New Jack City II BOW WOW   Label: Columbia Released: March 31, 2009 Reviewer: DJ Z Rating: 2.5 / 10 We're not haters here at HIPHOP.COM. We genuinely consider ourselves open-minded to music from all ends of the rap spectrum. And we wanted to listen to the seventh studio album from Shad Moss, aka Bow Weezy, with this mentality. However - and listen up artists out there - if you name your album after a classic hip hop / drug kingpin movie, make connections between your reunion with Jermaine Dupri to that of brothers Gee Money and Nino Brown, let alone compare anticipation of said reunion to that of Dr. Dre and Snoop (as Bow Wow has) - you've got to come with the goods or, know this, you're setting yourself up for an almighty fall. And what a fall it is. Although his voice continues to mature, the formulaic ultra-soft beats (epitomised by the T-Pain feature She's My), twee R&B hooks (check the atrocious recent single You Can Get It All, with Johnta Austin) and tired lyrics hollering at the fairer sex all remain the same throughout. This may be the recipe that worked for the ATL native back in 2000 on his double-platinum debut, Beware of Dog, but he was 13 then. He may be 21 now, but just because there's a Parental Advisory sticker on the album sleeve and liberal use of the N-word doesn't mean we're suddenly dealing with grown man business - and no, the un-inviting Pole In My Basement (complete with his attempt at autotune singing, yawn) doesn't rectify this either. Bow Wow has had some big names in his corner over the years, including Snoop, Baby and The Neptunes; and this album witnesses Swizz Beatz (with a beat far more suitable for the Clipse), Nelly (lifting Biggie's flow for his guest verse on What They Call Me), and surprisingly even T.I. on the set's stand-out cut, Been Doin' This. However, the bottom line is that this is a very weak album - and one of very little interest to the hip hop community.  Even the 106 & Park teen brigade will struggle to hold him down either - these days they've got their own new YouTube dances, ringtones and Twitter fads to keep up with. Bow Wow perhaps needs to have a re-think about how and where he fits in the game in 2009 - he could start by trying to remain relevant to those fans that have grown with his music and movies, then try to actually inject something new into the scene, not just regurgitate more and more of the same-old, same-old.