He may no longer be Lil', but Bow Wow apparently still has his bite. The then pint-sized rapper was first discovered at the age of six by Snoop Dogg, who gave the rapper his name. But like the artist formerly known as Snoop Doggy Dogg, Bow Wow, too, has changed over the years.The Columbus, Ohio native was initially known as Shad before he blew up after getting his big break as a support act on Dr. Dre's Chronic Tour. However, it wasn't Dre or Snoop that shepherded Lil' Bow Wow's 2000 debut, Beware Of Dog. That honor fell to veteran producer Jermaine Dupri, the man that made half-pint rappers Kris Kross a hit back in 1992.

          The pairing proved to be a match made in chart heaven, as the album reached the top 10 of both the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts without the aid of a monster hit single. While "Bow Wow (That's My Name)" topped the Hot Rap Singles chart, it failed to crack the top 20 of the Hot 100. Nonetheless, Beware Of Dog was a multi-platinum success. As such, Bow Wow and Dupri continued their winning streak with Doggy Bag in 2001. Despite its title, the album was not received like lukewarm leftovers. Rather, the fans again came running, pushing the title up to No. 2 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and just missing the top 10 of the Billboard 200.

          The next year Bow Wow's star reached new heights, thanks to a starring role in the basketball-themed kid-flick Like Mike. Naturally, the film's soundtrack gave the young rapper another vehicle to showcase his rhyming skills, most notably on the track "Basketball," which teamed Bow Wow with Fabolous, Dupri, and Fundisha. Bow Wow returned in the summer of 2003 with Unleashed, an album that had him a little older, a little wiser, but no longer sporting Lil' in front of his name.

          Few rap artists could boast such numbers, and Nelly surely savored his number one status, particularly after being dismissed as a novelty two summers earlier when he debuted. You could call him a pop-rapper if you liked, but you surely couldn't challenge his number one status. After all, his hit streak continued unabated, with "Iz U" (from his stopgap Derrty Versions remix album) and "Shake Ya Tailfeather" (from the Bad Boys II soundtrack) keeping him in the spotlight while he readied his double-disc Sweatsuit project (following the lead of OutKast and R. Kelly, who had both recently released very successful two-disc sets). The seperately released double album dropped in fall 2004, preceded perfectly by a pair of red-hot singles: "My Place" (a slow jam) and "Flap Your Wings" (a club jam). A stroke of commercial (and to an extent, creative) genius, the superstar-laced project catapulted Nelly back atop the pop-rap world, where his presence was peerless.