What Happened to… 2000?

Today we’re taking it back to the year 2000 and walking you through some of our favorite things. To get you in the mindset of the times here are a few things to remember about the year:

• In 2000, the average price for a gallon of gas was $1.26.
• At six, Elián González was the big news  – that is until the presidential election debacle.

  

• Willow Smith was born.
• Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected to the United States Senate, becoming the first First Lady of the United States to win public office.
• Los Angeles Lakers won their first NBA title in twelve years.
• Love & Basketball, Next Friday, Where the Heart Is, Chicken Run, Scary Movie, Coyote Ugly, Castaway, Miss Congeniality, and Rugrats in Paris: the Movie were all released in 2000.

 

WHAT WE WERE DOING

Ace: I was a 6th then 7th grader at School of the Arts. I’ll get straight to the point and let you know I attended predominantly, if not all, black schools until 1999. So in 2000, I was learning what it meant to have a tan, and about religions I had no idea existed. When I wasn’t doing that, I was begging my mom to get Internet. I needed AOL Instant Messenger to chat with all my cool, new friends. We got Internet 2 years later, but in the meantime I was scanning and editing pictures from the hundreds of disposable cameras I owned.

Donni:  I was spooked at the end of ’99 with all of the Y2K doom theories, but 2000 rolled in without a glitch. In 2000, I was a fifth grader attending a small private Christian school, still rolling up my plaid skirts so they were shorter. Although I had started dance classes two years prior, (eight is very late start) I was still secretly dreaming I was Michelle Kwan and would pretend to figure skate on my mom’s shiny slippery kitchen floors. I also carried a notebook around with me a lot à la Harriet the Spy. Let’s be clear though, I didn’t spy on people. I used to write stories – or song lyrics. Spoiler alert: I’m a terrible singer. But in 2000, I still thought I had a chance to make it. How else would I go on tour with the Backstreet Boys. I was also writing a lot of Days of Our Lives fanfiction. I know. I know. Don’t judge me. Days of Our Lives had a huge teen storyline at the time and I was obsessed thinking that was what high school would be like. Philip and Chloe (Phloe) 4eva!!!

What We Wore

Ace: I told y’all in School Daze I dressed like a grown man until age 14. Crochet braids (red crochet braids at that), FUBU, Southpole, Nautica– I was ready to hop in a No Limit video at any moment. My mom also had this thing with airbrushed shirts. We had one for every occasion, featuring our favorite cartoon characters. Super surprised I didn’t have my Candies “platform” shoes airbrushed too.

Donni: When I wasn’t in uniform, I was in Limited Too gear — butterfly clips, glittery shirts, etc and Sketchers. Matching capri sets. Also I had tights that matched everything. I had a lot of platform Sketchers sneakers. Ay, yi yi. P.S. Limited Too is coming back in 2016.

what we listened to

Donni: I was definitely a TRL kid in 2000.

So I listened to a lot of Britney, BSB, Destiny’s Child, Christina, and yes N SYNC – oh hello curly-haired Justin Timberlake. The Marshall Mathers LP was huge that year – and I had to sneak to listen to it. Nelly’s Country Grammer was one of my favorites. I also knew all the words to Who Let the Dogs Out and Lee Ann Womack’s I Hope You Dance – which became an instant recital classic. Maria, Maria was also my jam! LeAnn Rimes was another favorite of mine. It probably helped that her song “I Need You” was featured on Days of Our Lives as Phloe’s song. I was also a closet R&B fan. None of the girls at school knew these songs, but Jagged Edge’s “Let’s Get Married”, Erykah Badu, Mya, Avant and Donell Jones was also on my rotation. However, my favorite album of 2000 had to be Black and Blue by my beloved BSB. Fun fact the music video for “Shape of My Heart” broke their own record for longest running number-one song. Take that N’SYNC fans!!

Ace: The Christmas of 1999, I got CDs by Celine Dion, Hot Boyz and Charlotte Church. I was really taking it over for the ’99 and the 2000. But on my 12th birthday, I went to K-Mart (LOL, K-Mart) and bought Mariah Carey’s Rainbow CD. FYI: Mariah was the bae of all baes. I was so obsessed. She was there when the Spice Girls started to slowly fade out of my life. Eventually, you’ll hear about my MC birthday cake in “What Happened to…2001?” You couldn’t tell me, or my friends, she wasn’t singing my name in “Heartbreaker”.

“Heartbreaker, you got the best of me, but I just keep on coming back Acecily….”

Turns out she was saying “incessantly“. I was sad, but I did learn a new word. These were the good ol’ “Making the Video” days when my sisters and cousins would record videos and learn the dance moves or choreograph our own.

We want to hear what you were up to in the year 2000! Comment below or tweet us @PalmsInATL!

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