2000s Hip Hop Trivia
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This 2000s hip hop trivia quiz has 97 free questions with answers and covers rap from 2000 to 2009, the decade the genre took over the pop charts. You will get questions on Eminem's Grammy and Oscar wins, 50 Cent's arrival, Jay-Z's fake retirement and his feud with Nas, Kanye West's rise from producer to Album of the Year contender, OutKast's double album, and Lil Wayne's million-copy week. It also digs into the sounds and scenes of the era: crunk, snap, hyphy, ringtone rap, the Neptunes and Timbaland, Auto-Tune, MySpace and 106 & Park. It is built for anyone who grew up with these songs on the radio, at parties, or on a burned CD, and it works for a music-night round or a solo test of memory. The questions ask about who made what, when it came out, what it sampled, what it sold, and what it won. There are no lyric questions. Every answer was checked against a reference page before publishing, so the facts about chart peaks, release dates, producers and awards hold up.
30 of 97 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which 2002 film produced the first hip hop song to win the Oscar for Best Original Song?
8 Mile
8 Mile's 'Lose Yourself' won Best Original Song at the March 2003 Oscars; Eminem assumed he would lose and was asleep at home, so co-producer Luis Resto accepted the statue for him.
Q 02How many times was 50 Cent shot on May 24, 2000, an incident that became central to his legend?
Nine
Nine shots hit 50 Cent at close range outside his grandmother's old house; Columbia Records then dropped him without releasing his album, and he rebuilt his name on mixtapes.
Q 03On what date was Jay-Z's album The Blueprint released?
September 11, 2001
September 11, 2001: The Blueprint came out on the morning of the attacks and debuted at number one anyway, with Kanye West and Just Blaze producing most of its tracks.
Q 04Eminem's guest verse, the only feature on Jay-Z's The Blueprint, came on which track?
Renegade
'Renegade', which Eminem also produced, carries the album's only credited guest verse; Nas's 'Ether' later mocked Jay-Z for being outshone by Eminem on his own track.
Q 05Which Nas album contained 'Ether', his 2001 answer to Jay-Z's 'Takeover'?
Stillmatic
'Ether' appeared on Stillmatic, released in December 2001; the title promised a return to the form of his 1994 debut Illmatic after Nastradamus had disappointed critics.
Q 06Kanye West's debut single, recorded with his jaw wired shut after a 2002 crash, samples which Chaka Khan song?
Through the Fire
'Through the Fire' is sped up to a chipmunk pitch on 'Through the Wire', which West recorded only two weeks after the crash; his title swaps the fire for the wires holding his jaw together.
Q 07Which OutKast release won the 2004 Album of the Year Grammy, only the second hip hop album to do so?
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is really two solo albums sold as one, Big Boi's and André 3000's; it won five years after Lauryn Hill's Miseducation became the first hip hop Album of the Year.
Q 08Which 2000 OutKast single was inspired partly by André 3000's relationship with Erykah Badu?
Ms. Jackson
'Ms. Jackson' is addressed to the mother of André 3000's ex, Erykah Badu; Badu later said her mother embraced it and bought a 'Ms. Jackson' licence plate, mug and headband.
Q 09Which Lil Wayne album sold over a million US copies in its first week?
Tha Carter III
Tha Carter III sold just over a million copies in a week despite repeated delays and a run of online leaks; it went on to win the Grammy for Best Rap Album.
Q 10Which Nelly number one of summer 2002 won the first Grammy for Best Male Rap Solo Performance?
Hot in Herre
Hot in Herre won in 2003, the first year the rap solo Grammy was split by gender; its groove and its 'bustin' loose' line come from Chuck Brown's go-go hit, which earned Brown a writing credit.
Q 11In the 'Dilemma' video (2002), Kelly Rowland tries to text Nelly using what kind of app on her Nokia?
A spreadsheet
She types her message into a spreadsheet on a Nokia 9210 Communicator; years later the scene became a running internet joke about Kelly Rowland texting in Microsoft Excel.
Q 12Which West Coast rapper scored his first Hot 100 number one in 2004 with a Pharrell collaboration built on tongue clicks?
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg had been a star for over a decade without a chart-topper until 'Drop It Like It's Hot' spent three weeks at number one; Billboard later named it the most popular rap song of the 2000s.
Q 13Which label's compilation took Dr. Dre's planned album title, Chronic 2000?
Death Row
Q 21Rick Ross took his stage name from which real person, unconnected to him?
A Los Angeles drug kingpin
He borrowed the name of 'Freeway' Rick Ross, the Los Angeles drug kingpin of the 1980s crack era, who later sued the rapper unsuccessfully over its use.
Q 22Who were the duo behind Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy', the first UK No. 1 on downloads alone?
CeeLo Green and Danger Mouse
CeeLo Green and Danger Mouse spent nine weeks at UK number one with 'Crazy' in 2006, then deleted the single so listeners would not tire of it; it was the year's best seller anyway.
Q 23Which producer handled the tracks on Common's 2005 album Be that Kanye West didn't?
J Dilla
Death Row Records, which Dre had left in 1996, put out a compilation called Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000 in May 1999, so his own sequel to The Chronic arrived that November as 2001.
Q 14Chamillionaire's 'Ridin'' (2006) won a Grammy and inspired which 'Weird Al' Yankovic parody?
White & Nerdy
'White & Nerdy' became 'Weird Al' Yankovic's first top-ten hit, and after 'Ridin'' won its Grammy, Chamillionaire thanked him on the red carpet, saying the parody had helped make his song undeniable.
Q 15Which 2003 Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz single with the Ying Yang Twins peaked at number two?
Get Low
'Get Low' was a slow burn: it sat on the 2002 album Kings of Crunk for months before its run to number two lifted that album to its chart peak nearly a year after release.
Q 16Which snap single took Atlanta's D4L to number one in January 2006?
Laffy Taffy
Laffy Taffy reached number one largely on download sales, and it sold several times more ringtones than downloads; D4L, short for Down for Life, were Fabo, Mook-B, Stoney and Shawty Lo.
Q 17Soulja Boy produced his 2007 number one 'Crank That' on which music software?
FL Studio
FL Studio, the program once called Fruity Loops: Soulja Boy built the beat himself, and after he pushed the song on SoundClick and MySpace it spent seven weeks at number one.
Q 18The 'T' in T-Pain's stage name stands for which city, where he grew up?
Tallahassee
Tallahassee: the name is short for Tallahassee Pain, his nod to the hardships of growing up in Florida's capital; Akon signed him after hearing his remake of 'Locked Up'.
Q 19Which vocal effect did Jay-Z declare dead in a 2009 single, after hearing it in a Wendy's ad?
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune: Jay-Z said the Wendy's commercial showed that a trend had become a gimmick, so he wrote 'D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)' and stripped the effect from his album The Blueprint 3.
Q 20Drake released his breakthrough mixtape So Far Gone in February 2009 under which label of his own?
October's Very Own
October's Very Own was the banner on So Far Gone, which Drake put out himself on February 13, 2009, with no major label; its song 'Best I Ever Had' still climbed to number two on the Hot 100.
J Dilla made 'Love Is...' and 'It's Your World' for Be; Kanye West produced everything else, but Common kept two beats from the producer who had shaped much of his Like Water for Chocolate.
Q 24Lupe Fiasco's 2006 debut single 'Kick, Push' told a love story set in which subculture?
Skateboarding
'Kick, Push' is a love story set in skateboarding: a young skater meets a girl with her own board and they ride the city together; it earned two Grammy nominations.
Q 25The Game's 2005 debut, executive produced by Dr. Dre and 50 Cent, carried what title?
The Documentary
The Documentary came out in January 2005 and debuted at number one, but the alliance behind it lasted about six weeks: 50 Cent went on New York radio to announce The Game was out of G-Unit.
Q 26Which rapper's first five albums, from It's Dark and Hell Is Hot to Grand Champ, all debuted at number one?
DMX
DMX was the first artist to open at number one with each of his first five albums; he started the run by releasing two of them in a single year, 1998.
Q 27Federal agents raided which record label in 2003 over alleged money laundering for Kenneth 'Supreme' McGriff?
Murder Inc.
Murder Inc., home of Ja Rule and Ashanti, was raided in January 2003 and later renamed The Inc.; founders Irv and Chris Gotti were acquitted of money-laundering charges in December 2005.
Q 28Which Harlem collective did childhood friends Cam'ron and Jim Jones form in 1997, later adding Juelz Santana?
The Diplomats
The Diplomats, better known as Dipset, rode in on Cam'ron's deal: when he signed to Roc-A-Fella in 2001 he brought the crew along, and their debut album Diplomatic Immunity followed in 2003.
Q 29Cam'ron's 2002 hits 'Oh Boy' and 'Hey Ma' came from which album, released on Roc-A-Fella?
Come Home with Me
Come Home with Me was mostly recorded while Cam'ron was still at Epic; he took it with him to Roc-A-Fella, where it became his biggest seller, led by Just Blaze's Rose Royce-sampling 'Oh Boy'.
Q 30Which 2006 Nas album, his first for Def Jam, includes 'Black Republican', a duet with his former rival Jay-Z?
Hip Hop Is Dead
Hip Hop Is Dead drew fire for its title: Southern rappers took it as aimed at them, and Ludacris performed at the BET Hip-Hop Awards in a T-shirt reading 'Hip-Hop Ain't Dead, It Lives in the South'.