20 Years Since....Q4 2002

Time for one last visit back to 2002:

Nelly ft Kelly Rowland - Dilemma

When it came to rap crossing over with R&B Nelly was a rapper who could do it without the aid of an R&B singer. Teaming up one of the most commercial rappers at the time with a singer from the most commercial R&B group at the time was obviously too good an opportunity to miss. Probably helped that their names rhymed with each other too.

I liked this enough to buy the single, but at the same time couldn't see myself buying the Nelly or Kelly Rowland album. I did end up acquiring the "Nellyville" album from someone looking to get rid whilst I was looking to get rid of some of my albums.

Nelly the R&B singer made better music than Nelly the rapper in my opinion though.

Justin Timberlake - Like I Love You

When N Sync had their final hit with "Girlfriend" I thought what's going on here, I like this. It was much the same when Justin Timberlake released his first solo hit. What both records had in common was they were produced by The Neptunes.

The way Justin Timberlake was now being portrayed was that he'd broke away from the boy band world and was now a credible R&B singer. That was enough to convince me to buy his album, but let's face it he was still a pop singer really but was making enjoyable pop tunes.

Ashanti - Happy

Initially I was put off this record because it had the title "Happy". It was a pretty dark time of my life at this point so I didn't want to hear anything too cheerful.

Then I heard the actual record and could look beyond the title and enjoy it for what it was. I ended up acquiring the Ashanti album at some point too.

Tenacious D - Wonderboy

I'd heard about Tenacious D long before I'd heard any of their music. People I knew who were into rap music were talking about them so I just assumed they were a rap act.

Then I heard this, which isn't rap music at all. I found it surprisingly good, the fact it was music you're not supposed to take seriously helped. I ended up buying the album too.

Snoop Dogg - From Tha Chuuuch To Da Palace

I'd been a big fan of Snoop Doggs previous "Tha Last Meal" album. This time he was back with an album that had no involvement from Dr Dre which I recall hearing was because he wanted to show he could still produce the goods without Dr Dre's production.

Instead for this lead single he called on The Neptunes, who were pretty much the biggest producers of the moment. To be fair they only produced the singles, so maybe he still thought he needed a big name producer to help attract people to the album. I bought it myself, but then I did have every Snoop Dogg album at that point.

Scooter - Posse (I Need You On The Floor)

When Scooter followed up "The Logical Song" with "Nassaja" which was a newly written tune for their greatest hits album, I thought they'd be done with releasing singles from it. However, as most of them weren't UK hits they had one more single to release with this.

It's the Scooter formula that we'd become used to, pitched up vocals along with HP Baxter chatting a load of shit. Great to listen to.

Alicia Keys - Girlfriend

I'd previously had a housemate who was a massive indie music fan and we'd often argue over music. I was therefore amazed to see when we were moving out that he owned Alicia Keys "Songs in A Minor" album.

I gave it a listen and this was the first main track on it. I did like what I'd heard of her prior to this, but thought this was a better tune. Next thing it's a single.

Eminem - Lose Yourself

At this point I owned all Eminem albums and had bought the most recent one the day it was released. Now he was in a film which this record was taken from. Many people around this time were asking me if I'd seen "8 Mile" yet.

To this very day I've still not watched it. I have considered it at various points, but I'm not really a film person. Music wise though this record was great.

Ja Rule ft Bobby Brown - Thug Lovin

After being away for a few years, Bobby Brown was back in this collabaration with Ja Rule. He'd also seemed to have lost his ability to sing during his hiatus from music. That kind of made it a good tune though.

It was the lead single from Ja Rules "Last Temptation" album which I would go on to buy.