What Will I Learn?
Basic Information
Name: Shad Gregory Moss
Nickname: Bow Wow
Birth Date: March 9, 1987
Occupation: Rapper, Actor, TV Host
Net-Worth: $1.5 million (2019)
Spouse:
Children: Shai Moss
Zodiac Sign: Pisces
Introduction
Today, Success Titan presents you the one-time famous American child rapper with the double-platinum top ten hit albums. He went from being a rap songwriter to becoming a great TV host and Actor.
Thanks to his Business Acumen, Talent, and finesse, he bounced back from the verge of bankruptcy to an estimated fortune of US $1.5 million by 2019.
His 2000 debut album Beware of Dog was a massive hit, recording over 3 million sales by 2009 with an estimated earning $2, 810, 000. I’m Michael Wesonga from Success Titan, and that’s Shad Gregory Moss’s story a.k.a. Lil Bow Wow. [1] [6]
Early Life
Shad Moss was born in Columbus, Ohio, on March 9, 1987. He began rapping at the early age of three and wrote his own rap song ‘Kid Gangsta’ by the age of six, being influenced by groups like N. W. A.
Moss was spotted by Snoop Dogg, who was part of the audience during a chance performance on a Los Angeles stage. Impressed by his rapping skills, Snoop Dogg gave him the stage name ‘Lil Bow Wow.’ [2] [6]
Career & Hustle
Snoop Dogg, who hadn’t yet released his debut album by then, featured Lil in one of his tracks – ‘Gz and Hustlas.’ The Doggystyle album released in 1993 exposed Lil to his first-ever professional music experience. Later that year, he appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show, prompting him to a spiraling success.
Five years on, producer Jermaine Dupri took him under his care and molded the 11-year-old into a brand. [6]
Bow Wow went on to create a track that featured in Wild Wild West’s soundtrack in 1999. The following year he released his debut album Beware of Dog when he was aged 13.
The young Lil featured the now close Snoop in the ‘Bow Wow,’ one of the hit tracks that top the rap charts alongside Bounce with Me. He had produced seven mixtapes, 26 singles and 51 music videos by 2019 [3]
The Turning Point
Bow Wow’s second album Doggy Bag became a massive hit, selling over a million copies in the US alone, earning him RIAA Platinum certifications.
It ranked 8th on the Billboard 200 and 2nd in the Top R’n’B/Hip Hop albums raking in approximately $774,000 in earnings.
His next album Unleashed, which coincided with the dropping of the “Lil” part of his name, ranked 3rd in the Billboard 200 and earned him Gold certification. [1]
He later transitioned to acting. His Hollywood stints include Like Mike (2002), Johnson Family Vacation (2004), Roll Bounce (2005), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Hurricane Season (2009). Ugly Betty and Entourage both in 2008 are but some of his TV appearances.[4]
Success Knocks on Shad Moss’s Door
Bow Wow, while facing bankruptcy, claimed he only had $1,500 in checking, amid being pursued for $3, 000 a month for child support from his ex.
However, a further review revealed that he had a guaranteed future income of at least $200,000 for his involvement in the 106 & Park series through a contract signed with BET.
The actor has sold over 10 million albums worldwide without including over 14 million digital copies of the rest of his works sold over the Internet. [5] He has since then diversified his portfolio to include endorsements.
3 Lessons we Can Learn from Shad Moss’s Story
1. Money Comes and Goes
Moss, a smart guy with a checkered career, had everything anyone would dream of right from childhood, only to lose almost everything in a whiff and risk bankruptcy. With that awareness, he could only grow stronger than before.
2. Once Beaten Twice Shy
Having learned a hard lesson, he managed to bounce back in action thanks to his entrepreneurial acumen and talent. He strived diligently on a few gigs and was able to rebuild his current net worth through his great persistence.
3. Diversify Investment Portfolio
The wise spread their risks. Don’t carry all your eggs in one basket, there must always be a fallback plan or even two.
5 Success Tips from Shad Moss
1 Be a Strategic Thinker
Know the right time for the next move. Shad Moss has changed his stage name at least three times, but it has still remained relevant through the years right from being a child to his adulthood.
2. Own Up to Your Faults
Moss denied responsibility as a father to his child’s ex for some time but later owned up to his duties and consequently paid the child support he had to provide.
3. Everyone’s Responsible for His Life
Bow Wow acknowledges that his daughter has got talent, but unfortunately, he’s afraid the world would judge her based on his previous success. This is something hard to accept for many people, but we must let others be who they are to make them blossom.
4. Mentorship Reigns
Mentors are the silver lining to an illustrious career, saving one of many years of trial and error. He realized that if he wanted to get to his goals faster, he needed to learn from people that knew more than him.
5. Riches and Fame Corrupts
Bow Wow has had to frame false perspectives on social media just to impress his fans and got himself to show a far more glamorous life than the one he used to live.
7 Things You Didn’t Know About Shad Moss
1. His first nickname was ‘Kid Gangsta’ until 2002 when he was baptized “Lil’ Bow Wow”, only to drop the Lil part later on. To date, he goes by his given name Shad Moss.
2. His 2000 release ‘Bounce with Me’ made him the youngest rapper to have a number one hit.
- As a childhood star, he started rapping aged three and professionally began the craft at six.
- Shad owned a clothing store in Atlanta, Georgia for quite a while.
5. The rapper hosted live, a popular music and pop culture show from 2012 to 2014.
- He is smart and performed exceptionally well in school despite a busy budding career.
- Shad is a social maven, he paired up with NCIS’s Pauley Parrette to bring up everything social at the 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards.
10 Quotes from Shad Moss.
- Money doesn’t change you, it changes the people around you.
- Never settle for being someone’s ‘other’ when you have the potential to be someone’s ‘only’.
- It’s sad that my daughter will get attention because of her daddy. I’m already watching her run around the house and pick up microphones. It’s scary.
- I don’t think the clothes make me, but I make the clothes.
- I can take all the negative energy and turn it into a positive simply by purging my soul through music. That’s how powerful music can be.
6. I want to be remembered as one of the illest, youngest cats to do it successfully and to keep doing it successfully.
7. I feel like I just want to enjoy life and spend time with my daughter who is about to turn two, which is a full-time job and the hardest job I’ve ever had in my life.
8. Dealing with the fame and going from nothing and becoming something where everyone wants a piece of you, your life changes in a day.
9. Everything I do, I do it because it’s me. At the end of the day, I only know how to be me.
10. I never acted out with my actions to show people that I’m getting grown, you never see me with a cigarette, or see me wilding out or doing anything like that.
Your Takeaway for Today
Now that you know how Shad Moss made it, what can you apply in your life from what he has done?
I believe one of the greatest takeaways that we can learn is that it is always necessary and possible to re-engineer our lives whenever we get in a rut.
That’s just my personal opinion, what do you think instead? Comment below!
References
1 Vincent Ongaya. (January, 2020). “Bow Wow net worth in 2020”. Tuko. Consulted on April 24, 2019
2 Bow Wow Net Worth; How Much is Bow Wow Worth? In Richest Celebrities> Rappers. Celebrity Net worth. Consulted on April 24, 2019.
3 Binish Tamang, (October 23, 2019) Bow Wow Net Worth 2020. Networthbuzz. Consulted on April24, 2019
4 The Richest Analyst Team. Bow Wow Net Worth; $600 Thousand. The Richest. Consulted on April 24, 2019
5 Garret Parker, (2019) “How Bow Wow Achieved a Net Worth of $1.5 Million. Money Inc. Consulted on April 24, 2019.
6 Jason Birchmeier. Bow Wow; Rap prodigy made his recording debut alongside Snoop Dogg at six, nearly miraculously shed the Lil and remained a star into adulthood. All Music
7 Hack-tastic Facts About Wow aka Shad Moss; How well do you know Shad Moss, a.k.a Shad Moss. CBS. Available at
8 AZ Quotes, Bow Wow. Available at https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1281942
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