Bow Wow is ready for his fans and critics to count him back in because he is ready to stamp his name on the music charts again. He has not released a new project since his 2016 collaboration with Soulja Boy, Ignorant S**t, and his last solo album was 2009’s New Jack City II.

Though he has dropped off a slew of singles over the years, such as last year’s “Overtyme rmx” with John Bosco, it has been a minute since his longtime supporters have had new heat to press play on, but all that is soon changing. While giving his industry friends like Drake and Chris Brown shoutouts for showing him love on his birthday on Saturday (March 9), he also teased that the upcoming week would be full of exciting news.

“I’m not going to make the announcement today, but me and my bro got some, me and [Chris Brown] got some s**t, and that’s all I’m gon’ say,” said Bow in a brief live chat on Friday. The two artists had a popular hit in 2010 with “Aint Thinkin’ Bout You,” featured on the mixtape Fan of a Fan, and in 2006 with “Shortie Like Mine.”

“I think all next week I’ma drop some news, like we gon’ drop some news for y’all. That’s my gift to y’all. So, for my birthday, I just want to bless y’all with what I’ve been working on for so long, for the past year and a half. So, music is on the way, music is on the way, more music is on the way, more music. You see, I ain’t say no movies… music. I’m back on… I’m telling y’all now, if you ever, ever counted me out, I feel bad for you,” he added.

For years now, Bow has been teasing his rap retirement. In a 2021 Hot 97 interview, he said that his final album was titled Before 30 and would pay homage to the career he built for himself all before the age of 30. And in 2022, he took the discussion a step further, revealing his plans to release the LP on Death Row Records. There is no word, yet, on if the name has since changed.

“Spoke to Snoop last week. Very soon. My plan is to put my final album on Death Row and close my music career out where it began,” he tweeted to a fan when asked about collaborating with Snoop Dogg. He added, “I’m tryna do the [Dwyane Wade] and come home and close it out.” His music update did not include any mention of hanging up the mic, but only time will tell if he still plans to make the forthcoming project his victory lap.