Bow Wow’s growing up. In fact, on his latest album, “Unleashed,” he doesn’t sound or look the way that he did when we saw him last, which was just a year ago. He had a big growth spurt, his voice deepened a couple notches, and most importantly, his music is taken to the next level.

He can thank his deeper voice for the enhancement to his rapping. He no longer sounds like a kid, meaning he can now justifiably be compared and held up against his fellow rappers. The 16-year-old also is now believable when he sings about girls, which a lot of the songs are about.

The tracks aren’t just rap about girlfriends though. His song with Amerie, “To My Mama,” pays tribute to his mother, with lines like, “Anything you need from me Mom you know that it’s yours/ You’re the only woman in my life that I adore.” That songs is not to be confused with “Hey Little Momma,” where he tries to pick up a girl.

The production on the album stands out amongst everything else. Almost every song has potential to become a hit, especially “Eighteen,” produced by Lil Jon, where Bow Wow sings about his anticipation of turning 18. Swizz Beats’ “Get It Poppin’” also stands out.

There are three Neptunes produced tracks, but aside from “I’ll Move On” with Mario, Bow Wow could have done without the hit-makers since they create the worst part of this album. “The Movement” is especially boring and it would have served Bow Wow better to just rap without a background track.

What’s with the nicknames? As seen on his last album, the “Lil’” has been dropped from his name. On this album, he calls himself “Boweezy,” Jagged Edge call him “Bowizzle,” and the Neptunes call him “the Don, the Dutch.” It may be hard to keep track, but as long as Mr. Wow keeps turning up with material like this, his name could be Nick Carter and he’d still sell records.

4*
Columbia/Sony