POPSCREEN: Bow Wow ft. Jermaine Dupri

Driving around Los Angeles on a peaceful, neon-lit night, Bow Wow and JD reflect on their past quarrels and present admiration. See, back when Bow Wow was still Lil’, he swore never to talk to his once-mentor after being scolded for taking too long in the shower at their crib. Bow Wow moved out to live with his bud Lil’ Romeo, and Dupri spent the next few years concentrating on growing his beard. But in this new age of hope and change, the two swore to uphold the creed of “Obama, no drama.” So they kissed and made up, announcing their revitalized bromance on the cover of The Source.

Now, driving their snail-paced Chevy back from a taping of Best Friend’s Week on “Wheel of Fortune”—Dupri drives, since Bow Wow still doesn’t have his permit—the two “true friends” proclaim their multi-faceted similarities. “We walk just alike, talk just alike,” they observe, and even have “the same damn swagger when we rock up on the mic.” Bow Wow, however, seems a little unfocused on this lovefest as fantasies of blue-tinted women run through his head. And where is your seatbelt, young man?

You can almost see a few tears well up in Dupri’s eyes as he praises Bow Wow, who’s “more like a son that just a little brother” to him. “You never know what you got ’til it’s gone,” Dupri says, remembering the late nights he and Bow Wow spent drinking hot cocoa and listening to Joni Mitchell. Swelling with gratitude, Bow Wow recounts his favorite memory: fulfilling his promise to “smash all dem women” when he gets older. “And I did it!” he yells, overcome with nostalgic pride. Ah, the awesome power of friendship.

—Jeff W. Feldman