75 Awesome Hip Hop And R&B Songs From The ’00s You Forgot About

Ah, the Aughts. The good old days, which we like to revisit with ever-increasing incredulity that [Insert Pop Culture Icon Here] was released 10 or more years ago. But for all its quirky, .gif-able TV shows and movies, the first few years of the new millennium gave rise to some amazing artists. Pioneers in the field of hip hop, if you will. Was life uncontestedly better after Nick Cannon’s manifesto as a gigolo? Yes, it was. Some of these songs have transcended into cult status of their own right, and most of these were hits, as they rightly deserved to be. Whether you got low at the dances in your high school gym or jammed out on your portable CD player to these bad boys, they all deserve a place in your heart. (Especially Nelly. There is never such a thing as too much Nelly on any playlist, ever.)