By Elorm Nutakor

For the second piece in a series of snapshots into the souls of the aughts, we look with disdain toward Pitchfork’s celebration of the year 1998. The publication’s series about 1998 has highlighted the top 50 albums of that year, the best music videos of that year, overlooked electronic albums and more.

But while Pitchfork shines a light on the musical moments that made that year special, I would humbly like to remind everyone that The ’90s decade is played
out. Had Pitchfork done this series just two years ago it would have been more appropriate, but by now we don’t need reminders why “Aquemini” and “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” were amazing; we already know. A tribute to the Discman has no place in 2018. And fatigue about “The Aeroplane Over the Sea” has been the ongoing reality. Most importantly, I’d argue that the year 2002 – a mere four years after 1998 – is more relevant this year particularly because of The Neptunes.

2002 is the year that Pharrell and Chad Hugo’s production duo as The Neptunes exploded. In the year that Jay-Z and R. Kelly decided to release a collab album, the year that Avril Lavigne and Maroon 5 dropped her debut albums, The Neptunes were busy making hit after hit. Credits from that year include Nelly’s “Hot in Herre”, select cuts from Justin Timberlake’s “Justified,” and Clipse’s “Grindin’” as well as their debut “Lord Willin’.” And, since N.E.R.D just released a project last December, let’s not forget that their first album “In Search Of…” also dropped in 2002, which was more influential to hip-hop culture than it gets credit for. The Neptunes’ catalogue speaks for itself.

And if you want a portable music player to reminisce about, look no further than the iPod Classic, the object of our envy from the time it was released til something else came along. Bless you if you had one of the 160 GB joints.

No disrespect to 1998, but it’s just played out at this point.

Edited by Elena Cruz and Owen Brock