He's been rapping since he was six-years-old and, at age 22 and with five previous albums under his belt, Shad Gregory "Bow Wow" Moss should be hitting his stride as a solo artist.

But 'New Jack City II' isn’t the type of news-generating hit Bow Wow, or his producer-mentor Jermaine Dupri, was hoping for. Although there are a few interesting tracks here, the bulk of the album is a forgettable hodgepodge of rap, hip-hop and R&B, as Bow Wow and JD spread their bets as wide as possible in the hopes of scoring a hit.

First single 'You Can Get It All' did not provide that hit: instead, it's a mess of a song, making it clear that young Shad should stick to rapping, because he clearly can't sing.

Other big names, like T-Pain and T.I., are roped in, but even they can't create a hit out of Dupri's now-familiar production tricks and Bow Wow's predictable topics (girls, money, and cars).

One of the most interesting tracks is 'Roc The Mic', featuring mentor JD, in which the pair take a biographical back-and-forth look at their history of working together and their almost father-son-like relationship.

Overall, though, this album comes across as a child star trying too hard to shed his previously fresh-faced image (his previous albums were all edited to beep out any swear words — this one is his first with a 'Parental Advisory' sticker), but there's just not enough of interest that Bow Wow has to tell us.