Rapper Bow Wow [ tickets ] isn't shy about touting his own projects--but the 20-year-old rapper/part-time actor does it slyly, with just a hint of cockiness. So when he calls "Face Off," his forthcoming album with Omarion [ tickets ], a "masterpiece," it doesn't raise any eyebrows.

"There was chemistry right away between me and O," said Bow Wow, born Shad Gregory Moss. "Anytime you get the chance to work with people you're cool with or you get the chance to work with someone who respects the game just as much as you respect it, nine times out of 10, you'll come up with a masterpiece. That's what me and O came out with."

The long-awaited "Face Off" album includes the shoulder-shrugging funky "Girlfriend" and the tumultuous "Hood Star." Bow Wow explained the concept behind the album was "quite easy." The duo has a long history together: Bow Wow and Omarion are alums of the popular Screamfest/Scream Tours (Omarion with his former group B2K) and the twosome scored the 2005 No. 1 hit "Let Me Hold You."

"We've had a lot of success together in this business," Bow Wow said. "For me and O, it was something we wanted to do. It's really like a gift for the fans, really, honestly. Any artist in the studio can do an album by themselves. For myself, if I would have done that it would have been my sixth album. It would have been kind of boring. I wanted to do something exciting. I wanted to do something exciting in my career. Something different in my career. So when I look back it's like, 'Wow. At least I did something different.'"

"Face Off" dropped Dec. 11, during the early part of Bow Wow's current co-headlining tour with Chris Brown [ tickets ]. Omarion is reportedly going to make surprise appearances during the jaunt, which also includes Soulja Boy, Shop Boyz and Lil Mama.