as Shad Moss, was 6, Snoop Dogg passed through Bow's hometown of Columbus, Ohio, on tour. The tiny Moss climbed onstage and began an impromptu riff that got the crowd cheering. Snoop Dogg was so impressed that he called Moss backstage, christened him on the spot as Lil' Bow Wow and signed him up for the rest of the tour.
Lil' Bow Wow wants to drop the "Lil," but his aunt, Donna Jones, vetoes this, requesting that the diminutive title stay at least through the film's promotion. Bow says he is growing as an artist, and he is writing more of the lyrics for his next album. His motto is "keep it clean," but Bow has no problem purchasing the records of his tough-talking peers. "Once you get about 12, you know right from wrong," he says. He gets up and asks someone in Team Bow Wow -- Jones, or his tutor, Lindsay Ryans, or his beefy bodyguard -- to plug in what amounts to a home movie. Bow's luminescent brown eyes widen as he watches himself tussle with his boxer, Soldier, in a vacant field in front of his home and play pingpong against his stunt double on the set of Like Mike.
"When he's really tired, it gets a little rough," Jones says. "But he usually takes it in stride. It's all about the job. It's all about his fans. He knows that in this business, "you can be here today on top and not on top tomorrow." The rapper also knows he gets his money when he turns 18. His mother, Teresa Caldwell, set up an account with a trustee independent of the family to avoid conflict, Jones said. "Every day I'll be wanting some of my money," Bow says. "But they won't give it to me. But it's all right, it's cool."
Today he is a rap star and just another teenager who dreams of making it in the pros. As for tomorrow, he says, "There's no telling. By the time I'm 18, I want to be doing something different besides what I'm doing now. Hopefully I'll be off at college somewhere playing basketball."
July 2, 2002
LIKE MIKE SPECIAL SCREENING
Morris Chestnut, Lil' Bow Wow, and New Jersey Nets star Jason Kidd host a special screening of "Like Mike" at the Loews Newark Cinemas in Newark, New Jersey. Children of the Salvation Army and the Boys & Girls Club of Newark attended the screening on behalf of the Jason Kidd Foundation. The foundation was established in March 1999 to help improve the welfare of children.
July, 2002
A SCREEN-AND-ROLE PLAY
15-year-old rapper Lil' Bow Wow makes his move to film in the basketball fantasy 'Like Mike.'
Lil' Bow Wow's got game and he's showing what he's got on an outdoor basketball court in Los Angeles. Of course, his opponent today is only a leggy blonde from a cable entertainment news show whose film crew is recording every drive to the basket.
The 15-year-old rapper from Columbus, Ohio, would rather be testing his surprisingly adept basketball skills against a more formidable opponent, but when you've got a new movie to promote, you have to endure the banality of playing one on one with TV journalists.
And then, after showing off for the TV cameras all morning, you have to drag your sweaty teen-age body into a nearby gym and sit with a print journalist in the empty bleachers to discuss personal stuff and "Like Mike," a family-friendly movie that opens Wednesday.
Bow Wow (he says he has dropped the Lil' in real life, although in real life his real name is Shad Moss) plays an orphan who finds a pair of magical sneakers that may have belonged to a young Michael Jordan. They transform him into an NBA-quality player, and he soon becomes the toast of the league.
This is Bow Wow's first starring role in a movie, and it follows two platinum albums and a designation in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest solo rapper ever to have a No. 1 single. He begins a national tour at the end of this month.
With his huge, ever-present bodyguard sitting nearby, the fast-talking, supremely self- confident rapper, who stands just shy of 5 feet tall and is dressed for a game of hoops with an oversized jersey and brand new sneakers, discussed his early start in the music business, meeting top NBA players on the set of his new movie and what he wants to be when he grows up. You might be surprised to learn where he expects to be in five years.
July 18, 2002
LIL' BOW WOW AT THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO
Rapper Bow Wow during an interview with host Jay Leno, episode 2303.
August 7, 2002
LIL' BOW WOW BACKSTAGE
Bow Wow signs autograph for young fan during Bow Wow In Concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, United States.
August 7, 2002
LIL' BOW WOW IN CONCERT
Bow Wow In Concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, United States.
August 7, 2002
LIL' BOW WOW IN CONCERT AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
Bow Wow In Concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, United States.
August 12, 2002
LIKE MIKE PREMIERE LONDON
Jonathan Lipnicki and Lil' Bow Wow at the Like Mike premiere in Odeon West, London.
August 16, 2002
Bow Wow wanting to bark up other trees
RAPPER Bow Wow is no longer just some little pup hoping to stay afloat in the dog-eat-dog music industry. While not the most successful underage artist since Michael Jackson, as Bow Wow's record label shamelessly suggests, Bow Wow is at least riding a swift trajectory that allows him to be mentioned in the same breath.
His debut compact disc, 2000's "Beware of Dog," sold more than 2 million copies thanks to strong songs such as "Bounce With Me," "Bow Wow (That's My Name)" and "Ghetto Girls," and his innocuous rhymes. His latest, similarly styled "Doggy Bag" has sold a million. He's listed in the "Guinness Book of Records" as the youngest solo rapper to hit No. 1.
The cornrowed, pint-size artist has headlined his own movie, "Like Mike," which yielded the hit song "Basketball" from its sound track. And Bow Wow is the main attraction on the Scream Tour II, coming to Oklahoma City's Ford Center on Sunday.
Talk about movin' on up. And growing up. The 15-year-old recently changed his name, going from Lil' Bow Wow to the presumably more mature Bow Wow (this may put some distance between him and the other major "Lil" rapper to follow him, Lil' Romeo).
And his mostly teen girl fan base can't seem to get enough of him. Just don't ask him too much about why the mere mention of his name sends teen girls into screaming fits.
"I really don't know. I can say I'm just really blessed. I don't even know," was all the boy of few words could muster during an interview.
One thing stands out. The Columbus, Ohio, native, born Shad Moss, couldn't be any cuter, and cute usually isn't a word to describe anything in hip-hop. Fans fall all over this future heartbreaker's looks. He's also helped along through the support of two of hip-hop's heavy hitters, rapper Snoop Dogg and producer/rapper Jermaine Dupri.
"Everything is all good," he says of his young career, which included an appearance with Madonna at the 2001 Grammy Awards. "I love being an entertainer. I'm doing what I want to be doing. "I'm just the type of person who knows what he wants to do," Bow Wow says. "I know right from wrong. I've learned from other peoples' mistakes, and I do what I have to do."
Despite the impression Bow Wow has made, he already knows he's not in the rap game for the long run. He plans to get out while the getting is good and looks forward to moving on.
"I do want to try different things in life, go to college and do some other things like play basketball. And I want to be a sports agent," he says. "Sports was also always a dream."
August 30, 2002
SCREAM II TOUR PRESENTS BOW WOW
Bow Wow during Scream II Tour Presents Bow Wow at Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California, United States.
September 16, 2002
BOW WOW JOINED B2K AT SCREAM II TOUR
Young teen rap star Bow Wow joined B2K and IMX on the bill for the "Scream Tour II" concert at Fiddlers Green last night.
September 29, 2002
SCREAM 2 TOUR
RALEIGH – Bow Wow, B2K and IMX know how to please the ladies in their “Scream 2 Tour.” I think that every one between the ages of five and 35 were screaming to the top of their lungs during the show.
To my surprise, R&B recording artist IMX was received as just another opening act as well. IMX performed “Ain’t No Need” (“Pluto Nash” soundtrack), “Beautiful” and “My First Time.” They switched clothes during every scene and yelled to the crowd to help support the album. I was a little bit shocked by the amount of love they received. IMX really put on a good performance. It was sad to face the reality of them going from headlining tours to being an opening act.
Recording artist B2K was the second act to perform in the Entertainment Sports Arena in Raleigh. B2K’s performance made me wonder why guys my age don’t perform like that. It’s safe to say that they must practice long and hard to have every step is on point. They performed “Gotta be,” “Uh Huh” and other fan favorites.
They had a mini-movie screen set up above the audience inside the arena. Each member of the group took turns doing a dance to keep the crowd full of energy. It was kind of crazy to see grown women and little girls hollering that they would do anything for B2K. The artists were guilty of feeding off of the ladies’ fantasies as well. B2K asked the crowd to scream for them as loud as they could. The first 100 girls who screamed the loudest would get a chance to come back to the hotel with them. They also told the crowd that if their mothers didn’t let them come then the mothers were welcome to the pajama party as well. These young men sounded as if they had learned some rules of the game from some of the guys at N.C. A&T.
The last performance was by Shad Moss a.k.a. Bow Wow.
Bow Wow proved that he truly deserves to be headlining a tour. His opening was like watching a blockbuster action movie. Bow Wow opened his show with a mini-movie on a large projection screen over the audience. The movie showed Bow Wow on his tour bus, then getting lost and later being rescued by a recording artist and CEO of So So Def recordings Jermaine Dupri in a helicopter. He exploded onto the scene and gave one of the best performances that I have ever seen. Bow Wow introduced his DJ’s, Shakim and Jus and then proceeded to rock the crowd.
When he performed “Basketball” (Like Mike soundtrack) they showed legendary clips from different NBA players. Bow Wow rhymed with a basketball in hand, a Knights Jersey with his name on the back and a referee.
Seven and eight-year-old boys were “Harlem Shaking and Crypt Walking” with him during the hit single “Basketball” off the “Like Mike” soundtrack. The hottest part of the show was when he started doing basketball tricks around the referee while rhyming.
When he performed “Thank You,” the projection screen showed shots of the audience holding homemade posters and purchased shirts and paws from the concession stands. When “Ghetto Girls” came on, little girls were pointing to themselves as if he were talking to them. The movie screen showed stars such as actress Jada Pinkett, Rap star Eve, R&B singers T Boz and Janet Jackson. He changed the show from the “Scream 2 Tour” to the “Dog House.” He proved that he is going to be one of the most talked about performers for years to come.
October 26, 2002
JOE SMITH AND STEVE MATTSON GIVE A SHIRT TO BOW WOW
Joe Smith #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves (R) and Steve Mattson, Target Center Executive Director (L) present a personalized Minnesota Timberwolves jersey to recording artist Bow Wow prior to his concert performance on October 26, 2002 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
November 12, 2002
PENNY MARSHALL AND LIL' BOW WOW
Director Penny Marshall and singer movie actor Lil' Bow Wow sit courtside during the NBA game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on November 12, 2002 in Los Angeles, California. The Hawks won 95-83.
December 7, 2002
LIL' BOW WOW IN LONDON FOR THE LIKE MIKE PREMIERE
Lil Bow Wow, in the U.K. for the premiere of "Little Mike" made an appearance on SM:tv, the top weekend kids show.
December 9, 2002
BOW WOW GIVES LOS ANGELES SCHOOL KIDS A CHANGE TO BE "LIKE MIKE"
Students from Miles Elementary cheer on the arrival of "Like Mike" star Bow Wow
Bow Wow Gives Los Angeles School Kids A Chance To Be "Like Mike" at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, United States.
December 10, 2002
BOW WOW AT LIKE MIKE IN STORE PROMOTION
Rapper Bow Wow signs a just released copy of the movie "Like Mike" for a fan at Tower Records on December 10, 2002 in West Hollywood, California.
