family were simply on top of the world, a commercial peak that wouldn’t last too long beyond 2002 - thanks in part to a feud with another ascendant New York star, whose own mainstream rise begin in earnest that year - but which defined the period as much as anyone. And Ja Rule, Ashanti and the whole Murder, Inc. The Neptunes, already riding a long winning streak of total pop ubiquity, had their biggest run ever, with both the biggest top 40 crossover hit and most acclaimed street banger of the summer to their credit.
Missy Elliott and Timbaland had some of their biggest hits yet going back to the future, both via their own teamups and through work with other kindred hip-hop and R&B spirits. Eminem pushed his superstardom into multi-platform territory, officially becoming music’s biggest household mononym since MTV’s early years. Meanwhile, old rock and country icons found new vitality reinventing themselves for the 21st century - a couple from beyond the grave, even.īut the biggest music story of 2002 was of rap cementing its status as the most essential genre of the decade. Emo grew into a truly mainstream concern, while the supposed New Rock Revolution (much hyped the previous year) also finally exploded on radio and video stateside, and the clubbier side of the New York underground merged the indie and dance worlds in ways that would have long-lasting reverberations. The teen-pop explosion of the late-’90s was officially over, with its original stars matured and the mainstream’s hottest new up-and-comers sounding more at home soundtracking malls and minivans than TRL. The popular music of the ’00s found its center in 2002.
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