1987–2001: Early life and Beware of Dog Bow Wow was born Shad Gregory Moss in
Columbus, Ohio, the son of Teresa Rena Caldwell (née Jones) and Alfonso Preston Moss. At age three, he became interested in rap. Under the moniker "Kid Gangsta", he began rapping recreationally at age six; he was also a fan of
N.W.A at that age. In 1993, he performed at a concert in
Los Angeles, and was noticed by rapper
Snoop Doggy Dogg, who subsequently gave him a stage name, "Lil' Bow Wow". He then appeared on the
Doggystyle album on the track, "Gz and Hustlas", In 1998, at the age of eleven, Bow Wow met record producer
Jermaine Dupri, who helped shape his career. In 1999, the soundtrack to the movie
Wild Wild West featured his song "Stick Up" with Dupri. At the age of 13, in 2000, he debuted with the album
Beware of Dog under the stage name Lil' Bow Wow. Its debut single was "
Bounce with Me", which featured R&B girl group
Xscape. The album also included "
Bow Wow (That's My Name)" featuring
Snoop Dogg, which topped the rap chart, In a 2009 interview, the rapper claimed that the album had sold over 3 million copies since its release.
2002: Doggy Bag, Like Mike and name change In 2002, his second album
Doggy Bag was released with singles "
Take Ya Home" which peaked at No. 72 on the Hot 100 and No. 21 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and "
Thank You" with
Jagged Edge, No. 1 on the R&B chart. and was certified platinum.
2003–2006: Unleashed, Wanted and The Price of Fame The first album released under his new name was
Unleashed in 2003. Its first single was "
Let's Get Down" featuring
Birdman, the founder of
Cash Money Records, which reached No. 14 on the Hot 100 and No. 6 on the Hot Rap Tracks charts. The second single was then released, "
My Baby", featuring
Jagged Edge. Unlike his previous albums, this one was not produced under the mentorship of
Jermaine Dupri. Guest appearances include
Jagged Edge,
Birdman,
Mario, and
Amerie. "
Fresh Azimiz", featured
J-Kwon and
Jermaine Dupri, followed and peaked at No. 23 on the Hot 100 and No. 6 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart. The album was certified platinum. In 2006,
The Price of Fame was released with the lead single "
Shortie Like Mine", featuring
Chris Brown, peaking at No. 9 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Hot Rap Tracks. It peaked at No. 22 on the Hot 100 and No. 2 on the Rap chart.
New Jack City II, his sixth album, was released in March 2009 was his first album to include a
Parental Advisory: Steven Roberts of
MTV News observed that this album explored "the influence of crack cocaine in inner-city communities", and featured such guests as
T.I. Three promo singles were released in late 2008: "
Marco Polo" featuring
Soulja Boy, "Big Girls", and "Roc The Mic". The first official single, "
You Can Get It All" featuring
Johntá Austin, samples
TLC's "
Baby-Baby-Baby" and peaked at No. 55 on the Hot 100 and No. 9 on the Hot Rap Tracks.
2010–present Bow Wow planned to release his new then-titled album
Underrated on Cash Money Records, but the record underwent a number of delays and, in mid-November 2011, Bow Wow announced on his blog that the record wouldn't be out before 2012. The album was intended to feature
Birdman,
Boyz II Men,
Chris Brown,
DJ Khaled,
Fabolous,
Game,
Lil Wayne,
Lloyd Banks,
Meek Mill,
Nas,
Nelly,
Sean Kingston,
Snoop Dogg,
DMX,
Styles P and
Talib Kweli. The first promo single being "For My Hood", featuring DJ Khaled & Sean Kingston. On November 1, 2010, Bow Wow released his first promotional single from the album entitled "
Ain't Thinkin' 'Bout You" featuring Chris Brown. The music video was a success on
106 & Park and made the countdown in just one day. Two weeks later, it peaked at No. 1 on the show's charts and remained No. 1 for three days. On June 2, 2011, a song from his album called "I'm Da Man", which features Chris Brown, was leaked and wasn't the first official single from the album. On October 24, 2011, Bow Wow released the single entitled "
Sweat" featuring
Lil Wayne, and though it was thought to be the first official single from the album, it was also dubbed by Bow Wow as a promotional single. On May 18, 2012, after several delays, Bow Wow released the first single from the album titled "Better" featuring
T-Pain. The music video for the song was directed by Bow Wow's personal cameraman Rico Da Crook and was a success on
106 & Park and made it to the top of the countdown. On June 26, 2012, Bow Wow released the second single from the album titled "
We In Da Club" and was produced by DJ Mustard. The song went nowhere on any billboard charts, but the video was also another success on
106 & Park making it to the top of the countdown. The third single scheduled from the album was intended to feature
Miguel that was titled "Right Now". Later, there was an announcement that
Universal Republic Records was going defunct; all of the artists on the roster that were moved from the label, including Bow Wow, were moved to
Republic Records, making the label itself revived. On August 10, 2013, via his official
YouTube page, Bow Wow stated the reason that
Underrated had been delayed was the result of raising his daughter and waiting until he was more mature; he also stated he planned on working on and releasing the album after he turned 28. On June 24, 2014, Bow Wow announced via
Instagram that after the 2014 BET Awards, he was going by his real name Shad Moss, claiming that he made a lot of history as Bow Wow and that it was now time for "the next chapter and challenge". He stated that "Bow Wow" no longer fit with his new personality as he was now a father, host, and actor, and he had matured from what he had been early on in his life. In May 2015, with his long-delayed album with Cash Money still without a release date, Bow Wow announced that he had amicably parted ways with Cash Money Records so he could move on with his music career. He said, "I wanna dictate when my music come out. I'm tired of going to the studio to make records and then I listen to them. 'Cuz then they get old. Then when y'all ask for new music I don't wanna hear it 'cuz I've been listening to it for two or three months. I just can't be held up up by nobody. It's as simple as that. I got a daughter. I got a family I gotta provide for." On September 27, 2015, Bow Wow signed to
Puff Daddy's record label
Bad Boy Records. He then named the members of his new management team and finished the post by writing, "Making money won't be the issue. Figuring out where to keep it all is another story!" On August 7, 2016, Bow Wow officially announced that he was retiring from rapping and would release one more album, titled
NYLTH, which was initially tentatively scheduled for release in 2017. In 2021, he announced that his final album would be titled
Before 30, and would be released by
Death Row Records. He teased the album again in March 2024. Prior to his final album release, Bow Wow and
Soulja Boy released a joint retail mixtape titled
Ignorant Shit on October 25, 2016. In 2020, Bow Wow competed in the
third season of
The Masked Singer as "Frog" and finished in third place. He agreed to appear on the show because he felt it would be a good rehearsal before headlining
The Millennium Tour. He headlined the tour in 2020, 2021 and 2022. == Other ventures ==