As Remembered By Music Dude: TP-2.com, R. Kelly: Alicia Keys was introduced this year and Clive Davis made sure she was huge star. She was the perfect candidate to be a big star, too: pretty, talented and even had a bit of a ghetto thing to her. She was like a cross between Mary J and Erykah Badu. But as popular and critically acclaimed as she was, she didn’t approach the all-encompassing nature of R. Kelly in 2001.

By this point, it was clear that Kelly’s fan-legion would fawn and obsess over any and everything he dropped. Which is why, two years later, he made a song using keys and a car ignition as a sexual analogy and the song was huge. This time around, he had familiar tunes that relied on his penchant (maybe even genius) for catchy sex-talk—“Feelin’ On Yo Booty” being the best example. But there was this new-thing he was doing, which basically involved him singing like a rapper. Checking his cadence on “I Wish” was both comical and amazing. The public ate it up. “Fiesta” with Jay-Z was a huge smash and murdered the clubs.

Kells was doing Kells. He was also doing his part to merge hip-hop and R&B closer together. Kats like Nelly and Ja Rule were doing their part on their end, crooning instead of emceeing; and Kells was this new R&B Thug thing. Curious times for us all.

As Remembered By Music Dude: The Blueprint, Jay-Z: This album marked a creative and artistic leap for Jay, especially since it followed The Dynasty: Roc La Familia. Kanye and Just Blaze provided the crazy musical canvass and Jay took it from there. Actually, when you go back and listen to the album, it sounds much darker and more dense than your typical 3x-plat album. It sounds much more like an album of personal tastes than an album aimed at the masses. Still it spent its fair share of weeks at the top of the charts.

Jay was smart, though. “Takeover” was going to get its fair share of buzz on the mix-tape circle and urban radio, since it was an unabashed attack on some popular hop acts, principally a beaten-down Nas. But Jay mixed in a few tracks that he knew would be bona fide radio and club tracks. “Girls, Girls, Girls”, “Jigga That Nigga” and “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” got the amount of spins that can make you hate a song. “Izzo” had the summer on lock. And, even when Nas dropped “Ether” later in the year and embarrassed Young, it still didn’t stop Blueprint from seeping in every pore of 2001.

As Remembered By The Working Class Hero: 1st Born Second, Bilal: Ok, it’s obvious from looking at this pick that hip-hop music was deep in the depths of an abyss that I thought would be impossible to resurrect from. I remember saying to Brolic one day in 2001, “hip-hop doesn’t put out enough hot sh*t for me to exclusively f*ck wit it anymore.” Man, what a statement, I never thought I’d hear myself say it. I remember Brolic was real big on Jamiroquai or something like that at this point. This can’t be life…

This album to me though, was almost like a hip-hop album, and really, the first time I got down with something that we would later dub Bridge music. The first cut I heard was “Fast Lane”, the Dr. Dre-produced joint w/Jadakiss. That joint was so hip-hop to me. That joint went so hard for something that was supposed to be “neo-soul”. And, I mean, at the end of the day, this is a neo soul offering. There are three or four bonafide neo-soul classics on this album. Classics that were being used in pop culture. I remember hearing “Soul Sista” in a TV commercial at some point…the WNBA maybe?...I don’t remember…wish I did.

I was seriously looking for anything creative that resembled hip-hop in any way or shape. Eminem wasn’t doing it for me. He had some dope lyrics, laughable antics, and I enjoyed his albums thoroughly, but it just wasn’t hip-hop enough for me. 1st Born, was just what the doctor ordered. True I couldn’t ride around and bang this in the whip drivin’ down Georgia Ave, but it did supply the edge that I wasn’t finding in anything that was being offered by the current “rap cats”. The album really grooves from beginning to end and it even got some serious radio play too. I distinctly remember always popping this CD in at work. This CD got me through my first year as a working professional and if you have any idea what an actuary does on a daily basis you know that’s saying a lot.