Source: nappyafro.com

If you’ve seen my columns on the site, you know I kind of talk Bow Wow up a lot. I don’t know why, but growing up as a kid, I always saw him as a good rapper. Well, maybe not a good rapper, but at least above the average new rappers that comes into the game with a ringtone worthy song. He’s been in the game since he was 13 years old (rapping since 6), and has been coming out with albums at a steady pace since then. Now, it’s 2009, two years since his last album and almost three since his last solo project. This album, New Jack City II, can arguably be called a comeback for Bow Wow. Let’s see if the album lives up to the title.

Get That Paper
Produced by Nitti
This intro reminded of Soulja Boy’s intro from his last album, which I also reviewed. This song is better than that one though because the beat is bare bones and it lets you listen to what Bow Wow is saying. Unfortunately, he isn’t saying much, and nothing that he rhymes here really jumps out at you: it seems like he dumbed himself WAY down from the last time I listened to him. Maybe it’s just me. Last time I really listened to a Bow Wow album in depth was ‘05. This song is good, the hook is infectious and the beat works well.

What They Call Me (Big Time)
Featuring Ron Browz & Nelly; Produced Jermaine Dupri & Ron Browz,
The beat sounds good from the jump and I’m feeling it. To be honest, I’ve gotten sick and tired of Ron Browz though. His singing just sounds like a poor man’s T-Pain. I was sure that Nelly would beat Bow Wow on this track, but I probably gave him more credit than he deserved; he did horrible on this track. When Bow Wow beats you in rapping, you know it’s time to stop. Not saying that Bow Wow did well either, just better. The singing is kind of catchy, but this song is just aiight.

Roc The Mic
Featuring & Produced by Jermaine Dupri
This song shows Bow Wow’s growth. It’s just two friends rapping on a track together, reminiscing about past times and how similar the two of them are. The hook is weird at first, but it gets catchy with the samples after a little bit. The two are utterly tied rapping; you can’t really declare a winner here. I think this was the street single off the album? It’s sounds good, but I can’t picture it doing well right now. Good song.

Been Doin’ This
Featuring T.I.; Produced by DJ Toomp
Bow Wow on a Toomp track? And with T.I. as a feature! Oh snap! Wait a second, what is this bullshit!?! OK, I have a couple of problems with this track. T.I. didn’t even drop a verse! I repeat: no T.I. verse. All he does is act as Bow Wow’s hype man. What? I was expecting T.I. to just rip this track to shreds and body Bow Wow on it. Instead, where his third verse should be, there is a long speech from T.I. a la Paper Trail. That brings the song down a lot, because Bow Wow does nothing on this track. He repeats rhyme strings he already used in earlier parts of the song! That shows me he’s running out ways to rap, and on the fourth song? Damn. Still, the beat and the hook help it to be only so-so.

You Can Get It All
Featuring Johnta Austin; Produced by Jermaine Dupri, No I.D., & Brian Michael-Cox
This beat is smooth as hell, but I don’t know about this song. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a good song, but it’s just I don’t know. Bow Wow’s been getting some good beats so far, but he hasn’t been using them. Even on this song, while his singing on the hook works, his voice fails when he tries to sing for the verses. You can actually hear his voice crack! Overall though, it’s a good song that isn’t brought down by Bow Wow’s missteps.

Sunshine
Produced by Jermaine Dupri & Brian Michael-Cox
What the hell!?! Who co-signed this? The beat on this is okay at first, but it gets really repetitive. Bow Wow’s rapping has gotten tiring at this point because he’s been using the same lines over and over. SKIP!

Like This
Featuring Johnta Austin & Dondria; Produced by Jermaine Dupri & J.R. Rotem
The beat on this one also gets repetitive, and by now Bow Wow has just gotten annoying. The hook’s weird at first, but it grows on you a little bit after a couple of listens. It’s just, this is the third track about girls in a row, and all these songs sound the same.

She’s My
Featuring & Produced by T-Pain
Looks like I made that comment a little too soon. T-Pain is here to make another song about the ladies. Bow Wow justifies this by calling himself “Mr. Do-it-For-The-Ladies”. This song sounds the same as the others too, but the T-Pain feature makes it better than the others. Bow Wow is still repeats lines, I still can’t point out any notable lines.

I Ain’t Playing
Featuring Trey Songz; Produced by Jermaine Dupri & Brian Michael Cox,
Don’t get me wrong, I dig Trey Songz (NH), but this track is almost EXACTLY the same as the previous four! And guess what the topic is on? Hint: Bow Wow calls himself: “Mr. Do-It-For The-Ladies” again. That’s right, the ladies again! Damn, this is the fifth song in a row. I’m sorry, but I gotta skip this one. SKIP!!

Pole In My Basement
Produced by Drumma Boy
Drumma Boy delivered the beat for sure right here, but what the hell? Bow Wow, again, at the start of the song proclaims himself to be “Mr. Do-It-For-The-Ladies”. The fact that he keeps reusing this gimmick (the third consecutive time…) proves how unoriginal he is. This is the SIXTH song about the ladies in a row! And what the…oh lord, he went and got the damn auto-tune! SKIP SKIP SKIP!!

Shake It
Featuring & Produced by Swizz Beatz
Alright, this song I can’t hate on. Swizz Beatz pretty much murders this track, making another club banger and Bow Wow doesn’t screw up on here, so it’s all good. This is probably one of, if not the, best song on the album. I’m actually feeling this one a lot.

Bottom Line:
This whole album is just a disappointment. 2-3 years can be considered a comeback, but Bow Wow blows it here completely. I’d go so far as to say this album is one of the worst he’s ever put out. It’s short, has no variety, and Bow Wow spits ABC lyrics like it’s his job. I feel ashamed that I even considered him as a possible future King of Hip-Hop. This whole album feels rushed. It in no way lives up to the title, has 7 songs on the same topic, and sounds the same. Still, while Bow Wow doesn’t reinvent the wheel, he shows some really rare glimpse of skill. Granted, I had to listen to this album like 3 times to find it, but it’s there. He’s been in the game so long, you’d think he’d be better. Technically, he should be at like Tha Carter II level (Lil’ Wayne started at 15 after all) by now, but here he is, retreading over the same shit. I guess if I was somebody’s little sister or under the age of 14, this would get 4 stars, but because I know talent and ability, I can’t let Bow Wow off that easy. You 21 man, you ain’t gotta make raps for the teeny-boppers anymore! Until he learns that, Bow Wow will never be a contender in the rap game.

nappyPicks: “Roc The Mic”, “You Can Get It All”, & “Shake It”

The Score: 2 out of 5

Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with a gentleness, a vigor, and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the Epicurean motto of "Eat, drink, and be merry," but most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.

　　In stories the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost always his sense of values is changed. he becomes more appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It hasoften been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do. (wow power leveling)

　　Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future. When we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.

　　The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of all our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily, without concentration and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.(world of warcraft power leveling)

　I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would tech him the joys of sound.

　　Now and them I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently I was visited by a very good friends who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed…"Nothing in particular, "she replied. I might have been incredulous had I not been accustomed to such reposes, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little.

　　How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note? I who cannot see find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough, shaggy bark of a pine. In the spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud the first sign of awakening Nature after her winter's sleep. I feel the delightful, velvety texture of a flower, and discover its remarkable convolutions; and something of the miracle of Nature is revealed to me. Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently on a small tree and feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song. I am delighted to have the cool waters of a brook rush thought my open finger. To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. To me the page ant of seasons is a thrilling and unending drama, the action of which streams through my finger tips.

　　At times my heart cries out with longing to see all these things. If I can get so much pleasure from mere touch, how much more beauty must be revealed by sight. Yet, those who have eyes apparently see little. the panorama of color and action which fills the world is taken for granted. It is human, perhaps, to appreciate little that which we have and to long for that which we have not, but it is a great pity that in the world of light the gift of sight is used only as a mere conveniences rather than as a means of adding fullness to life. (wow power leveling)

　　If I were the president of a university I should establish a compulsory course in "How to Use Your Eyes". The professor would try to show his pupils how they could add joy to their lives by really seeing what passes unnoticed before them. He would try to awake their dormant and sluggish faculties.

　　Perhaps I can best illustrate by imagining what I should most like to see if I were given the use of my eyes, say, for just three days. And while I am imagining, suppose you, too, set your mind to work on the problem of how you would use your own eyes if you had only three more days to see. If with the on-coming darkness of the third night you knew that the sun would never rise for you again, how would you spend those three precious intervening days? What would you most want to let your gaze rest upon?

　　I, naturally, should want most to see the things which have become dear to me through my years of darkness. You, too, would want to let your eyes rest on the things that have become dear to you so that you could take the memory of them with you into the night that loomed before you (world of warcraft power leveling)