As Remembered By Music Dude: R., R .Kelly: Even though this album was released in the fall of ‘98, the double-disc spawned so many huge singles that it kept banging throughout 1999 and sold more albums in ‘99 than any other R&B album.

When you look back on R’s career, it becomes apparent that all his albums end up acting like soundtracks. His genius lies in his ability to connect to that common denominator portion of most listeners’ ears. It’s those hooks, those R. Kelly hooks. After hearing an R. Kelly hook two or three times, it’s seared on your brain.

“Half On A Baby”, “Home Alone”, “Did You Ever Think” with Nas, “When A Woman’s Fed Up”, “I Believe I Can Fly” -- radio in ‘99 was Kells, Kells, Kells, Kells, Kells.......Kells, Kells, you get the pic.

As Remembered By Music Dude: 400 Degreez, Juvenile: Outkast was always a relevant force in hip-hop and popular music and Master P was spreading his own country-gospel; but when Juve introduced the Cash Money Millionaires to America with this album, it can be argued that it signaled a real beginning for the South’s emergence as the dominant force in hip-hop.

Juve was getting serious spins on radio stations from NYC to LA. “Ha” was huge during the latter part of ‘98 and early ‘99. Jay-Z even jumped on a remix, which signaled a great deal back in those days of the still segmented and regionalized hop-climate.

Then “Back That Azz Up” dropped and it was a pandemic. Middle schoolers requested it on the evening “Top 7 At 7”-type shows and grown women danced like deranged strippers—poppin that thang—when a DJs threw it on in clubs. No single had been that pervasive in a long-time.

As Remembered By The Working Class Hero: Black on Both Sides, Mos Def: The influence of The Musicologists shows with this pick. My people from my hometown were really clowinin me at this point for getting mixed up with a crew of dudes who studied music like we used to study sonnets in high school. My hometown crew really thought I had lost it and had become a mindless lump of clay that my Cologists were molding. On the real, I don’t even know what they were even listening to in order to make such assertions…oh yeah, Murda Muzik and Vol.3 S. Carter, which actually are dope albums in my opinion, but that’s what would have been the standard had I not had exposure to the mighty Mos.

This album continued where Black Star left off, which is what everyone wanted. I really can’t think about the last time a follow-up album to a classic did that. “Mr. Nigga” gave me the same visceral feeling that “Thieves in the Night” (from Black Star) did, if that means anything. Mos touches on multiple topics of importance and flows comfortably and seamlessly between genres. His lyrics were sharp and his delivery was fluid, dare I say, flawless. “Umi Says” is a song that will come to define our generation…mark my words. That is how landmark this album is. All from an emcee who embodies the music he espouses. The Musicologists and I saw him live right after his album release during some homecoming festivities. We almost turned the stage over his performance was so dope.

Again, I don’t see how anything could trump this for the year 1999.