Lil Wayne's solo career pre-Carter seems barely mentioned anymore. Considering he had two gold and one platinum album before Carter 1.
Jay-Z immediately blew up huge when Reasonable Doubt came out. That wouldn't come til Money and a Thang/Hard Knock Life era.
How big Trackmasters, Timbaland, Just Blaze, Lil Jon, & Lex Luger were as producers.
The success of Young Money as a label. Some labels co-signed by a rapper can barely establish one act. Love them or hate them, Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Tyga are successful artists. They got so big its easy to forget Young Money is where they got started. Even Lil Twist briefly had some shine.
I thought Akon didnt start making music til Locked Up in 03/04. Was shuffling through my Apple Music the other day he was on the end of Fugees Fu-Gee-La Remix from 96.
T.I. had a song over the Jeezy Go Crazy beat on the Down With The King mixtape a year before TM101. Also, Jeezy had a solo version of the song without Jay.
Chamillionaire was called Chamillion when he first came out. I thought I made this up, but recently saw proof.
