Rap

With this genre, we have to admit that rap was unfortunately not the best during the era of the 2000s. The ’90s is and always will be the greatest time for rap music to be alive. However, there were plenty of rap artists that came out with amazing music during this time. Some of the rappers that were successful in the 2000’s decade include Eminem, Jay Z, Lil Wayne, Nelly, Kanye West, TI, Ludacris, and 50 Cent.

Eminem

The 2000s brought the world one of the most successful rappers of all time, Eminem. He is the best selling artist of the decade and has also had 9 number one singles on the charts. Eminem has a long discography, but his release of the Marshall Mathers LP in 2000 was one of his most iconic and best-selling albums of all time. This album had five hit singles including “Stan” and the infamous “The Real Slim Shady”. After massive success in the 1990’s, he released this album. Some of this music was controversial because of some homophobic lyrics found in his song “Criminal.” However, he later apologized for this and performed with iconic gay singer Elton John on stage during an award show.

In 2002, Eminem released the hit, “Lose Yourself” for the movie 8 Mile, which is one of his most popular songs to date. Throughout the 2000s, he has released many more hits such as “Not Afraid”, “Love the Way You Lie” (featuring Rihanna), and “Without Me”. Eminem is truly an iconic artist who is still making successful music.

Kanye West

Another iconic rapper to come out of this era is the infamous Kanye West. West rose to stardom when he released his debut album in 2004 The College Dropout. This album was a massive commercial success and is one of his best works to date. 5 lead singles came from this album, including “Through the Wire”, “All Falls Down” and “Jesus Walks”. “Through the Wire” in particular is an iconic song because West recorded this song when his jaw was wired shut after getting in a nearly fatal car accident. He continued to release hit singles including “Gold Digger” and “Stronger”.

 

 

West became more successful because of the controversies he became involved in. West is famous for events such as saying during a benefit concert that George Bush doesn’t care about black people. However, his most iconic moment during this era was during the 2009 Video Music Awards. When Taylor Swift was accepting an award for the best music video of that year, West jumped on the stage and said that Beyonce’s music video should’ve won instead. Despite all of these incidents, West is still a very popular rapper to date and has gone on to create many more great pieces of music.

Notable Songs

Some notable rap songs that were released in the 2000’s include “It Wasn’t Me” by Shaggy, “Get Low” by Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz featuring Ying Yang Twins, “Candy Shop” by 50 Cent featuring Olivia, “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” by Soulja Boy, and “Best I Ever Had” by Drake. A lot of important pieces of rap music existed during this era and cannot go unforgotten.