Bow Wow knows why his music has withstood the test of time. He says there’s a major difference between some of his decades-old hits and the hits of today.
“We’re missing substance,” he said. “That’s why we feel good when certain rappers drop. It’s almost like therapy or you just been healed from something.”
Discussing his upcoming album and his “Boys For Life” tour with B2K with radio personality Sway Calloway, the 38-year-old rapper spoke frankly about why his music from the early aughts has stayed relevant in the culture to this day. He and the host agreed that there’s a “void” of lasting music being made right now.
“They ain’t making good music,” he said. “Ain’t nobody making nothing timeless, ain’t nobody making music that makes the ladies cry or feel some type of way when they put it on. It’s a lot of ‘right now’ music.”
According to the artist, whose singles like “Let Me Hold You,” “Shorty Like Mine,” and “Like You” all peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 during the 2000s, there’s a difference between the records he was making back then and the top charters currently being released.
“Even the biggest records. It’s big, but…Let’s see what it’s going to be at the finish line, though,” he said. “You gon’ care about this record eight years from now?”
He continued, “If you make that music that is timeless, and you write it right and it lasts forever, you gon’ be here.”
Bow Wow, whose real name is Shad Moss, assured that he wasn’t talking down on fun, party songs, instead pointing out that “how you write them” to make them memorable and stand against the other music playing at the club is what’s important.
This part of the Sway interview led into Bow Wow’s plans for his own upcoming music, where he plans to get real by speaking about his fatherhood journey, including his “baby mama drama,” and “child support.”
“I’m trying to get my point across. I done lived. I done seen a lot being Bow Wow, and I got a lot to say,” Moss said. He also mentioned the input he got from friends asking for the “grown Bow” to come through on his new music.
“You ain’t gotta rap about ‘I’m buying a Bentley today,” he said. “Nobody want to hear that sh*t.”
