How was the early 2000s?

[jumpmanpro97]

Lots of revisionist history in here, IMO.

Mainstream hip hop was already dead in this era - this was actually a really terrible era for music. The golden age of hip hop was '87 - 94... I could be persuaded to extend that to '96. The late 90s and early 2000s was a pretty good time for "underground" and independent hip hop, as the emergence of the internet gave exposure to a lot of artists, but at the same time it wasn't so wide open as it is today, so any Tom, **** and Harry wasn't doing it. The scene then actually had a lot of talented dudes who were actually bringing something different to the table, as opposed to emulating it.

...I guess if you're from the South or Midwest, you might remember this time more fondly because your area started to get a bit more shine, but overall, we wouldn't be missing much if none of that happened at all.

The first half of the 90s was really when things were sweet - especially from an NYC perspective. Pre-Guiliani. Pre "quality of life" movement. NYC was still a playground - and there was a freshness and diversity among the urban culture. Look at all the stuff that came from the late 80s to early 90s that endured - you have sneakers and Polo pieces from that era that command 10 times what they were priced at back then. What has endured from the late 90s - early 2000s? Am I missing all the 400 page Iceberg, and Chris Webber Dada threads?

What's considered underground now? For some reason I feel like underground doesn't exist in todays hip hop era.

 

[jumpmanpro97]

I love these year mixes haha

The Rub - Hip Hop History 2000 mix

View media item 592050
http://www.itstherub.com/hip-hop-history-2000-mix/

2001 Counter Strike! haha

 

[bip roberts]

You can stoneface all you want - the facts are the facts. Make a list of artists that debuted post-96 that could, or will be, be considered legends.From then to now gives you 17 years. '87 to '94/96 is less than half that time period and like 90% of the greatest rappers ever came from these years.

What's considered underground now? For some reason I feel like underground doesn't exist in todays hip hop era.

That's a good question.

Youtube rappers?

I guess the simplest way to classify that would be artists who don't get played on mainstream terrestrial radio.

 

[jumpmanpro97]

mya jay-z best of me remix DJ CLUE!

 

[bip roberts]

I love these year mixes haha

The Rub - Hip Hop History 2000 mix

View media item 592050]

Just to illustrate the point - watch what happens when you take this list and remove the artists who are really from the time period I noted. ...Look what''s left. ...There's some weird choices on here. Props for the inclusion of Milano and Breez Evaflowin though.


OutKast “So Fresh, So Clean”
Beanie Sigel “The Truth”
Shyne “Bad Boyz feat. Barrington Levy”
Fatlip “What’s Up Fatlip”
Aaliyah “Come Back In One Piece feat. DMX”
DJ Shadow “Hardcore (Instrumental) Hip-Hop”
Ghostface Killah “Apollo Kids feat. Raekwon”
Jay-Z “1-900-Hustler feat. Beanie Sigel, Freeway & Memphis Bleek”
Ruff Ryders “WW III feat. Yung Wun, Snoop Dogg, Scarface & Jadakiss”
Next “Jerk feat. 50 Cent”
Prodigy “Keep It Thoro”
The Beatnuts “No Escapin’ This”
Philly’s Most Wanted “Cross The Border”
Nelly “E.I.”
Cocoa Brovaz “Super Brooklyn”
Scarface “They Down With Us feat. UGK”
D’Angelo “Devil’s Pie”
Big L “Holdin’ It Down feat. Stan Spit, A.G. & Miss Jones”
Drag-On “Spit These Bars”
Black Rob “I Dare You feat. Joe Hooker”
Busta Rhymes “Fire”
Milano “Rep For The Slums”
Slum Village “Players”
Erick Sermon “So Sweet feat. Eazy-E”
De La Soul “Oooh feat. Redman”
M.O.P. “Ante Up (Robbin Hoodz Theory)”
Royce Da 5’9″ “Boom”
Kardinal Offishall “Ol’ Time Killin’”
Reflection Eternal “The Blast” - I'll give you this, but Mos was bubblin with De La and the Urban Thermodynamics stuff since the mid 90s.
J-88 “The Look Of Love Pt. 1″
Guru “Hustlin’ Daze feat. Donell Jones”
Screwball “H-O-S-T-Y-L-E”
Snoop Dogg “Lay Low feat. Butch Cassidy, Master P, Nate Dogg & Tha Eastsidaz”
Rah D**** “Tight”
Mya “Best Of Me Remix (Holla Remix feat. Jay-Z)”
Jay-Z “Change The Game feat. Beanie Sigel & Memphis Bleek”
Beanie Sigel “What A Thug About”
Slum Village “Raise It Up”
OutKast “Ms. Jackson”
Common “The Light”
Big Pun “It’s So Hard feat. Donell Jones” - Pun debuted in '95, but he didn't really hit the scene until the late 90s, so I'll grant this too.
Big Pun “100%”
Ludacris “Southern Hospitality”
Tony Touch “The Piece Maker feat. Gang Starr”
P. Diddy & The Bad Boy Family “Let’s Get It feat. G-Dep & Black Rob”
Ghostface Killah “Cherchez LaGhost feat. U-God (Heartbeat Remix)”
Slum Village “Thelonius feat. Common”
Mos Def “Oh No feat. Pharoahe Monch & Nate Dogg”
Latyrx “Lady Don’t Tek No”
Mystikal “Shake Ya ***”
Mystikal “Danger (Been So Long) feat. Nivea”
DJ Quik “Well feat. Raphael Saadiq & AMG”
Jay-Z “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me) feat. Pharrell”
The RIte Brothers “Thug Anthem 2000″
Breez Evahflowin’ “Between Dah Seams”
Redman “Let’s Get Dirty (I Can’t Get In Da Club) feat. DJ Kool”
Method Man “Even If”
Jurassic 5 “Swing Set”
Masters Of Illusion “The Bay-Bronx Bridge”
Nas “You Owe Me feat. Ginuwine”
Armand Van Helden “Full Moon feat. Common”
Trina “Pull Over (Remix) (Dirty)”
OutKast “B.O.B.”
Lil’ Jon & The Eastside Boyz “Bia Bia feat. Chyna Whyte & Too Short”
M.O.P. “Cold As Ice”
Jewels “40 Bars”
Jay-Z “Hey Papi feat. Memphis Bleek & Amil”
Project Pat “Chickenhead”
Trick Daddy “Shut Up”
Cam’ron “What Means The World To You”
Ludacris “What’s Your Fantasy feat. Shawnna & Sessy Melia”
Three 6 Mafia “Sippin’ On Da Syrup feat. UGK & Project Pat”
Drama “Left, Right, Left”
OutKast “Gangsta Sh’t feat. Slim Cutta Calhoun, C-Bone & T-Mo”
Miracle “We Ain’t Scared feat. Crucial Conflict”
Erykah Badu “Didn’t Cha Know”

 

[a55a5in11]

You can stoneface all you want - the facts are the facts. Make a list of artists that debuted post-96 that could, or will be, be considered legends.From then to now gives you 17 years. '87 to '94/96 is less than half that time period and like 90% of the greatest rappers ever came from these years.
.

If you want to look at it that way than sure i guess but you said hip hop on the radio the last 20 years has been buns. therefor according to you outkast the last 20 years has sucked, 50 cent, the game, chamillionaire, nas, jay-z, kendrick lamar, ludacris, UGK, snoop

 

[Peep Game]

You can stoneface all you want - the facts are the facts. Make a list of artists that debuted post-96 that could, or will be, be considered legends.From then to now gives you 17 years. '87 to '94/96 is less than half that time period and like 90% of the greatest rappers ever came from these years.
.

If you want to look at it that way than sure i guess but you said hip hop on the radio the last 20 years has been buns. therefor according to you outkast the last 20 years has sucked, 50 cent, the game, chamillionaire, nas, jay-z, kendrick lamar, ludacris, UGK, snoop

For real. Loads of great music (even in the mainstream) has been on the radio in the past 20 years. I mean, 20 years...that's 1993 til now. I'm not sure he realized how much 20 years spanned . Mainstream radio rap has only been buns since around 07/08.

 

[green rhino123]

if I remember correctly gas was

View media item 589731
$20 to fill up the tank seems like a dream

i think it was a little more by the 2000s in most all places
(even though it slightly varied form place to place) those look like late 90s prices

when i got my license in the early 1990's - it was around 90 cents per gallon already

obviously this thread is about romanticizing, but i'm just sayin

 

[bip roberts]

I said, for the most part, and for nearly 20 years.. Speaking generally, I stand by that.

Hard Knock Life was the death knell for mainstream commercial hip hop.

If you want to go through your list - yes, most of that stuff is bad.


50 cent - Power of the Dollar 50 was dope, but other than How to Rob none of that was on the radio. Get Rich or Die Tryin 50 was pop music with a gangster face attached to it.

the game - Really?... Son who got dumped on Change of Heart and is more famous for wearing fake Jordans than for anything he's ever done on the mic? He had a buzz for about a week.

chamillionaire - are you related to this guy? Are you saying that there's not a drop off from KRS, Kane, Slick Rick, G Rap, Nas, Wu, Biggie, Pac to this guy. Having to resort to naming him is itself proof of MY argument

nas - I could go numerous routes here. First, he counts in my group, not yours. Second, what sort of music of his has received mainstream radio play? Doo Rags and Purple weren't on the radio - Oochie Wally, Nastradamus, and Owe Me Back were. Nas is the greatest ever to do it, IMO, but he's never been an extremely prolific face in the mainstream hip hop stream.

jay-z - spotty record actual quality of music for most of the last 15+ years. Vol 2 did more to harm hip hop than Vanilla Ice did. Black Album was solid. Some people love the Blueprint; I don't. If I made a list of my favorite 50 Jay-Z songs of all time - how many would a) come from post Vol1 and b)have been a single? Definitely fewer than 5.

kendrick lamar - no comment

ludacris - poor man's Busta Rhymes. Had some hot singles and sold a bunch of records. 64G iphone - not a single joint of his on it though.

UGK - was never my thing, but I get that alot of people feel them. I'll grant this

snoop - I love Snoop. We all do. But, no rapper is more heralded with having less skills. Has he really made good music since 1994?


...I don't mean to turn this into a music forum discussion. But, my point stands. Mainstream hip hop music - rap that you hear on terrestrial urban radio -has been largely bad for the better part of 20 years.

 

[bjw1983]

Let's see (class of 01 here) ...
-NAPSTER, NAPSTER, NAPSTER... changed music forever... plus, if you were on it, you cleaned up on a TON of music (I know I did)
-Cell phones were actually...PHONES
-Everybody hated Bush (whether they knew why or not)
-Speakerbox/Love Below changed everything (Drake wouldn't be here without Kanye's 808's and heartbreak and Kanye wouldn't have made that album without hearing Love Below)
-Crunk/Dirty South was on the verge of taking over but it didn't hit until 2003-2004 really
-Until 2005, gas was pretty legit.
-FUBU, FUBU, FUBU
-Fabolous was considered the next in line back in 01
-Neptunes/Timbaland
-If you had a camera phone, you had a high end phone.
-WE WERE TRYING TO GET PAST THE JIGGY/SHINY SUITE ERA ... but it still had some impact on the "high" fashion.
-Usher was THAT dude
-Iverson/Kobe/Vince/T-Mac/Shaq
-Corporate America exploited "hip hop" for marketing products at new heights.
-People still were waiting for a new Lauryn Hill album
-Women : low rise jeans ... capris for a bit too
-Christina Aguilera was "Miley Cyrus" before Miley Cyrus
-People actually cared about Birttney Spears and her music.
-YOU ACTUALLY LIVED LIFE WITHOUT HAVING YOUR FACE STUCK TO A PHONE TYPING ABOUT IT!
-Good music

I'm missing a ton, of course, but... you get what i'm saying

 

[sonunox34]

Early 00's rap was bad. I just remember Nelly, DMX and Mystikal.

Then 2003-2004 rolled around and 50 Cent, Kanye (and the Game, to a lesser extent) dropped HUGE albums. I'll never forget listening to Kanye as a HS freshman. A junior on the track team handed a burned CD over to me and just said "listen to this" so I played it on my boombox at home :x

Other early 00s memories

- Gap hoodies
- carpenter jeans
- Old Navy everything
- hair gel (yes I'm white)
- Iverson shoe line was soooo hot at the time, everyone wanted "the ones with the zipper" (IV)
- The OC/Laguna Beach (hated these shows)
- Those Sony headphones that wrapped around the back of your head
- 8 Mile and the song "Lose Yourself" in general
- Dudes still thought Tupac was coming back
- NT was in the golden age
- Kurt Warner came out of NOWHERE and styled on the entire NFL
- Skateboarding became huge with the Tony Hawk Pro Skater video games
- PS2 was the greatest thing in the world
- I remember waiting in line for the bus and a girl saying "did you hear that new Usher song on the radio? The beat is crazy" (it was Yeah) that song was soooo hot at my high school dances, girls used to freak
- The other juggernaut at HS dances was Lil Jon. Also blared this in the football locker room.
- Flip phones were like space age technology. Used to just flip it back and forth and marvel at it.

Damn I can't believe it was 10+years ago.

 

[green rhino123]

Early 00's rap was bad. I just remember Nelly, DMX and Mystikal.

swizz beats was horrible - stuff sounded like an 8 year old playing around on a casio from lechmere (maybe 1 out of 100 beats he produced sounded nice)
i actually felt disrespected as a hip hop fan when the masses gobbled that stuff up

so really the whole ruff ryder was wack

and when no limit is releasing 2 albums aweek for a year straight - don't tell me it's quality; i can make one 90min 'best of no limit tape' from 10 years of their catalog

 

[ayzee]

Call it what you want. The hip hop that was played on the radio has been lame for almost 20 years.

True this.

 

[green rhino123]

I said, for the most part, and for nearly 20 years.. Speaking generally, I stand by that.

Mainstream hip hop music - rap that you hear on terrestrial urban radio -has been largely bad for the better part of 20 years. [/B]

i for one wouldn't know as i haven't listened for about that long

 

[jumpmanpro97]

View media item 592198
girls thought this was style

 

[jumpmanpro97]

double

 

[BALH ENH]

Everything was the opposite of what it is today. '99-'02 was good to me. '03-late '05 was trash.

 

[dankenstien88]

 

[gllahone84]

Supreme Clientele dropped in 2000...it was a lot of good albums that dropped in the early 00s. 

But that album brought Wu back imo. 

 

[finnns2003]

Baggy jeans, tall tees, jerseys everywhere. 2000's fashion was turrible.

 

[HankHill]

Pops put in the CD-RW drive and I hustled ever since.

 

[sonunox34]

Do you remember kids hustling off their parents' CD burners?

This kid made serious cake asking for a list of 10 tracks written on looseleaf paper and $5. He fired up KaZaa and pumped these things out. I remember ordering one full of Beastie Boys and Tupac.

 

[gllahone84]

Nothing wrong with baggy jeans. 

 

[stillin729]

View media item 593121

 

[a55a5in11]

I remember in the late 90's we would clown kids pretty bad for wearing g.a.p.
to this day i have never worn g.a.p. because of that