Bow Wow

As Bow-Wow attempts to distance himself more and more from the diminutive prefix with which he started out his career, he's released his first album with a parental advisory sticker, and yet the overall sound isn't necessarily any more mature than it has been. New Jack City Pt. II marks a reunion with producer Jermaine Dupri, who has helped shape Bow-Wow's career from the beginning. The title, as Dupri has explained, is meant to convey a happier retelling of the story from the early '90s film, in which two characters, once friends but now driven apart by their different careers, reconcile. It's a nice thought, but neither artist has shaped their renewed collaboration into something worth the effort.

"Roc the Mic," which features both Dupri and Bow-Wow rapping about their similarities and how much they love each other, has minimal musical elements—an occasional scratch, a faint hint of strings, a little ting here and there—but no real strong hook. "Get That Paper" is a Soulja Boy-style chant that fails to pique the interest, with its repetitive vocal rhythms and a bit of chop and screw incongruously thrown in. Indeed, that artist guested on the promotional single "Marco Polo," not included on the official album. Enough already with the slow-tempo chanting, kids. It's a strange choice to make in a genre prized for verbal innovation and continual evolvement. Those criticisms aside, New Jack City Pt. II does contain some clever samples (Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walking" on "Sunshine"), and a couple of songs catch the ear more impressively, like "You Can Get It All," which reminds one of Bow-Wow's earlier work, but nothing really gets you jacked up, so to speak.

—Hillary Brown
04.10.09

Not that Bow Wow wasn't gradually working his way toward it, but on New Jack City II, the MC, now 22 years old, makes like a younger and slightly cleaner T.I. However, Bow Wow doesn't merely project the kind of smooth toughness/tough smoothness exuded by his obvious inspiration. There are moments where the album sounds exactly like an attempted cloning, as heard in the kicked-back yet insolent flow throughout the opening "Get That Paper," and it even appears that way, as seen in the video for "You Can Get It All," from the mannerisms to choice of eyewear. Though Bow Wow drops a litany of curses from track to track and has transitioned from "Hey Little Momma" to "Pole in My Basement," New Jack City II is nonetheless within the domain of pop-rap, laced with candy-coated hooks and beats that are easy on the ears. Jermaine Dupri's long-running tradition of supplying Bow Wow with productions built on very easily identifiable sources continues (Rick James' "Big Time," TLC's "Baby-Baby-Baby," Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walking," Slick Rick's "La Di Da Di," Bobby Brown's "Roni"), and Swizz Beatz, oddly credited as "Swizz Beatsz," provides a typically noisy and purposefully obnoxious production for the closer, one of Bow Wow's toughest tracks yet. Some of these developments come off a little forced, but Bow Wow knew he had to abandon the PG material or risk irrelevance. It should pay off, yet it has no apparent effect on his output's quality level. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi