Ahh the heady post-Y2K scare days. If we remember correctly, we came out the other side of that totally warranted scare with a whole new lease on life and also a basement full of filtered water jugs and canned chili. We also enjoyed a great year of rap music. It's long been a thing to declare whatever year it is THE WORST YEAR OF RAP—and we remember it being a particularly strong sentiment in 2000. This is, of course, was never actually the case, and the fine dudes of The Rub put together a mix of personal favorites to back it up. The tracklist is after the jump, but this is one of the few cases where we actually just recommend being surprised by the copious amounts of great songs contained within one little mp3.
Download: The Rub's History of Hip Hop: The Year 2000
OutKast “So Fresh, So Clean”
Beanie Sigel “The Truth”
Shyne “Bad Boyz feat. Barrington Levy”
Fatlip “What’s Up Fatlip”
Aaliyah “Come Back In One Piece feat. DMX”
DJ Shadow “Hardcore (Instrumental) Hip-Hop”
Ghostface Killah “Apollo Kids feat. Raekwon”
Jay-Z “1-900-Hustler feat. Beanie Sigel, Freeway & Memphis Bleek”
Ruff Ryders “WW III feat. Yung Wun, Snoop Dogg, Scarface & Jadakiss”
Next “Jerk feat. 50 Cent”
Prodigy “Keep It Thoro”
The Beatnuts “No Escapin’ This”
Philly’s Most Wanted “Cross The Border”
Nelly “E.I.”
Cocoa Brovaz “Super Brooklyn”
Scarface “They Down With Us feat. UGK”
D’Angelo “Devil’s Pie”
Big L “Holdin’ It Down feat. Stan Spit, A.G. & Miss Jones”
Drag-On “Spit These Bars”
Black Rob “I Dare You feat. Joe Hooker”
Busta Rhymes “Fire”
Milano “Rep For The Slums”
Slum Village “Players”
Erick Sermon “So Sweet feat. Eazy-E”
De La Soul “Oooh feat. Redman”
M.O.P. “Ante Up (Robbin Hoodz Theory)”
Royce Da 5′9″ “Boom”
Kardinal Offishall “Ol’ Time Killin’”
Reflection Eternal “The Blast”
J-88 “The Look Of Love Pt. 1″
Guru “Hustlin’ Daze feat. Donell Jones”
Screwball “H-O-S-T-Y-L-E”
Snoop Dogg “Lay Low feat. Butch Cassidy, Master P, Nate Dogg & Tha Eastsidaz”
Rah Digga “Tight”
Mya “Best Of Me Remix (Holla Remix feat. Jay-Z)”
Jay-Z “Change The Game feat. Beanie Sigel & Memphis Bleek”
Beanie Sigel “What A Thug About”
Slum Village “Raise It Up”
OutKast “Ms. Jackson”
Common “The Light”
Big Pun “It’s So Hard feat. Donell Jones”
Big Pun “100%”
Ludacris “Southern Hospitality”
Tony Touch “The Piece Maker feat. Gang Starr”
P. Diddy & The Bad Boy Family “Let’s Get It feat. G-Dep & Black Rob”
Ghostface Killah “Cherchez LaGhost feat. U-God (Heartbeat Remix)”
Slum Village “Thelonius feat. Common”
Mos Def “Oh No feat. Pharoahe Monch & Nate Dogg”
Latyrx “Lady Don’t Tek No”
Mystikal “Shake Ya Ass”
Mystikal “Danger (Been So Long) feat. Nivea”
DJ Quik “Well feat. Raphael Saadiq & AMG”
Jay-Z “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me) feat. Pharrell”
The RIte Brothers “Thug Anthem 2000″
Breez Evahflowin’ “Between Dah Seams”
Redman “Let’s Get Dirty (I Can’t Get In Da Club) feat. DJ Kool”
Method Man “Even If”
Jurassic 5 “Swing Set”
Masters Of Illusion “The Bay-Bronx Bridge”
Nas “You Owe Me feat. Ginuwine”
Armand Van Helden “Full Moon feat. Common”
Trina “Pull Over (Remix) (Dirty)”
OutKast “B.O.B.”
Lil’ Jon & The Eastside Boyz “Bia Bia feat. Chyna Whyte & Too Short”
M.O.P. “Cold As Ice”
Jewels “40 Bars”
Jay-Z “Hey Papi feat. Memphis Bleek & Amil”
Project Pat “Chickenhead”
Trick Daddy “Shut Up”
Cam’ron “What Means The World To You”
Ludacris “What’s Your Fantasy feat. Shawnna & Sessy Melia”
Three 6 Mafia “Sippin’ On Da Syrup feat. UGK & Project Pat”
Drama “Left, Right, Left”
OutKast “Gangsta Sh’t feat. Slim Cutta Calhoun, C-Bone & T-Mo”
Miracle “We Ain’t Scared feat. Crucial Conflict”
Erykah Badu “Didn’t Cha Know”
