This week, Billboard is publishing a series of lists and articles celebrating the music of 20 years ago. Our 2005 Week continues here with a conversation with Bow Wow about his stellar 2005, a year full of big hits, big videos and big tours, which fans still cherish 20 years later.

It’s 3:30 on a balmy Friday afternoon, and Bow Wow, the prodigal son from Ohio, is hours away from Harlem Shaking his way onto the Barclays Center stage. This is the same Bow Wow who, two decades ago, dominated the Hot 100 charts with hits like “Shortie Like Mine,” “Bounce With Me” and “Let’s Get It Down.” This is also the same Bow Wow who had women of all ages swooning over his crisp braids, Colgate smile and doting demeanor before his 18th birthday. Bow Wow, the 2000s poster boy for sugary pop-rap earworms and swaggering hits, is reveling in his full-circle moment 20 years later, ahead of his sold-out Millenium Tour date in Brooklyn, New York.

“When you got a lot of people out here who pay their money and could have done other things with their money, but decided to spend that $50 or however much to see you, I always keep that in mind,” says the now-veteran entertainer, his voice filled with gratitude. “Staring at myself at 38 years old, knowing that I was doing this 25 years ago, and I’m still doing it, and I’m still going through these same tunnels and hallways, it’s crazy. Sometimes, I think, ‘D–n. I’m not supposed to be here.’ A lot of young child stars that started young, they don’t make it this far. For me to still be here doing it, man, something must be going right.”