On March 9, 1987, Bow Wow was born in Columbus, Ohio. At the time, however, he was simply called Shad Gregory Moss. He knew he wanted to rap from a young age and soon caught the eye of both Snoop Dogg and Jermaine Dupri, and they helped Moss, who was then known as Lil' Bow Wow. Snoop Dogg was already an incredibly successful rapper, and Dupri had been instrumental in the careers of other young rappers like Kris Kross and Da Brat. Durpi helped write most of Bow Wow's first album, Beware of the Dog, which dropped in 2000. Singles like "Bow Wow (That's My Name)" and "Bounce with Me" shot him to stardom when he was barely a teenager.

He released his sophomore project, Doggy Bag, in 2002 with more hit singles like "Take Ya Home.""lil'" from his name and released an album with a more grown-up sound in 2003 titled Unleashed. Although the album didn't do as well as hoped, it did have hit singles with "Let's Get Down" and "My Baby."

Dupri stepped back in to help on Bow Wow's 2005 release, Wanted, which resulted in a platinum album and singles like "Let Me Hold You" and "Like You"