Lil' Bow Wow: Hottest New Teen Heartthrob To Hit Music Scene

Jet, June 4, 2001

DON'T be fooled by his name. Lil' Bow Wow's bark is as big as his bite, and he has become one of the biggest and hottest names to hit the hip-hop music scene in years.

The 14-year-old heartthrob excites young girls so much that they scream, faint and cry whenever he makes a public appearance. And his young male fans want to be like him. Lil' Bow Wow is "the man," they say.

Last year, the diminutive powerhouse forced officials to close down shopping malls when he made personal appearances there. His young fans could not contain themselves as thousands of hysterical admirers chased him down the corridors of shopping malls in Atlanta, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

He is causing that same kind of wild frenzy on his first tour, appropriately called the Scream Tour. Tickets for his shows have sold out in just about every major city in less than an hour. He is so hot that promoters are adding extra shows to satisfy his fans.

When he walks out on stage, his legions of adoring fans can hardly control themselves once they get a glimpse of the handsome rapper.

After a recent concert at Chicago's Arie Crown Theatre, a Chicago Sun-Times critic noted, "It was hard not to be reminded of a young Michael Jackson, as the 14-year-old, freshly corn-rowed cutie took command of a stage he barely cast a shadow on physically, but covered from end to end musically...."

JET recently caught up with the popular heartthrob as he traveled on his tour bus to a sold-out concert in Richmond, VA.

"It feels real good," he tells JET on his cell phone. "I'm blessed and I'm just making it happen."

He enjoys his fans' reaction to him. "They try to get to me. They just want to touch me. They ask for hugs. I give them hugs. I just laugh. It's an excellent feeling, a good feeling."

Rodney Caldwell, Bow Wow's step dad, said, "Every time he's on stage, he's going to do something new. You never know what you're going to get. It's a different show every night. If he performs five nights a week, it will be five different shows. I'm very proud of him."

Adding to the success of the Scream Tour are Bow Wow,s buddies, Lil' Johnny, Lil' Zane, and B2K.

"It's like a family basically. We goof around. We egg each other's buses," laughs Bow Wow.

The talented performer's debut CD, Beware of Dog, has sold more than two million copies thanks to the No. 1 selling songs Bounce With Me, Bow Wow (That's My Name) featuring Snoop Dogg, and Puppy Love featuring Jagged Edge.

Solange Knowles, sister of Destiny's Child singer Beyonce Knowles, is the leading lady in the video for Puppy Love. But, his female fans should be happy to know that he does not have a girlfriend right now.

"I can have one now, but I am just ready for my career right now," he says.

Bow Wow is not only a big hit with youngsters, but he's also won over parents with his profanity-free raps. "He has a mass appeal and does it without cursing," says Bow Wow's mentor, hip-hop music mogul Jermaine "JD" Dupri. "That all goes to the fact that people respect Bow Wow. He's a real rapper."

His mother, Teresa Caldwell, who is also his manager-stylist and hair braider, says that her son displayed a love for performing as a toddler. She's proud of her son's success and has always supported his desire to perform. In fact, years earlier she got a tattoo placed on the left side of her chest with a dog and the words "Bow Wow" on it as well as on the bottom of her right leg.

"Bow is my best friend. He's very mature. Mommy is Bow's everything. We're very tight. On stage he's energetic, but at home he's laid back. He's boring really because he doesn't do anything, but play his Play Station," she laughs. "He also likes to shop. He loves diamonds. I started teaching him about stones at an early age and he loves them."

In addition to music, Bow Wow has also had his paws in acting. He appeared on "The Steve Harvey Show" during its 100th episode and on "Moesha." And just recently his fans got a chance to see him act in MTV's Hip Hopera: Carmen. He'll also make an appearance in Ice Cube's upcoming movie All About The Benjamins.

His busy schedule hasn't kept him in the doghouse. Bow Wow remains a hardworking, studious student. He says with pride that he got "all As and Bs" on his last report card.

In fact, he made a deal with his parents and JD that he could stay in the music business as long as he maintains good grades in school. School is out now, but Bow Wow often travels with a private tutor so that he will not fall behind in his school work.

Born Shad Moss, he was given the nickname Lil' Bow Wow by rap star Snoop Dogg after he met Snoop at a concert in 1993. A few years later he hooked up with JD who signed Bow Wow to his So So Def Record label.

Bow Wow jokes about his hitmaking mentor JD, "He doesn't really teach me much. He already knows that I am ready."

And ready he was, maintains JD when he met Bow Wow. "I had never even seen him perform aside from a video tape, but I could see he had a hunger for performing. I brought him to Atlanta. It was during a show with Jay-Z in 1998. I had Bow Wow start rapping. Jay-Z commented that Bow Wow carried himself like a grown person and that he talked better than 50 percent of the rappers who are adults out here."