The Best of 2000
Depending on your point of view, the first year of the new millennium is either behind us or just under way. Either way, 2000 was another big year for hip-hop. Eminem hit the million mark that Jay-Z had set out to break at the beginning of the year with an album that dropped just a few days before the end of 1999. Jigga's Vol. 3...Life and Times of S. Carter came up half a million short with 462,000 copies sold, but Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP shot well past the mark with 1.7 million sales in its first week, not only setting the standard for hip-hop artists, but also for solo artists in general. That album spent eight weeks at No. 1, while the consensus pick for newcomer of the year, Nelly, delivered an album that debuted at No. 3 but eventually made it to No. 1 and stuck for five weeks. Jay-Z made his presence felt later in the year as well, dropping an album on the same day as Outkast for the second time in three years. Both Jigga and Outkast received four nods each from The 411 Online's writers as the best album of the year. Because each member of our staff has different tastes, it's impossible to pick one choice and have it truly represent the entire staff, so instead The 411 Online brings you each staff member's picks in 15 different categories for "The Best of 2000."

Best album
Best single
Best unreleased track
Best producer
Best sample
Best lyricist
Best lyric
Best soundtrack
Most underrated album
Best video
Best album cover
Best new artist
Best collaboration
Best hip-hop/R&B collaboration
Best live performance