Sony
2003
Unleashed
About This Album
A lot more changed for Bow Wow between his second and third albums (Doggy Bag and Unleashed, respectively) than his name. The formerly "lil" rapper starred in a Hollywood film, Like Mike (2002), and changed labels, leaving behind the hitmaking expertise of Jermaine Dupri and So So Def Records for the free-range pastures of Columbia Records. Moreover, the teenage rapper's voice changed noticeably and he decided to project a more grown-up attitude. He also changed his musical style -- while Doggy Bag had been a grab bag of pop-rap interpolations (appropriating everything from New Edition to the Cars), Unleashed lets loose esteemed contemporary rap producers like Swizz Beatz, Jazzy Pha, and Lil Jon. The result is unsurprisingly a very contemporary-sounding album, for better or worse. Bow Wow certainly no longer sounds like the pop-rapper that he began as, now that he's rapping alongside Baby from the Big Tymers on "Let's Get Down" and spitting tough game over DMX-worthy Ruff Ryder beats on "Get It Poppin'." But that candy-coated pop-ness was what had made Bow Wow so novel in the first place -- "Bounce Wit Me" certainly wouldn't have sounded as fun as it did without a kid rapping it, nor would "Take Ya Home" have sounded so adorable had a thug-pimp rapped it.
Track List (try tracks 1,2 and 5)

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