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[Lazarus]

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/list/8457624/best-songs-of-1998

Great list

[Lazarus]

1. Aaliyah, "Are You That Somebody?" (No. 21, Hot 100)

You can?t even find the song.

?Are You That Somebody?? is currently lost outside the stream of capital, thanks to the chicanery and stubborn grief of Aaliyah?s uncle and manager, Barry Hankerson. The digital streaming platforms don?t carry it, and the YouTube uploads aren?t beaming money to any label. On some level this is correct, because ?Are You That Somebody?? should forever live in the beyond, as something to chase.

It?s of the past -- 20 years come June -- but still sounds like the future. Produced and written by Timbaland and Static Major and sung by Aaliyah, the song was recorded like a dream. At 4 a.m., Tim received a call from Hankerson, explaining that they needed a hit to put on the Dr. Doolittle soundtrack by 8 a.m. Talking animals and PG-13 Eddie Murphy? It hardly mattered -- the near-half-a-million bag beckoned and the great work began, with Timbaland hunched over a drum machine, Aaliyah in the booth, Static waving a blunt and smiling because he had the hook. They made the hit Hankerson asked for, and more.

Before you get to the baby, there?s the staccato bass line and drum sounds. You could stutter-step through the empty pockets left in the beat like you were dodging fat, lazy raindrops. The clucking and popping is a human mouth, only it?s tap dancing. ?Boy,? Aaliyah begins like she?s creating a perfectly round bubble of sound, drawing out the vowel and vibrating it. The lyrics describe love like a secret, and if this boy is let in on it, he can?t tell nobody. Fifty-three seconds in, the baby pops out, right on time and totally uncalled for, a genuine moment of awe for the Hot 100, where the song would eventually peak at No. 21. Prince himself used the same sample to close out ?Delirious? in 1982, but man, the chutzpah to let it coo repeatedly through this skeleton of a beat.

As Grammy-winning producer Bryan-Michael Cox told Vibe in 2008, ?It ain?t been a record like that since.? A year later, Drake interpolated Static?s hook for Young Money?s ?BedRock,? and one year after that, James Blake submerged and pitch-shifted Aaliyah?s voice for his breakout single ?CMYK.? Like Sasha Frere-Jones wrote in The New Yorker, the song is ?still effervescing? and inspiring new work, many years after the Grammys gave it a nod for best female R&B vocal performance. Ten out of ten people agree: This shit is not regular.

?Are You That Somebody?? persists in the cultural imagination despite being unavailable for sale on Amazon or iTunes, despite being unstreamable on Spotify or Tidal or Apple Music. Tens of millions of us know, by heart, a field recording of an infant made in 1969 -- an infant who will never be identified. Aaliyah passed away in August, of 2001. There is no way to tell her that nearly two decades later, ?Somebody? remains like the secret cave her and Timabaland?s crews populate in the song?s video: sacred territory hidden in plain sight, accessible only to the two of them. -- R.S.

[Kaeli.]

#1 is really shocking actually

That?s one of my fav li songs tho

[Young]

Ack!!!

Mon perched twice
Branica ACK

Liy omfff


Tragic order though

[Lazarus]

2. Lauryn Hill, "Doo Wop (That Thing!)" (No. 1, Hot 100)

It didn?t matter what street you turned down: This bouncy, head-bopping earworm was the song coming from everyone?s car in late 1998, warning listeners, to the tune of triumphant horns and a crisp piano hook, about being used for that thing -- be it sex, drugs, money, or otherwise. Lauryn Hill was hardly an unknown then, having already achieved major crossover success as one-third of mid-'90s rap group The Fugees. But it wasn?t long before "Doo Wop" -- the debut single off Hill?s now-iconic The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill LP -- and its soulful wisdom catapulted her to solo superstardom.

?Doo Wop,? which samples 5th Dimension?s 1971 track ?Together Let?s Find Love,? earned the then-23-year-old her first (and to date only) Hot 100 No. 1 -- making her one of only five female rappers to ever rule the chart at all, and at the time, the very first to do so without any other billed artists. She also snagged two Grammys for the track, and the song?s memorable split-screen block party visual earned her four MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year, making her the first MC to take home the show's top honors.

But accolades aside, what remains most striking about ?Doo Wop? is the egalitarian message woven into Hill?s ice-cold rhyming swagger. Far ahead of her time, Hill succeeded in offering a wise PSA to both sexes without pitting one against the other: While the first verse references Philadelphia?s Million Woman March and advises ladies not to ?be a hard rock when you really are a gem,? the second takes on a man ?more concerned with his rims and his Timbs? than treating a woman right, each with equal parts grit and groove. With her first bona fide hit, Hill didn?t just prove her own worth as a solo R&B/hip-hop artist. In perhaps her more important contribution to the genre, the song also proved that rap can be a tool to unite, and to empower. -- T.C.

[Nine]

Ummm...cute and stuff.

But where's INOJ?

[Lazarus]

26. Mariah Carey feat. Bone Thugs n Harmony, "Breakdown" (No. 53, Radio Songs)

The soul ballad that begins gently only to later explode and soar on the wings of heartbreak or desperate horniness, this is nothing novel. What makes ?Breakdown? special is how perfectly the lyrics describe this arc, and that Mariah Carey sings it. She unfolds the tale: ?You called yesterday to basically say/ That you care for me but you?re just not in love.? Damn. Knowing her angles, Mariah tells this man that, actually, she?s feeling the same way, even though it?s ?pretending,? that ?gradually [she?s] dying inside.?

While cramming as many words as possible into the chorus, she enunciates the particulars of her disguise. ?Better get control,? Krayzie Bone and Wish Bone intone behind her topline, and could she have picked rappers who are more in control of their vocal peaks and valleys than two members of Bone Thugs? She lets the mask slip at 3:10, riffing and running up the scales behind the pristine chorus. ?How do I feel? I?m losing my mind,? she wails. And if you don?t have chills at this point, what could you possibly know about life and loss and rhythm and blues? -- R.S.

25. Janet Jackson, "I Get Lonely" (No. 3, Hot 100)

Desperation isn?t supposed to sound sexy. It?s supposed to make you sound pathetic, needy, maybe a little unhinged. And it usually does -- unless you are Janet Jackson, singing about loneliness over a Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis beat that snaps and glides and makes you move despite your fragile state. Such is ?I Get Lonely,? the third single from The Velvet Rope, Jackson?s gorgeous album of intense introspection. ?Lonely? clocks in at over five minutes, but it hits all the right spots: a full-voiced chorus of Jackson multiplied and plainly stating her feeling; and a handful of waiting-by-the-phone verses; a breakdown where she coos -- what else -- ?gonna break it down, break it down, break it down.? Like any good song, this chorus provides that much-needed moment of release. Unlike any good song, this chorus happens six times, repeating the same insistent two lyrics per refrain. Twelve climaxes in fewer than half as many minutes? Only Janet gets it done like that. -- C.W.

[Lazarus]

39. Usher, "Nice & Slow" (No. 1, Hot 100)

Shout-out to Jermaine Dupri and the Casey twins of Jagged Edge for helping craft one of freakiest R&B slow jams of all time. Usher?s ?Nice & Slow? is surely responsible for the creation of half a generation, including some of you who may be reading this right now. The ballad oozes sex appeal, with a young Usher (who had recently graduated from teendom) spelling out of exactly how he plans to make love to his lady -- as well as, uh, his entire name: ?They call me U-S, H-E-R, R-A, Y-M, O-N-D / Now, baby, tell me what you wanna do with me?? Despite being only 20 years old at the time, the singer channeled the confidence of many R&B greats before him, as his tender vocals caressed the song?s languid production. ?Nice & Slow? became Usher?s first Hot 100 No. 1, and if you scroll through your #MCM?s phone right now, you'll probably still find this on his ?let?s get it on? playlist. -- B.G.

43. Faith Evans, "Love Like This" (No. 7, Hot 100)

As soon as you hear the mesmerizing opening beats, you can?t help but rock to what?s since become a party, club, and skating-rink mainstay. If fact, the latter doubles as the backdrop for the song?s video, with skaters undulating to its mellow groove and Evans? hot-buttered vocals. An arresting portent of the R&B and hip-hop fusion that was about to take over Top 40, Evans? Grammy-nominated smash undoubtedly celebrates the singer?s romance with late husband and rap icon Notorious B.I.G., who died the year before its release. -- G.M.

63. Whitney Houston & Mariah Carey, "When You Believe" (No. 15, Hot 100)

What do you get when the two biggest powerhouse divas of the ?90s combine forces for a major motion picture soundtrack? Apparently a fairly traditional, saccharine power ballad. No shade, though: Whitney and Mimi sound excellent trading verses, and their harmonies are unclockable. The song only managed to peak at No. 15 on the Hot 100, but the pair got the last laugh: this Prince of Egypt cut took home the Academy Award for best original song. -- P.C.

[BAPHOMET.]

This is awful 

[Lazarus]

72. Usher, "My Way" (No. 2, Hot 100)

Usher?s first My Way single, ?You Make Me Wanna...,? introduced him as a coy R&B star, while his second, ?Nice & Slow,? replaced the coy with straight-up coital. But it was his third, ?My Way,? that turned him into a freaky philanderer, the original Mr. Steal Your Girl: ?She likes it my way,? Usher croons over a thrusting beat and interjections from Jermaine Dupri, one of the album?s co-producers, matching his boastful attitude with a bounce that stands the test of time. What perhaps ages less well is the music video, where Usher, dressed like a funhouse version of Alex from A Clockwork Orange, squares off against Tyrese in a junkyard. With a bounce house. Sure. -- C.W.

[FlowerBomb]

Great year for music

[FlowerBomb]

43. Faith Evans, "Love Like This" (No. 7, Hot 100)

As soon as you hear the mesmerizing opening beats, you can?t help but rock to what?s since become a party, club, and skating-rink mainstay. If fact, the latter doubles as the backdrop for the song?s video, with skaters undulating to its mellow groove and Evans? hot-buttered vocals. An arresting portent of the R&B and hip-hop fusion that was about to take over Top 40, Evans? Grammy-nominated smash undoubtedly celebrates the singer?s romance with late husband and rap icon Notorious B.I.G., who died the year before its release. -- G.M.

This is a classic

[Lazarus]

Great year for music

[Lazarus]

63. Whitney Houston & Mariah Carey, "When You Believe" (No. 15, Hot 100)

What do you get when the two biggest powerhouse divas of the ?90s combine forces for a major motion picture soundtrack? Apparently a fairly traditional, saccharine power ballad. No shade, though: Whitney and Mimi sound excellent trading verses, and their harmonies are unclockable. The song only managed to peak at No. 15 on the Hot 100, but the pair got the last laugh: this Prince of Egypt cut took home the Academy Award for best original song. -- P.C.

[Young]

Great year for music