--- title: Bow Wow: Rapper Shad Moss Retires At The Age of 29 description: Rapper Bow Wow has announced that his upcoming studio will be his last as he is retiring from the industry. canonical: https://time.com/4443013/bow-wow-shad-moss-retires/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-08T14:59:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:12.326Z og:title: Bow Wow Has Retired At The Ripe Age of 29 og:description: "I just can't see myself at 30 years old rapping" og:url: https://time.com/4443013/bow-wow-shad-moss-retires/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta66bbaa83a3f1d39/6988a187fb4eac988f88ea93/shad-moss-bow-wow-retires.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Premiere Of Sony Pictures' "Angry Birds" - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bow Wow Has Retired At The Ripe Age of 29 twitter:description: "I just can't see myself at 30 years old rapping" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta66bbaa83a3f1d39/6988a187fb4eac988f88ea93/shad-moss-bow-wow-retires.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bow Wow Announces He's Retiring at the Ripe Age of 29 > Sponsored content. 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(Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)Emma McIntyre—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 8, 2016 2:59 PM UTC After 23 years in the entertainment industry, Shad Moss, better known to the world as Bow Wow, is retiring. The 29-year-old rapper and actor made his farewell announcement via Twitter, noting that [his upcoming album, “Nylth”](https://www.instagram.com/p/BIxgBw4gTFK/) with [Snoop Dogg](http://time.com/4107828/leafs-by-snoop-dogg-marijuana-weed-cannabis/) will be his last; he also disclosed that he was retiring because he doesn’t want to rap at “30 years old.” Moss was discovered by Snoop when he was just six years old and proceeded to tour with the legendary west coast rapper and [Dr. Dre](http://time.com/4006621/dr-dre-sorry-women-apology/) on the Chronic tour under the moniker, “Kid Gangsta.” Later, Moss used the stage names Lil Bow Wow and Bow Wow while producing hits like “Puppy Love” and “Bounce With Me” and appearing in films such as _Like Mike_ and _Roll Bounce;_ he later went on to host BET’s _106 & Park_. Read Moss’ goodbye tweets below. > [](https://twitter.com/smoss/status/762202202903416833) > [](https://twitter.com/smoss/status/762250891105751042) > [](https://twitter.com/smoss/status/762296476965806080) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4443013/bow-wow-shad-moss-retires/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4443013/bow-wow-shad-moss-retires/"},"headline":"Bow Wow Announces He's Retiring at the Ripe Age of 29","datePublished":"2016-08-08T14:59:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:12.326Z","description":"Shad Moss is calling it quits after 23 years in the industry.","url":"https://time.com/4443013/bow-wow-shad-moss-retires/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta66bbaa83a3f1d39/6988a187fb4eac988f88ea93/shad-moss-bow-wow-retires.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta66bbaa83a3f1d39/6988a187fb4eac988f88ea93/shad-moss-bow-wow-retires.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Premiere Of Sony Pictures' \"Angry Birds\" - Arrivals","caption":"Premiere Of Sony Pictures' \"Angry Birds\" - Arrivals","creditText":"Emma McIntyre—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4443013/bow-wow-shad-moss-retires/","name":"Bow Wow Announces He's Retiring at the Ripe Age of 29"}}]}] ```