HOT MILLENNIUM GURL (a spotify playlist)
“HOT MILLENNIUM GURL” is a playlist of my favorite mainstream hip-hop, R&B and urban pop songs that charted between Jan. 1998 and Dec. 2002. It is the culmination of several months of pop music curating. The playlist consists of 40 tracks, a little over 2 hours, and should ideally sound like the best Hot Urban format radio station that didn’t exist ~ten years ago.
Why 98-02? You see, decades are totally and completely arbitrary. And so, decade retrospective lists have the unfortunate effect of skewering interesting trends and developments that happen at those bridges between decades. I hope to remedy this a little by examining music made during what I affectionately call ‘the turn of the century.’
Why hip-hop and R&B? BECAUSE ITS THE BEST MUSIC. Or at least, it’s my favorite kind of music. This (along with a smattering or MOR pop-punk) is the music of my tweenhood, of middle school dances and late nights secretly listening to Hot 96.3 in my room. There’s aren’t deep cuts; almost all of them cracked the top 10 on the Billboard Hot Hip-Hop/R&B chart. No hidden jemz. Just old favorites. I hope you enjoy reliving these songs as much as I do.
(understand that some really great songs aren’t included because either (a) they aren’t available on spotify, (b) they didn’t chart high enough, or (c) one playlist should only have so many Nelly songs, i’m sorry)
TRACKLIST (songs arranged in rough chronological order):
Nice & Slow - Usher
Gone Till November - Wyclef Jean
Too Close - Next
Doo Wop (That Thing) - Lauryn Hill
It’s All About The Benjamins - Puff Daddy and the Family feat. Notorious BIG
Still Not A Player - Big Pun feat. Joe
So Into You - Tamia
Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) - Jay-Z
No Scrubs - TLC
Back That Thang Up - Juvenile feat. Mannie Fresh and Lil Wayne
Heartbreaker - Mariah Carey feat. Jay-Z
Say My Name - Destiny’s Child
Untitled (How Does It Feel) - D’Angelo
Maria Maria - Santana feat. The Product G&B
Party Up (Up In Here) - DMX
Big Pimpin’ - Jay-Z feat. UGK
Ms. Jackson - Outkast
Differences - Ginuwine
Ride Wit Me - Nelly
Get Ur Freak On - Missy Elliot
Where The Party At - Jagged Edge feat. Nelly
Fallin’ - Alicia Keys
I’m Real (Remix) - Jennifer Lopez feat. Ja Rule
IZZO (Hova) - Jay-Z
Area Codes - Ludacris feat. Nate Dogg
Raise Up (North Carolina) - Petey Pablo
What Would You Do - City High
Oops (Oh My!) - Tweet
Foolish - Ashanti
More than A Woman - Aaliyah
Addictive - Truth Hurts feat. Rakim
Still Fly - Big Tymers
Dilemma - Nelly feat. Kelly Rowland
Hey Ma - Cam’Ron feat. Juelz Santana and Toya
Don’t Mess With My Man - Nivea feat. Brian & Brandon Casey
When the Last Time - Clipse feat. Pharell and Kelis
Lose Yourself - Eminem
sry if there’s too much jay-z no im not
