WeTV will air the new reality television show Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta on May 25. The show follows the lives of Hip-Hop progeny Shaniah Mauldin (daughter of Jermaine Dupri), Reginae Carter (daughter of Lil’ Wayne), Ayana Fite (daughter of The Beastie Boys’ DJ Hurricane), and Brandon Barnes (brother of Waka Flocka and brother of hip-hop manager Ms. Deb).
The show’s leading star and executive producer is Bow Wow, known to his Momma and loved ones as Shad Moss. The Shadow League was in the building recently for a screening and Q&A for the new show, with famed radio host and Hip-Hop historian Sway leaning on Bow Wow for information, both about the show and the recent Instagram flap in which he was accused of lying that sparked the hilarious #BowWowChallenge hashtag.
On growing up as a protege of both Jermaine Dupri and Snoop Dog:
Bow Wow: “One thing about Jermaine, he knows what I need to know. I understand it’s like having multiple personalities. He said I understand you’re out promoting and you’re in the clubs. You need that dumb music sometimes. But made you who you are is that real shit. You talk to the ladies, you make timeless music. We gotta get to that. It’s crazy. We argue and fight in the studios all the time.”
“I say I don’t want to do that and he says ‘It’s not about you’. You have to think about the audiences and what they expect from you. Sometimes, that’s what you gotta do. Like, I hated ‘Shorty Like Mines’ when we first did it. Real story. I said ‘Naw J. I need another ‘Fresh Az I’mmiz’. This is my album and this is my turning point. He said, ‘If you just listen to me, do the record and shut up it will be a number one hit.’ I did the record and it was a number one hit.”
“That’s why I always listen to him. We’ll argue, and to this day we still do it, but at the end of the day he’s been around longer than I have and he’s been my mentor my entire life. He hasn’t steered me wrong yet. If I start going left he pulls me back. Even with Snoop, they make me get right back into my lane.”
On the Instagram post that sparked the #BowWowChallenge:
Bow Wow: “He hit me like ‘What the f*** are you doing?’ I said ‘Yo, just be cool, JD. I got this. There’s a method to my madness. Just be cool and calm.’ He’s like ‘Listen, you wildin’!’ I was like ‘Just calm down. I never said I was actually on the plane. That’s why I still have the picture up on Instagram right now.”
“That’s what I told them on Dish Nation,” screamed Da Brat from offstage. “Don’t be saying that n*gga said he was on a plane. People be lyin’.”
On laughing at himself at times:
Bow Wow: “America got a hold of it. So, I sat back and said damn, we got a show coming, this show is probably going to be the newest hot thing on WeTV, f**** it I’m running with it. We gonna ride the wave. Me and my homies, we joke all the time. We be at the study, we be at the bar, we attack each other because it’s no holds barred when we crack jokes. By me being in the game since 5, I think I’m pretty much bulletproof to it all. I done heard it all.”
“I’m a high spirited person, I don’t turn my comments off. If I get out of line sometimes I let them go in. I laugh at it, we kick back, smoke and chill. Sometimes you need that laughter. That’s happiness. So, I never trip. And I never said I was on the plane.”
