Remembering the Corny Hip-Hop Hits that Got Everyone Excited About New Technology

Music is a direct reflection of culture, and often times vice versa. Over the last 20 years, hip-hop has come to blaze the trail when it comes to cultural influence. While this can carry us down paths of cultural appropriation, we are now able to be graced by the likes of Kendrick Lamar on a Taylor Swift record and Justin Bieber on a DJ Khaled posse cut. What a time to be alive…Between that and the now infamous “SoundCloud rapper” archetype, the hip-hop scene is starting to get a bit too saturated with these sort of played out elements. Now, that’s not to say that the previous decade didn’t have its missteps—it did. But those were simpler times, and fans of the genre were happily basking in the campy glory that was baggy pants, spinning rims, and leaning and rocking with it. During the mid-late 2000s, a volcano of popular culture was on the brink of eruption. Phones were getting thinner, the internet was getting bigger, and our desire for connectivity and immediacy was growing more and more insatiable. Hip-hop’s biggest figureheads (and the more obscure as well) were embracing the new tech wave 100%. Let’s look back at the hits that played a crucial role in developing the millennial identity.

Paul Wall – “I Got The Internet Going Nuts” (2005)

           Paul comes “straight up outta that chat room and live from the message board" for this one. Before likes and retweets were being given out like candy on Halloween, you had to really earn your clout by actively participating in online dialogue. Paul was certainly no stranger to this, as it was all just an extension of his trunk-to-consumer hustle. There were no sponsored Instagram posts or SoundCloud links. However, the young rapper definitely wasn’t just using those spaces to promote his music...Before it went down in the DMs, it went down in the IMs, if you know what I mean. [Screen] name dropping some of H-Town’s finest shorties, the People’s Champ raps about his sexual pursuits online. This was at a time when the concept of a visual identity on the web had not fully come into play. Profile pictures were limited to MySpace, which hadn’t yet become popular, and you needed an external webcam in order to snap one. Spitting game through instant messaging was of primary importance when it came to picking of internet chicks. And with a girl like “SexyEyes22" on the other end, how could a guy like Paul not be enticed to give her a "taste of his hard drive?"

Da Muzicianz – “Camera Phone” (2006)

            The advent of the camera phone signaled the beginning of the viral media era. The camera phone has proved to be a revolutionary tool for both on-the-spot journalism and on-the-spot voyeurism. Perhaps no one celebrated the latter more aptly than Da Muzicianz in their hit single "Camera Phone." The music video, like most others from that day and age, features the Atlanta trio living it up in a parking lot with a large posse that includes some sexy video girls. It also includes some of the most cringe worthy lyrics of all time, such as “We in the club girl let’s get bent/ And after we have fun we can Sprint/ To my house if you wanna come over/ Let’s go and hop in my T-Mobile.” But one subtle prop says it all, and that is the camera-equipped flip phone. It’s rather strange to think about how a device so effortlessly incorporated into our everyday lives could be the focus of this song and video. If anything out of the ordinary goes down at the club these days, it’ll certainly be captured by at least a dozen high definition space phones and accompanied by chants of "WORLDSTAR!" 

C-Side – “MySpace Freak” (2007)

            I think it’s safe to say that even if you weren’t on MySpace, you remember it. While Facebook was still getting its sea legs, MySpace was THE site to be on at beginning of the social media boom. But it was more than that, as it influenced the music and culture at the time as well as laid the groundwork for social media culture as a whole. This track was seriously catchy thanks to superstar co-producer Jazzy Pha. Before the marimba had its heyday with the infamous iPhone ringtone, it was making its rounds in hip-hop. The playful and curious sound it makes on “MySpace Freak” definitely gives off a vibe of juvenile excitement about the opposite sex, which is exactly what the video portrays. The goofy, low quality production stars the rap trio hunched over a computer screen looking at girls’ pages. There’s also scenes of them, along with said girls, dancing over the screen graphics themselves with what is basically GIF-level resolution. This anthem signaled the beginning of a sexual revolution 2.0, if you will. Social media would go on to provide a space for young men and women to court each other with a discreteness not offered IRL. Because let’s be real, there’s a little MySpace freak in us all.

Teyana Taylor – “Google Me” (2008)

            If you don’t know who Teyana Taylor is, well she has millions of followers on her social media, so you might be living under a rock if you haven’t at least heard of her. If you didn’t know Teyana back in 2008 though, that’s ok…but all you had to do was Google her. The almighty Google search has become the definitive verifier of all general knowledge. It’s the oracle of modern society. It makes sense that “Google Me” was her first big single, as she had built up an impressive resume at that point. By age 16, she had choreographed Beyoncé’s “Ring the Alarm” music video, appeared in a Jay-Z video, and signed a record deal with Pharrell. But these types of feats weren’t exactly general pop cultural knowledge, so a Google search was needed to confirm Teyana’s stardom.

Lil’ Kim – “Download” ft. T-Pain and Charlie Wilson (2009)

            By 2009 we had elected our first black president, the iPhone had become a status symbol, and Lil’ Kim’s career was fading. Embroiled in a beef with the up and coming Nicki Minaj, things were not looking up for the former Queen of New York. Despite this, she managed to keep her cool and craft the rather under-appreciated slow jam “Download.” With the help of hip-hop superstar T-Pain, longtime R&B icon Charlie Wilson, a sample of the Zapp hit “Computer Love,” and some product placement for Acer, Apple, and Nuvo, Kim’s head stayed afloat above the erratic sea of relevance. But let’s not pretend that Kim didn’t still have it in her. The Queen Bee’s sex appeal is still as strong as it ever was, from her smoky voice to her smooth hip rolls. “Download” was sort of the spiritual sequel to “MySpace Freak,” complete with a similar cast of ogling men around a computer screen, and even an actual MySpace reference. At this point however, things were getting a little more personal. Intimate, visually supplemented communication could be achieved in the palm of one’s hand.