Doggy Bag

Lil Bow Wow's second album, Doggy Bag, banks on the pop-rap success of the So So Def upstart's debut album, Beware of Dog (2000). Producer/songwriters Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox are once again at the helm, and in the tradition of pop-rap, they rely primarily on past hits for their ideas. For example, the album intro, "We Want Weezy," is an interpolation of the Bootsy Collins classic (already interpolated once by Dr. Dre and Eazy-E); the lead single, "Thank You," prominently samples the Cars; "Up in Here" is a rehash of DMX's recent hit "Party Up (Up in Here)"; "All I Know" interpolates New Edition's "Candy Girl"; and so on. If you enjoy pop-rap at its most obvious, Doggy Bag is a lot of fun, even though it's an awfully brief album, featuring only nine actual songs (if you don't count the intro and interludes). Thankfully those nine songs all have their charms. A special mention should be made for "Take Ya Home," which is produced by the Neptunes rather than Dupri/Cox and is the highlight of the album.