Bow Wow says he wasn’t interested in feeding into the viral argument of him being “bigger than” Jay-Z.
In a recently released interview with Bootleg Kev, the rapper and actor was asked about this argument, which received attention last year after remarks made by Ray Daniels. In short, Daniels argued that Bow Wow eclipsed Jay in terms of superstardom, an assessment that was quick to spur debate on social media.
“Yeah, he did say that,” Bow told Kev, as seen below. “I had a conversation with him, too. When he said that, I called him. I was like, ‘Man, what are you starting, man?’”
As Bow saw it at the time, the remarks were poised to “start up something” due to his fans no doubt being ready to agree. Bow conceded, however, that he netted the “biggest” stardom of its kind during his peak.
“I understood where he was coming from,” he said. “Once he explained it, it's like, we ain't talking about who's the best rapper. We ain't talking about that. We talking about popularity contest for that time. It was a different type of wave with me. You know what I'm saying? Like Mike was out, selling out arenas, selling out the Garden two times in one year. … It's just a lot.”
Asked if he agreed with the “bigger than” Jay-Z argument, Bow stopped short of an endorsement but did highlight that he worked with Beyoncé “before HOV.” In 2000, Bow did indeed contribute to the So So Def remix of the Destiny’s Child track “Jumpin’ Jumpin,’” while Jay didn’t link with Bey for the first time until 2002.
“But at the same time, I'm like, man, we different artists,” Bow added. “We make different music and [come from] different walks of life. It's really, like, a weird comparison. But he knew what he was doing when he did it, ‘cause he knew that was going to spark convo. But I ain't really feed into it like that, though. I don't really be caring about shit like that.”
Starting in March, Bow Wow will be on the road with B2K, marking their first outing together in nearly 20 years. See the tour’s current routing below.
