As Remembered By ANT-I-THESIS: Ashanti, Ashanti: Following the death of R&B-darling Aaliyah on August 25, 2001, America seemed to be craving a replacement. Ashanti emerged as this replacement and became and overnight success, starting in 2001 with features on Fat Joe’s, “What’s Luv”, and Ja Rule’s, “Always On Time”. Her self-titled debut album dropped in April 2002. The first single, “Foolish” utilized the familiar R&B formula: combining female heartbreak/relationship turmoil, and a popular beat from yesteryear. I guess the thinking amongst the suits is to get the females and the club on your side. Despite the obvious lack of talent displayed on singles, “Happy” and “Baby”, Ashanti’s success as a singer and songwriter climbed to record breaking status. The album is certified 4x’s plat, having went gold in its first week.
As Remembered By ANT-I-THESIS: Pain Is Love, Ja Rule: This joint dropped in October 2001, but played throughout the year of 2002. Singles “Living It Up”, “Always On Time”, and “I'm Real”, featuring Jennifer Lopez, dominated radio air time that year. Ja seemed to have his own formula for success: utilizing his “made for pop-radio” raspy rapping/crooning over bubble gum production provided by Irv Gotti. It’s safe to say that Ja heavily influenced or popularized the notion of the “thug couple.” Songs such as “Down Ass Bitch”, and his previous album’s smash hit “Put It On Me”, reinforced the idea of what has seemingly become the ideal relationship amongst teens and “second childhood” adults alike.
And 2002 was important for these reasons, since a couple of noteworthy trends emerged after the releases of the above albums. Firstly, the categories of R&B and hip-hop were seemingly merged to form one category, under the title of hip-hop, which encompassed all pop music made by young blacks, whether hip-hop or R&B. In the eyes of the masses, Ashanti was just as hip-hop as Ja Rule. Secondly, the prominence of singing-rappers (or rapping-singers) was astounding. Many claimed beef with Ja and his radio friendly singing style but these same opponents could not escape the popularity of the “new hip hop”. Busta on “I Know What You Want”, 50 on any G-Unit release, even Jay hit the Luther Vandross on “Excuse Me Miss.” Thirdly, the concept of marketing over true talent seemed to be at an all time high. Between Ja and Ashanti not too much true talent was being displayed. Ja is by no means an emcee, neither can he sing, and both he and Ashanti are more than suspect song writers (Ja made hit records with J-Lo for a good part of ‘02). But despite the lack of true talent, these artists dominated the 2002 airwaves due to successful marketing schemes that bombarded radio listeners with constant releases from these artists. That was 2002.
As Remembered By Uncle Harry: Stillmatic, Nas: I liken Stillmatic to the first Michael Jordan comeback. “His Airness” was on top of the world, and then all of a sudden he left the game and Hakeem “The Dream” was winning championships. He got two rings during the time MJ was playing baseball, and the whole time I was looking at the league thinking that the Bulls should be winning and MJ should be MVP. During the time between Nastradamus and Stillmatic, Jay-Z was winning championships and won the MVP with “The Takeover”.
Jay bit off more than he could handle trying to take on Nasir Jones, and Nas wasn’t going to let the game go, and he came back with a near flawless performance, just like when MJ and the Bulls ran away with the season winning 72 games, scooping up an MVP trophy and NBA championship all at once. “Ether” was one of the hottest battle rhymes in years and, in my opinion, it put Jay in his place and replaced Nas atop the emcee ladder.
The intro/title track couldn’t have been a better way to set off the album, as Nas jumps right on with the illest of rhymes and at the same time dropping messages all in a quick two-minute period. The very next thing you hear is “F#@k Jay-Z”, and it’s like “Oh my, is that where we are taking this album?” It is widely held that Nas tells the best of stories, but there is no possible way you could fathom what was going on when you heard “Rewind”. Then you lose your mind with “One Mic”; the list goes on and on, track after track. So, by the time you get to the end of the album you have the answer: “Unequivocally, and emphatically hell yes!! That is where Nas took it!”
The king was back, and he proved that even if he was “…always forward I’m never backwards stupid…” he was indeed going to move forward and make another classic that didn’t have to be Illmatic.
It was such a breath of fresh air to hear someone being creative on the mic while truly emceeing. Stillmatic was leaps and bounds above anything else that came out toward the end of 2001 and that deep breath of fresh air lasted all through 2002. It was pure unadulterated hip-hop…and I missed, no, needed that in my life.
