At 13, rapper Lil' Bow Wow is already used to being top dog. It all started eight years ago at a concert in Columbus, Ohio, when Snoop Dogg handpicked the then-five-year-old from the crowd to join him onstage. "I just went up there, began rapping and [the crowd] started throwing money," says the Columbus native (Real name Shad Moss). The gig resulted in an opening spot on Snoop and Dr. Dre's 1993 The Chronic tour and a deal with Dre's Death Row Records. Other than a cameo on Snoop's Doggystyle album, however, Bow Wow's Death Row contract didn't yiel any releases. Then, in 1997, he signed with Jermaine Dupri's So So Def label and his career took off. Soon, his youthful charm and profanity-free rap style landed him on the Wild Wild West soundtrack and Destiny's Child's "jumpin Jumpin" video remix. Just this fall, his debut album Beware Of the Dog, spawned his own No. 1 R&B hit, "Bounce With ME." And Bow Wow- in only the first years of his teens- has just begun to bite. "When I'm done rapping," he says, "I might be a sports agent, a basketball player or go to college."
-D.M Taken from Teen People 2000
