Grade: C
???The corrupted New Jack City sleeps with strangers as it offs its opposition. Crack cocaine paints the streets a dusty shade of off white. With hope fading and salvation resting on the shoulder of a self-assured rhyme sayer, Bow Wow rises from the ruins with a penned plan for redemption. He fails. ???
It's hard to believe that he's 22 now, but it certainly doesn't help that he hasn't grown much since his adolescence stage. Nonetheless, with his sixth studio album, entitled New Jack City Part 2, Bow Wow tackles mature topics, letting it be known to the entire world that he is a man now. Unfortunately, the result is mediocre at best.
???Featuring T.I., the track "Been Doing This" shows that Bow Wow is willing to trade songs about shooting hoops to brag about his millions and the hate of the other fellas.
???"Show these dudes how I live/ 100 Gs for the chain/ Couple mill for the crib/ If you had it like I had/ I bet you do it like this/ Lamborghini dubs going up/ Looking so sick/I make it rain in any club that I go into/ Toss a couple stacks out/ Ballin' yeah that's what I do," Bow Wow sings.
???When Bow Wow isn't rapping about his luxurious life style, he enjoys showing off his sentimental side on tracks like "Roc the Mic," which is a cheesy duet between himself and Jermaine Dupri concerning Bow Wow's branching off from Dupri's So So Def Records.
???"Same Lambo, Same Bent Different color/ More Like my lil son and just my lil brother, See I had to let him go/ Just so he can really know/ You never know what you got/ Until it's gone/ Welcome Home," Dupri raps.
???For his latest single "You Can Get It All," Bow Wow gets in touch with his romantic side for the ladies as he shows off his vocal chops.
???"If anybody ask me a question about you/ I'm a tell 'em you the one/ You got me like Wooo-hooo/ When I think about you/ That the first thing that come to my mind/ I'm like Wooo-hooo/ Baby you can get it all."
???New Jack City Part 2 also features big name guests such as Nelly, T-Pain and Swizz Beatz, but it still doesn't help matters any.
???Even though Bow Wow drops a myriad of curses on most of his rhymes, his overall effort to abandon his elementary material is a non-starter. The young hip-hopper still has a long way to go before he can be really considered a serious threat to the rap throne.
