The Decade in Review part 2... 2002... A New Goldyn Era??

[M Dogg™]

Here is the list of just the mainstream albums put out in 2002.

Nas - God's Son
Styles P - Gangster & A Gentleman
Eminem - The Eminem Show
Scarface - The Fix
Nas - The Lost Tapes
DJ Quik - Under tha Influence
Talib Kweli - Quality
8 Mile Soundtrack that introduced us to 50 Cent
Camron - Come Home With Me

Notable songs:
Snoop Dogg - Pimp Slap, 2Pac - Thug Mansion, Canibus - Curriculum 101, Talib Kweli - Get By, Eminem - Lose Yourself, KRS-One - The Real Hip-Hop is Ova (Here), Missy Elliot - Work It, Xzibit - Small People, Nelly - #1, LL Cool J - 10 Million Stars, Jay-Z = Blueprint 2, Nas - Last Real Nigga Alive, Lil' Jon and the Eastside Boyz - Get Low (ft. Ying Yang Twinz), Mos Def - Brown Sugar (Fine)

Okay, this list is not including great albums like Blackalicious - Blazing Arrows, KRS-One - The Mixtape, Tech N9ne - Absolute Power, Royce Da 5'9" - Rock City. Seriously, this was one hot year. It had everything, it was a year of club bangers, it was a year of 5 mic records, should be 5 mic records, battles, Nas and Jay-Z continued, it uplifting tracks on the radio, the Westcoast being heard and a movie that brought real Hip-Hop culture to the forefront, another was about love and Hip-Hop. Welcome to life after the Bling Era.

Why is it I'm saying 2002 is Life After the Bling Era, well 2 reason. With Nas's victory over Jay-Z it showed that true Hip-Hop was making a comeback, and in a post 9-11 world people began checking for more serious music with meaning. Second, 2002 introduced the world to Crunk on the mainstream as Get Low was the start of the Southern movement that would eventually takeover the decade. And to clarify, the Southern movement is not part of the Bling Era, as the Bling Era was about fine alcohol not cheap liquor and it was much more "Upscale" compared to the Southern Movement. The Crunk era was not in full swing yet, but much like NWA in 1988, Lil' Jon and the Eastside Boyz were giving us a look at the future. Well now that I got the basics of the year out there, lets go through the decade, and I will not mention every release but more the important events.

In the aftermath of Nas and Jay-Z, there was sort of a what do we do now. Much of these had to do with 9-11, as the impact of the that tragic event left many wondering what do we do now. Just like once 'Pac and Biggie died, many hung up there guns and Gangsta Rap seemed to die off, after 9-11 many stopped the party and it became a real sobering time. Hip-Hop was starting to take a different tone. What people were looking for was a more uplifting message. The beginning 2002 everything in Jay-Z's career seemed to go horribly wrong. After losing the radio vote against Nas, Jay and R. Kelly had the long awaited album, Best of Both Worlds CD out, which was release right after a video tape of R. Kelly peeing on an underage girl. Sales hit a huge slump, and Jay was reeling all year.

Stlyes P of the Lox had a bit more successful solo debut than group mate Jadakiss with his new album, which featured 2 singles, My Life and Good Times (I Get High). Without a radio song, Nas released his Lost Tapes album, which featured tracks from previous years, mainly leaked Nastrodamus tracks, and many Nas fans claimed that it was his best work since Illmatic. Fresh off of producing much of the Blueprint, new super it producer Kanye West was signed to Roc-A-Fella Records as an artist. He kept busy by producing the track that would defined one of the greatest underground rappers in Talib Kweli. Get By pushed Talib into the mainstream, and it became obvious that fans were checking for something more in their music than just bling and drank, they wanted some music to help uplift. Nothing said uplifting more than that underdog story, and no one can provide it quite like the only white rapper worth mentioning in the decade, Eminem.

After releasing Without Me, Eminem had the number one selling album of 2002 with the Eminem Show. It was truly a classic album, and one of the quality gems of this album was the track Sing for the Moment. But this would not be the last we hear from Eminem, or even have a pure classic album. Scarface decided to grace us in 2002 with on of the best albums he released in his great career. Featuring lead single My Block, Scarface had some true gems on his album as well, including In Between Us featuring Nas. It was becoming a year that if you released a CD, it better come correct or you'll sit on the shelf. As Ja Rule, who after having a great 2001, was seeing his popularity decline in 2002 with The Last Temptation. But it would be new Shady Record member, 50 Cent and his debut single Wanksta off the 8 Mile soundtrack that would fully kick Ja out of the mainstream.

Speaking of the 8 Mile soundtrack, 2002 was a HUGE year for Hip-Hop in the movies. First off Hip-Hop was front in center in a movie about love and Hip-Hop. Brown Sugar was released to use Hip-Hop's up and downs as a metaphor for a love story between Taye Diggs and Sanaa Lathan with Mos Def playing an underground Hip-Hop artist who just wants to bring real Hip-Hop to the forefront. But that was not the main movie of the year. Eminem cemented himself as this generations all time bad boy with his semi autobiographical movie 8 Mile. In this movie, it featured Em as B. Rabbit, a struggling underground rapper who was trying to deal with life and push his career. In the ultimate underdog story, B. Rabbit battled a crew for the title best rapper in the 313. The movie also had the track Lose Yourself, which easily was the most over played song of the year.

By summer, Nelly was fully engaged in a battle with legendary KRS-One. KRS had released a song that could have been taken as a response Nelly's track #1. Of course it really wasn't, as the teacher once said, if he battled you, he'd call out your name. Well in a huge mismatch, Nelly was destroyed by KRS, though his career and sales didn't take a hit. In fact he gained some fans for standing up to KRS and not backing down. LL Cool J also slammed the final nail in his 4 year battle with Canibus with his song 10 Million Stars. Canibus though claimed victory a long time ago and was aiming at Eminem, who made several songs addressing Canibus in the Eminem Show. Snoop Dogg finally responded to years of Death Row disses at him. The song Pimp Slap would have long lasting effects on Snoop and other artist like Crooked I. Snoop proving his fighting spirit was seen even yelling at Suge Knight at an award show. Snoop was a dog who was cornered and fighting back.

The year ended the same way it began, with Nas and Jay-Z traded songs, though this would be the end of the battle of legends. Jay-Z struck first with his track Blueprint 2. In a more potent diss than Takeover, Jay-Z went hard at Nas and had a straight hard song that was worthy of being mentioned, though his album Blueprint 2 was not nearly as nice and took a huge hit in sales as the double disc format hurt the quality of the album. Nas answered with The Last Real Nigga Alive off the God's Son album. A track that went through the history of the King of New York, Nas laid out the final blow of the battle. As the year closed out so did the finality of Jay Z vs. Nas. As 2003 came, there could be no way 2002 could be top. But after a mini Hip-Hop revival, was Hip-Hop finally returning to it's glory? We would all find out.

The Decade in Review part 2... 2003-2005... Hip-Hop International

[MediumL]

another great post

[PLANT]

good job, keep em coming

[Lil White Azz]

Yeah it's very cool read your reviews man...haven't listened some of those song in years, like Krs-One's Real Hip Hop...

[Paul]

another great post

[NillerTheKid]

another great post

[M Dogg™]

Sorry, was going to put part 3 up, but then my family, including Pink, came up to MN to visit for the holidays. Now the family is back in Cali, and I'm back to finishing this. I hope people will like the rest.

[West Coast Veteran]

Great post.

What I remember the most of 2002 was Eminem and Nelly were EVERYWHERE, you couldn't turn on the radio or television without seeing those two. It was kind of irritating.

[cmk1]

another great post

[Blood$]

dope read... really brings back memories

but "Get Low" came out in '03 I believe, or at least that's when it blew up lol

[M Dogg™]

Look for the conclusion

[dubsmith_nz]

Did part 3 come out?

[M Dogg™]

yeap... I am going to clean parts 1-3 out, and finish 4 and 5 and have all of them up...

Here is 3
http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=241143.0

here is 1
http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=239796.0

[doggfather]

Onyx introduces us 50 Cent. 

[MistaNova]

another great post