For our column Jams We Love, we're turning you onto the songs that keep us going every day. Just for kicks, here's a playlist featuring Y2K-era (1999-2000) club bangers. Classic stuff.
1. Jagged Edge, "Let's Get Married"
You were likely in middle or high school when this freaktastic song reigned airwaves and school dances alike. It ingeniously melds old-fashioned, traditional ideals about tying the not with a deeply raunchy club beats. Just the thing to confuse kids with raging hormones, right?
2. B.G. featuring Big Tymers and Hot Boyz, "Bling Bling"
We sometimes forget that Weezy was blazing trails back when he was just a teenager. He and the NOLA group Hot Boyz helped catapult the word "bling" into the mainstream with this song's insanely indulgent (and now throwback-seeming) themes of unbridled indulgence, when that kind of thing was still cool to rap about.
3. Mystikal, "Shake Ya Ass"
Mystikal's crazy eyes make the video, and his unhinged flow make the song.
4. Juvenile, "Back That Thing Up"
Another stone cold Cash Money classic. And another indispensable Weezy phrase, "drop it like it's hot." If I were Juvenile, I'd be able to die happy knowing that this was my one big hit.
5. DMX, "What's My Name"
Few rappers have ever sounded as utterly rabid as DMX did back in the day. The first few times I heard this song, I was convinced he was part human, part pit bull, thanks to that infamous bark. Here, he gives us really no choice but to shut up and pay attention.