US #3 Hits (2002 and 2003)

Going with "Cry Me a River", just narrowly over "Milkshake". Also like "Hey Ma" but I consider "Oh Boy" (which just narrowly missed inclusion in this poll by peaking at #4) to be the superior single off the Cam'ron album

Saw Milkshake, thought 'landslide', but then the final three are pretty incredible.

I Know What You Want just for the opening bass riff

lumidee barely over usher

No Doubt it is, but clearly Milkshake will win this.

Lumidee. That No Doubt song is a horror.

haha i wouldn't go that far but i was bewildered at the time when alot of ppl who didn't get on board w/ no doubt til rock steady acted like this was the one of the best things they'd done

lumidee for me, too.

kinda crazy 'cry me a river' peaked at 3 though jt doesn't have nearly the presence at #1 that you might think

Mcgirt rolling in the Dirt

Jennifer Lopez featuring Jadakiss and Styles P – "Jenny from the Block" - I don't care if The L.O.X. do guest, fuck this song
No Doubt featuring Lady Saw – "Underneath It All" - ugh, did not like this hook or anything about it
Chad Kroeger featuring Josey Scott – "Hero" - die die die die die die die
Usher – "U Don't Have to Call" - Prefer the remix, but the orig is good too
Cam'ron featuring Juelz Santana, Freekey Zekey and Toya – "Hey Ma" - ahhhh dope tune I still bang it
Kelis – "Milkshake" - how can you hate on this one
Nelly featuring Kyjuan, Ali and Murphy Lee – "Air Force Ones" - meh
Busta Rhymes and Mariah Carey featuring Flipmode Squad – "I Know What You Want" - hmm, don't remember this one
Chingy featuring Ludacris and Snoop Dogg – "Holidae In" - never really into Chingy
Aaliyah – "Miss You" - don't remember this one much
50 Cent – "P.I.M.P." - I have come around (somewhat) to this one, but I hate the chorus
Justin Timberlake – "Cry Me a River" - dope tune w/ a great chorus
Lumidee – "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh!)" - good beat, song is decent overall

goin w/ Hey Ma

what's crazy is that something as forgotten as B2K's "Bump Bump Bump" was #1 the week "Cry Me A River" peaked. Justified really had a slow burn, though, it took that whole yearlong cycle of singles for the record to really get him the kind of acceptance that's a baseline for everything JT does now.

yeah this is peak ilm era imo and i was fairly damn popist thx to madonna and john leland and it still took me til 'senorita' to not be surprised i was liking a justin timberlake song this much. alex ross wrote that thing for the nyer that went deep on 'cry me a river' and sfj did that thing for slate that felt like a real antirockist breakthru of sorts at the time (even though it was couched in rockist terms and was basically 'yknow who's a genius - that timberland!') but it seems like he didn't completely shed the baggage until hosting snl. i'm not sure anyone has gotten as much out of hosting snl as him, maybe alec baldwin. it's not like steve martin or tom hanks wouldn't be who they are w/o it.

Lumidee just barely over Kelis. Cam'ron, Justin and Fiddy all aces too -- I loved hearing the steel drums on "P.I.M.P." drifting out of everywhere that summer.

Hey Ma

But not her, boobies' real, high heel dooby feel
Plus got them Gucci nails
You a cutie still
And this my down girl too - ain't no groupie deal
We left the movies with Uzis, Suzuki wheels
To the jacuzzi, I tell you, my boo be's real
I mean she do be winnin', Louis spinnin'
Go to the crib, she got the Gucci linen
I see boo be grinnin'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UijNO2jsnGg

Lumidee – "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh!)" - good beat, song is decent overall

Somebody should do a poll of the three hits from 2003 which all used the same Diwali clapping riddim:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcTARfiJvEs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvJi8INoyUw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBGUFzGnsII

(With Wayne Wonder being the best of the 3 imo)

Oooh, forgot about that Busta/Mariah song. Didn't know that's what it was called. Really liked that one when it came out.

The good old days.

In any case, the songs on Justified aren't really Timberlake's. A dozen names appear in the credits, and it's anyone's guess how much of a song like 'Cry Me a River,' the album's best track, actually came from Timberlake's pen, if he owns one.

yeah i love lumidee but that's wayne wonder forever for me (ilx was undecided - Riddim Poll Vol. 1: Diwali).

that 'no way justin timberlake really had much to do w/ this' was pretty consistent even w/ positive takes on justified (which at the time would've been radical enough), gradually that changed w/ jt's rep and he was given agency i guess as a musician but only as a result of his pr. i'm not sure this was progress tbh, caring about who the 'real artist' is was rockism 101 but auteurism in general is useless, esp w/ pop music, and my hope was that popism would provide an alternative to that. instead it just became rockism w/ some of the proper nouns changed, updated somewhat so less racism and misogyny (which isn't nothing) but also more deference to celebrity, money. it was the same dumb reflex though; lex is as corny an indie fuxxor in thought as any writer for magnet magazine fifteen years ago.

stopped scrolling at "hey ma" but everything from "u don't have to call" on down is basically my favorite song ever

I was surprised when Justified didn't debut at #1 and "Like I Love You" "only" peaked at #11, but was impressed by how quickly "Cry Me a River" and especially "Rock Your Body" became accepted as classics. "Rock Your Body" basically stayed on the air for the next two years (wish "Senorita" had been a bigger hit though).

"Rock Your Body" is my favorite of his singles in this era. Has the most overt MJ vibe.

still don't really like "cry me a river" at all & remain mildly surprised that it has been accepted as a classic, it's a pretty gross song

"rock your body" is good and i would have loved mj coming back w/ something like it instead of "you rock my world" 2 yrs prior (if mj had recorded it it also probably wouldn't have had jt's embarrassing beatboxing)

His voice isn't up to the job (I like Greil Marcus' dismissal of JT's "paint thinner" falsetto). "What Goes Around Comes Around" is a much better performance and production imo..

If MJ had recorded it, there would've been no wardrobe malfunction.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I can dig it