Search - Bow Wow :: Wanted

Merely Average with a few stellar cuts...3 stars

Musac Critic | 07/18/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Children stars really have a hard time being accepted as truly credible artists in the music industry. Bow Wow, who was a child star rapper, is now in transition to becoming an adult rapper and so naturally, he must shed his young image and try to appeal as harder and edgier. Yet still, he can't just completely change his pop-rap style (which sometimes tends to be corny as a rap-style), which he is known for. It is a difficult situation.



On WANTED, Bow Wow tries to act older by cursing and using terminology such as "n****". His constant use of the "n" word just goes to show you that Bow Wow tries a little too much to act grown up. But, just like his R&B contemporaries Mario (18) and Omarion (20), they all try just a little too hard by adding adult references and "mainstreamed" CDs as I like to call them that don't feature the infamous PARENTAL ADVISORY label (Mario was the most successful in pulling off his CD). The production for the most part is fine, yet sometimes it sounds too much like the song before it, flawing the particular song. For the most part, Bow Wows raps tend to focus too much on his age, being grown up, and on cockiness. Here's how I evaluate each song:



1. "Do You": Bow Wow tries too hard to be older here, the production is ok with a nice choral effect in it. 3/5



2. "Big Dreams": A Much better track than the opening tack that features nice drum programming, a nice serious and believable rap from Bow Wow with a nice hook. It catches your attention, yet compared to The Game's "Dreams" for example, it still doesn't capture a certain emotion or dramaticism that such a performance as "Dreams" by the Game or say "Why" by Jadakiss does. The Album's 3rd best track. 4/5



3. "Let Me Hold You" feat. Omarion: The flagship song for the album. This was smart of Bow Wow to choose this as the first single. The production is simple, but very nice featuring a haunting synth line and nice booming bass. Omarion sings the hook/chorus beautifully and Bow Wow has a nice rap. The very best track on the Album. 5/5



4. "Fresh Azimiz" feat. J-Kwon: Corny, corny track. The production here I don't find to be very stellar and it makes the already corny, cocky rap by Bowo sound even cornier. What makes it worse is the fact that it isn't anything other rappers haven't done better than Bow Wow before. Uninspired, one of the worst of the album. 2+/5



5. "Cavier" feat. Snoop Dogg: The worst album on the track. There is too much hook and not enough substance to hold this track up. This is probably of Snoop's many collaborations his worst and most uninspired by a mile. This is very, very corny. 2/5.



6. "Like You" feat. Ciara: The second best track on the album, good production along with a very nice collab. with Bow Wow's girlfriend Ciara makes this track good. The production of this track overall has a nice timbre to it, especially when Ciara sings the hook in unison with Bow Wow rapping it. 4.5/5.



7. "B.O.W.": The fourth best performance on this album. Basically, this arrangement features only a background drum programmed beat with Bow Wow's rap as the center piece. Believe it or not, Bow Wow pulls off this very well. It is too hooky, but it is still a notch above "Caviar", "Fresh Azimiz", and "Do You". 3.5/5.



8. "Go" feat. Jermaine Dupri: This is an average track, but not bad like "Caviar" and "Fresh Azimiz". It is listenable with a nice vocal harmonies as well as a repetitive hook. The major problem with the hook is that it is too repetitive and grates after the 4:24 track is over. Another flaw is that this track sounds too much like Jermaine Dupri's earlier songwriting and production work on Kris Kross's "Jump". He practically aludes to it when he raps about his first recordings in his basement. Not a bad track though. 3/5.



9. "Do What It Do": This is yet another "floptastic" track, yet not as "floptastic" as earlier ones. Jermaine Durpi once again appears, making too many appearances by the same guy in one album. The positive thing is that he doesn't have his own verse in this song. Again, you get tired of references to Bow Wow's age and his cockiness showing once again how hard he is trying. Other flaws include the hook isn't as catchy as the other tracks and the production is too similar to the other tracks. 2.5/5



10. "Is That You (P.Y.T.)" : More of the same basically. It is corny and nothing that we haven't heard in the rap world before. The production again sounds too similar to everything else as well as the beat. Is that James Ingram singing the hook? I'm not sure, but whoever is providing the vocals there, it is a nice refreshment to a boring track. 2.5/5.



11. "Mo Money" feat. T. Waters: Despite an overabundance once again to dirty references/profanity in an unlabeled album, the production is among some of the best production work on the whole of the album. The hook is catchy and overall the rap/song are ok, not stunning, but average. 3/5



"When I Turn 18" is the second half of the track after "Mo Money" has faded out. It isn't worth your time. We've sailed the boat of Bow Wow's age the whole album and by this time it is just ridiculous. 2/5.



Overall, the scores that I gave each song average out to be about 3 stars. That is the most I would give this album. Bow Wow still has a lot to prove to become an adult rapper and WANTED just doesn't do it. Again, 3 stars.

"

(2.5 stars) Can't Imagine Anyone Wanted This!

Charles L. Hubbert | Milwaukee, WI | 08/05/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Bow Wow is all grown up. It just seemed like yesterday we saw him in Snoop Dogg's video "Gin And Juice" as a little tyke in the doorway. We've all heard the stories of him rapping on stage during a Snoop concert when he was like 5 years old. Even then, people knew he would be a force to be reckoned with. His teenage years saw the explosion of "Lil Bow Wow" and the throngs of little girlies fallen over each other trying to set their eyes on Bow Weezie. Now we witness him as an adult with a new moniker, and judging from the lyrical content on this album, dropping the "Lil" from his name was a wise move. But, unfortunately for the rapper, he should have found some other adults to help in the direction of Wanted.



Wanted isn't boiling over with vulgarity like the young adult group Pretty Ricky. But the album isn't profound in lyrical wizardry either. "Fresh Azimiz" (pronounced Fresh As I'm Is) sounds extremely dated. I guess when you have somebody like one-hit wonder J-Kwon as a guest, it won't be the best in ingenuity. Even songs like "Caviar" with Snoop Dogg, you have a hard time relating to the subject matter. "B.O.W." features a stripped down version of the beat from "Tipsy" by the aforementioned flash-in-the-pan rapper J-Kwon. "Do What U Do" features the mundane lyrics and beats of Jermaine Dupri.

The production on Wanted is so bad, it's a wonder how nobody jumped up out of their seats in protest while recording these songs. "Go" is an all-out mockery of "Treat Em Right" by Chubb Rock, "Mo Money" sounds like a song by a local wannabe rapper, and "Is That You (P.Y.T)" will probably send Michael Jackson back to the courthouse to sue for defamation! The only decent songs are "Like You" by rumored girlfriend Ciara and "Let Me Love You" with Omarion. It's interesting how Bow Wow's album cover is like a Wanted poster considering that a lot of people expected him to have a budding musical career when he was older. But like a lot of kid acts in the past, sometimes you can't always get what you want.

"

Freakin bullshit

ricky | india | 03/06/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"plz stay away from this......bow wow makes me puke......man, listenin to this album makes the massacre sound good.....

how can de diss will smith ? at least will smith doesnt pretend to be anyone he isnt...

the last i heard of bow wow (lil) is that him and lil romeo were beefing...yaaaaay....."