#R And B · IMissIt.com

Video thumbnail — 98º - Because Of You (Official Music Video)

Celebrities 1998–2001 peak

98 Degrees

The boy band that built itself—assembled independently by four guys chasing the dream in Los Angeles, without a Lou Pearlman or corporate svengali telling them who to be. They cracked the charts with 1997's "Invisible Man," then spent 1998–2000 as Motown Records' R&B-leaning answer to the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, delivering a handful of genuine hits including one number-one collaboration with Mariah Carey, then watched their moment fade when Nick Lachey married Jessica Simpson in 2002 and reality TV captured his afterlife.

Celebrities 1998–2005 peak

Destiny's Child

One of the best-selling girl groups of all time and the defining R&B girl group of the late 1990s and early 2000s, famous for the powerhouse lineup of Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. With hits like 'Say My Name,' 'Bills, Bills, Bills,' 'Independent Women,' 'Survivor,' and 'Bootylicious,' they defined an era of confident, sexually liberated pop music while launching Beyoncé toward her eventual superstardom.

Celebrities 1996–2002 peak

Dru Hill

Baltimore's harmony-stacked R&B quartet — Sisqó, Nokio, Jazz, and Woody — behind late-'90s slow jams like "In My Bed" and "Never Make a Promise." Named after the city's Druid Hill Park, they were one of the defining male R&B groups of the era, right up until Sisqó's platinum-blond "Thong Song" solo fame both lifted the group and splintered it.

Video thumbnail — Wyclef Jean, Canibus - Gone Till November (Official HD Video)

Music 1997–1998

Wyclef Jean — "Gone till November"

A drug runner's goodbye letter set to strings performed by the New York Philharmonic — the tenderness wrapped around an unsentimental story is the whole song. Released in late 1997 from The Carnival, it hit #7 on the Hot 100 and proved a solo Wyclef could carry a hit without the Fugees.

Celebrities 1990–2000 peak

Mariah Carey

The voice: a five-octave range and that signature whistle register that became the sound of 1990s radio dominance. Columbia executive Tommy Mottola heard her demo tape at a party in December 1988, signed her, and launched a decade-long reign that would see her become the first artist whose first five singles all reached number one, and close the 1990s with fourteen #1 hits and Billboard's Artist of the Decade award.

Video thumbnail — Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing) (Official HD Video)

Music 1998–1999

Lauryn Hill — The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill's solo debut album, a genre-blending masterpiece that merged hip-hop, neo-soul, and R&B into a landmark release. Released in August 1998, it featured the hit singles "Doo Wop (That Thing)" and "Ex-Factor," establishing Hill as a solo artist of remarkable range and depth.

Celebrities 2004–2010 peak

Ne-Yo

The guy who wrote some of the biggest R&B songs of the mid-2000s before his own voice became equally unavoidable. Ne-Yo went from invisible hitmaker to chart-dominating artist in one album cycle — and never stopped being both at once.

Music 1999–2000

Destiny's Child — Say My Name

The call-and-response hook that defined an era of R&B, and the most dramatic lineup announcement in pop memory — disguised as a music video premiere. 'Say My Name' introduced the world to Destiny's Child in their most iconic form — and to the concept that your favorite song's original singers might not be the ones who got famous for it.

Music 2005–2006

Ne-Yo — "So Sick"

The heartbreak ballad that made Ne-Yo a star, 'So Sick' hit number one the very week his debut album did. The premise is pure heartbreak: a guy can't escape love songs on the radio because every one reminds him of his ex.

Video thumbnail — Sisqo - Thong Song (Official Music Video)

Music 2000

Thong Song (Sisqó)

The platinum-blond Dru Hill frontman's solo signature — a 2000 smash so ubiquitous you couldn't escape it. 'She had dumps like a truck, truck, truck...' Sisqó turned a string section, a booming beat, and one very specific ode into the sound of that summer.

Video thumbnail — TLC - Waterfalls (Official HD Video)

Celebrities 1992–1999 peak

TLC

The best-selling American girl group since the Supremes. T-Boz, Left Eye, and Chilli fused hip-hop, R&B, and a playful safe-sex message into era-defining hits — "Waterfalls," "No Scrubs," "Creep" — in baggy streetwear that a generation copied.

Music 1997–1998

Next — "Too Close"

The greatest innuendo-hiding-in-plain-sight of 90s radio: a bouncy R&B smash unmistakably about dancing too close ("you're making it hard for me") that daytime radio played all year without blinking. It spent five weeks at #1 and finished as Billboard's #1 single of 1998.

Music 1997–1998

Usher — "You Make Me Wanna..."

The love-triangle confession that made 18-year-old Usher a star: seven straight weeks at #2 on the Hot 100, held off the top the whole time by Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997." The video — five Ushers dancing in perfect sync inside a white-and-purple circular room — became his visual signature.