With the Finale of M-Net’s BIG BROTHER REVOLUTION just days away, DStv audiences are gearing up to discover just who will be the ultimate winner of the massive USD 200 000 cash prize!
After a rollercoaster 91 days of reality TV action, it will all culminate in a not-to-be missed 2 hour show, starting at 8PM Kenyan Time. And adding to the excitement of the dramatic show, there’s also the big news that international star BOW WOW will be on stage wowing audiences with three of his hit songs!
Bow Wow has been stepping outside of the box since he was 5 years old. That’s when he was discovered by Snoop Dogg and featured on the entertainment icon’s groundbreaking Doggystyle album. After being teamed a few years later with Jermaine Dupri, Lil Bow Wow exploded onto the music scene in 2000 with Beware of Dog, the first in a string of platinum and gold albums (he’s sold more than 10 million albums to date) that spawned six No. 1 singles and such platinum songs as “Let Me Hold You,” “Like You,” Shortie Like Mine” and “Outta My System.” He is also the Youngest Solo Rapper To Ever Hit No. 1, as recognized by the Guinness Book Of World Records. He’s also sold more than 14 million digital assets.
Bow Wow also helped brand and headline the groundbreaking Scream Tour (which sold out Madison Square Garden an astonishing three times) and collaborated in 2007 with R&B star Omarion for the gold-certified Face Off album. His success came from his ability to tap into the mammoth teen market. “There was a big sea of people that hadn’t been touched yet,” Bow Wow explains. “I just happened to be the first one since Kriss Kross to touch them.”
Bow Wow took another monumental step in his development by appearing in the spring/fall 2009 campaign for Ocean Pacific (OP) alongside Solange, AnnaLynn McCord, Brody Jenner and others. He has also signed on to star alongside Ice Cube in the new motion picture “The Lottery Ticket,” in addition to his recurring role in the HBO hit “Entourage.” If that’s not enough, Bow Wow has also joined the Boston Celtics Stephon Marbury’s Starbury movement. Bow Wow was hand-selected by Marbury to be the first entertainer to join Starbury, the athletic apparel and footwear company that is revolutionizing the clothing industry with its stylish and affordable products. “I think Bow has the connection to the fans and the people,” Marbury says. “People feel him. I think his maturity is rising and I think he’s starting to see who he is. It was important for me to try to unite with him because we have the same vision. He wants to create change. He wants to allow people to have and to provide access to all.
Bow Wow’s male and female clothing and sneaker lines will debut in spring 2010. “No one is doing what he’s about to do on the level that he’s about to do it,” Marbury says. “It’s global. He’s going to change the paradigm on how people think of him.” Bow Wow says, “When you purchase anything from my line you’re being a part of the movement because, I’m going to donate 10% of my profits to charities and organizations around the world”.
To Marbury’s point, Bow Wow has been the first rap artist of his generation to become a legitimate entertainer, excelling as rapper, stage performer and actor (“The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” [2006], “Roll Bounce” [2005], “Johnson Family Vacation” [2004] and “Like Mike” [2002; his first movie, it grossed $35 million its first week in theaters], as well as television series “Smallville” [2006] and a recurring role on HBO’s “Entourage” [2008-09], as well as a prominent role in the forthcoming film “Hurricane Season” with Forest Whitaker and Lil Wayne, due in theaters Spring/Summer 2009).
Even when Bow Wow and Jermaine Dupri briefly went their separate ways in 2007, JD admired his pupil’s success from afar, especially considering Bow Wow literally took steps as a community activist by kicking off his “Walk Across America” tour in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 1, 2008. Bow Wow’s efforts resulted in more than 100,000 people registering to vote. “Whatever he’s done, it’s just like the same that it’s always been,” JD says. “It’s just him doing what he wants to do.”
Now reunited and intensely focused on his music career, Bow Wow made a point to humble himself and listen to JD in order to enable the duo to make history again. “When I got back with him,” Bow Wow says, “he pushed me even harder because he knows that I want to be the best.”
And with his latest album, New Jack City II, Bow Wow takes a quantum leap toward being viewed as rap’s best artist. “I am going to be the hottest rapper in 2009,” says Bow Wow, who in December 2008 was named by People Magazine one of the Most Beautiful People in the World. “My momma always told me, ‘If there’s anything you want out of life, you’ve got to claim it.’ So, I’m claiming it.”
Family played a major role in Kisii this week during the Nyota Ndogo tour.
