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Ah, 1999, we hardly knew ye: we were so caught up in preparing for the looming millennial ball drop that we dropped the ball on savoring the waning days of a thousand-year stretch that began with the founding of Norway and ended, as usual, with Dick Clark holding court in Times Square, as I'm pretty sure he'd done every year since around the time of the Norman Conquest. (The big difference at 1999's New Year's Eve parties was that people seemed to be listening to a lot more Prince, for whatever reason.)

Blame the Y2K bug for our inattention. But at least we danced. Oh, how we danced. Basement Jaxx, Underworld, the Chemical Brothers, Moby and other relics of the rave era were enjoying proper pop credibility. Dr. Dre was "Still D.R.E.," while Britney was, well, still Britney, but without the "b*tch." Le Tigre proved that riot grrrls were down with the disco. And the underground was teeming with activity, from U.K. garage to minimal techno. Relive it all with our five-hour playlist of the best dance tracks that 1999 had to offer. Don't you deserve a break from the "oughts"? Thought so. Check a sampling below, and get the whole thing here at Playlist Central.

Today, Saturday, August 29, Michael Jackson would've been 51 years old. Obviously this is a very bittersweet occasion. As news unfolded that Jackon's death was ruled a homicide, and with the obvious loss that we all felt with his passing, it's tempting to get bogged down in sadness. But, we'd like to take this opportunity to celebrate his life and his music.

Below, you'll find a sample of some of his best songs, and you can listen to a full playlist right here. And, of course, you can always sign up for your free Rhapsody trial membership to get the full experience: dozens of playlists, radio stations, blog posts and, of course, all of his best work in high-quality audio. So kick back, throw Thriller on repeat and celebrate one of the best who ever did it.

The sound of L.A. group Sa-Ra Creative Partners is hard to pin down. Their brand of psych urban music straddles the line between funk, soul and hip-hop. It references Funkadelic, Prince, Sly & the Family Stone and J Dilla, but ultimately the music manages to sound like nothing you've ever heard. It's jerky electro, ethereal hip-hop and secular gospel. It's beautiful music that is, at times, difficult to listen to. Consisting of (from left, in photo at left) Om'Mas Keith, Taz Arnold, and Shafiq Husayn, the group became darlings of the underground in 2005 with a series of 12-inches and remixes. They released their debut album, The Hollywood Recordings, in 2007, and followed up this year with Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love. In that time, an entire echo-system of psychedelic soul acts sprang up, but Sa-Ra remain at the forefront. Even if you haven't heard of the group, it's likely that your favorite artist has. The trio has worked with Erykah Badu, Kanye West, Dr. Dre and John Legend, among many others. In fact, Keith is currently serving as Diddy's musical director.

We recently caught up with Om'Mas Keith. By chance, we spoke with him on the afternoon of June 25, just when the news of Michael Jackson's death was reported. We discussed Jackson's influence on the group, as well as a wide range of subjects including Thelonious Monk's funeral, Keith's father, the group's future, and the influence of Sly and the Family Stone.

Xtina, Celine, Mariah and Elton are cool and all, but there's no beating them old school divas. Goddesses like Billie Holiday, Dusty Springfield and Gloria Gaynor utterly and totally epitomized concepts like grace and class. Plus, they all made some timeless music, from smoky, jazzy ballads to dancefloor anthems. For the perfect overview of history's greatest divas, dig into this killer playlist. May your beloved Rhapsody inspire you to party all night in a vintage sequined evening gown!

The world is still waiting for a definitive answer to the eternal question, "How old is old school?" But for the purposes of this playlist, let's say mid-'60s to mid-'80s, and let's include everything from gorgeous falsetto ballads to down-home Southern chitlin' circuit blues to wave-hands-in-the-air big-city disco to deadly deep-dish funk to even a couple movin'-on-up upper-middle-class strivers getting their grown-up suburbia on. At just 69 cents per song, how can you go wrong?

"Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas has now been the most popular song in the country for nine weeks and counting with no end in sight, making it the weirdest and most outlandish song to work up that kind of batting streak since ... what? "Hey Ya!" (nine weeks, 2003-2004)? "Macarena" (14 weeks, 1996)?? "Bette Davis Eyes" (nine weeks, 1981)??? Mighty impressive, either way, and what cannot be denied is that it is also the most shamelessly ridiculous and unabashedly catchy confection to hit the radio this year (only competition: "Poker Face"), and it's inescapable for primarily that reason.

So you know what? If you're not among the millions (if not billions) of human beings who've already surrendered to the song, you might as well. Otherwise, you'll certainly regret it 99 years from now (2108!), when you hear it on the intergalactic oldies station wired into the computer chip in your brain and it reminds you how life felt in the summer of 2009 the way no other song possibly could. And if that's not enough of a reason to embrace "Boom Boom Pow," here are 10 more.

Forget baseball, politics, apple pie or a vague disdain for the corporate aristocracy, the element that binds American society together in an increasingly atomized post-millennial milieu is the Summer Jam. Think Jay-Z, Rihanna, Outkast or Beyonce. Think the moon landing, except with more sex, better hooks and less Nixon. It's the alpha and omega of pop music -- bigger than big and blasting out of ever car stereo, club speaker, poolside radio and computer headphone. Who’s going to put the bump in your trunk this year? Here are our picks for the contenders.

Over the past two years, Flo Rida rose from obscurity and quickly established himself as one of hip-hop's most commercially viable artists. If you've been to a club in the past 16 months, you've probably danced to one of his songs. Mr. Rida has owned the digital music realm as well. "Low," his hit collaboration with T-Pain, sold upwards of 500,000 MP3s in a single week, more than any song in the history of pop music. Earlier this year, he broke his own record when "Right Round" was downloaded 636,000 times. His success is a testament to his talent. With an ever-pliable flow, the Florida emcee traverses his tracks' ever-shifting rhythms, while using his knack for melody to ensure a primal, immediate dancefloor decadence. It's both sinister and sexy, and it makes for irresistible pop music. In celebration of Rhapsody's premiere of his sophomore album, R.O.O.T.S., we're offering a one-stop Flo Rida guide. Listen to his new songs, check out a photo gallery featuring some of hip-hop's most muscular leading men, and read about his thoughts in an exclusive interview.

LISTEN: Hear Flo Rida's new album, R.O.O.T.S., exclusively on Rhapsody.

BROWSE: Check out our exclusive Q&A with Flo Rida. .

EXPLORE: Check out Rhapsody's Essential Florida Hip-Hop Albums.

ROCK THE RADIO: Hear Flo Rida and other anthems on our station of hits, In Da Club.

LOOK: Check out Flo and other hulking heartthrobs our Muscle Men of Hip Hop gallery.

LISTEN: Turn it up and play the definitive playlist of Top 100 Hip-Hop Club Tracks.

Rhapsody Reviews: Text about music -- remember that?

Leona Lewis
Spirit Deluxe
Leona Lewis's much-heralded, chart-topping debut gets the deluxe treatment all the kids are so crazy for these days. Three new tracks are included: Her aching cover of Snow Patrol's "Run" (which has already achieved the honor of being the U.K.'s fastest-selling digital release ever); the soulful "Forgive Me," which more than earns the British chanteuse the title of "the next Mariah Carey;" and a dancefloor-ready cut of her mega-hit "Bleeding Love."

Related: Leona Lewis picture gallery.

We asked some of our favorite musicians to tell us about some of their favorite artists, songs and moments from 2008. Here's what auto-tuned R&B sensation T-Pain had to say about the year in music.

Why Your Album Deserves To Be In Year End Best Lists
I really don’t know. A lot of good albums came out this year. You get me. Everybody hearing all the hits I’m making for everyone. The hooks that I’m doing and the concepts I’m coming up with. It’s an album of that.

Angela Bruno: So, here it is, Chris. It's time for the big dance. The senior prom of all blog posts! Except that I've blocked out almost all the details of all proms I've attended. Especially that year when I was everyone's back up date … . But these songs, no, I'll never forget em. Especially with the way you played these breakfast, lunch and afternoon-snacktime at the office. Ah, the memories …

Ne –Yo, "Closer"
AB: Not gonna lie. I pretty much despised Ne-Yo before this song. Then he started wearing really nice suits. And when this song came out – March? – it sounded like dancing-under-palm-trees. Which is just so me.

CR

Kanye West, "Love Lockdown"
AB: Favorite memory: rubbernecking to watch this LIVE on the Paramount lot at the VMAs. Only topped by watching Ellen's reaction to its video premiere on her show. Only matched by my reaction to it premiering on Ellen .

The Academy Is …, "About a Girl"
AB: That dude must be on the Rachel Zoe workout plan. Not only does he look like a chick with an eating disorder – but he is clearly embattled by inflated male ego/insecurity. That's right, bah humbug, I feel sooo bad for you.

John Legend, "Green Light"
AB: I thought I was so over Legend's lothario-hidden-under-the-guise-of-classy-cabaret-esque-piano-man shtick. 'Cause, when you break it down, this song is really only about the urgency of his … boner. Sorry, can I say boner here? But, like I said, nice suits. And Andre's on it. Best line: "I heard you when you told your girl when, oooh he can get it/admit it/ you did it."

Webbie, "Independent"
AB: According to this song, if I work hard, I'm a "bad broad." And according to this squad of romeo-geniuses, a "bad broad" -- by definition (if you don't know, now you know) -- "She cook, she clean, neva smell like onion rings." (Phew, got all three! Thought I'd never make the cut.) This is where you spell everything out …

Mariah, "Touch My Body"
AB: Oh Mariah, back on the crazy train. How you infuriated me this year. That "wedding" to Nick Cannon. That other wedding to Nick Cannon. The rumors about you two procreating. Please god no.The ill-explained allusion to physics. Oh yeah, and put some CLOTHES on. As me and my girlfriends have hypothesized, she probably got married in a mohair thong bikini. And you, Chris, force-feeding me gossip about her all year long. You fueled the flames!

T.I., "Live Your Life"
AB: Just the absolute JAM. Played on cue by you on all those ice-coffee-and-chair-dancing-fueled summer afternoons. Hold up, I'm getting misty eyed.

Katy Perry, "Hold N Cold"
AB: Katy Perry, I salute you. And I'll even forget "Kissed a Girl" while I'm at it too. Serious karaoke potential. But you wouldn't know anything about that …

Paramore, "That's What You Get"
AB: I love Paramore/Hayley. Loved 'em/her from the get. Don't know why, just do. Plus, you know it's a good song when all the women shoppers at H&M are singing along to it. That is a bond you can't break.

Young Jeezy, "Put On"
AB: Wasn't that into "Put On" … until I watched an a cappella troupe sing it. Total Street Cred Points Earned : -763!!! And while apparently it's not okay to smell like onion rings, it's apparently okay "her weave look like curly fries." Copy paste other lyrics about – fish sticks, tartar sauce, pockets full of celery, asparagus, they know he got that broccoli ….

Jim Jones, "Pop Champagne"
AB: Champagne gives me an immediate hangover. And Jim Jones makes me immediately projectile vomit. But for all his misogyny, megalomania, arrogance and douchebaggery, this song serves its party-purpose. Darn it.

Jesse McCartney, "Leavin'"
 AB: I credit the success of this song to ... you playing it incessantly, grown men singing along to it (aka all of my coworkers), my (literally) escapist tendencies, the paltry success rate of my romantic endeavors, his boyish good looks .... total summer jam.

Danity Kane, "Damaged"
 AB: I credit the success of this song to ... my playing it incessantly, grown women (aka all of my friends) singing along to it, my (literally) escapist tendencies, the paltry success rate of my romantic endeavors, their boyish good looks .... that breakdown at the end is simply delicious.

Usher, "Love in this Club"
AB: Maybe Jeezy is just hungry: "it's going down on aisle 3, I bag you like some grocercies." Plus, listening to any other songs on Usher's album is like moving mountains [cue the laugh track]. Real talk: I was beyond obsessed with this song – and could not for the months of march-may start my day without listening to this at least twice every morning.
CR: Jeezy also delved into produce metaphors on "Put On" (asparagus, broccoli, etc.)

Leona Lewis, "Bleeding Love"
AB: How could you not get swept away in the Leona Lewis zeitgeist that was the first half of '08? How could you not expect it to fizzle out soon thereafter?

Lil Wayne, "A Milli"
AB: So much has been said that there's not much left to say. I've had conversations I never thought I would have about Weezy with people I'd never thought I'd have them with. Total Street Cred Points Earned: 375! The only thing I regret about my year with Weezy is not getting wise to him post-Hot Boys, pre-T3. Total Street Cred Points Earned: -19.

Yung La, "Ain't I"
AB: I'm forfeiting this round. I can't pretend like I've actually heard this song before. Total Street Cred Points Earned: -27.

T-Pain, "I Can't Believe It"
 AB: I can't believe how nonplussed I am. Total Street Cred Points Earned: 444!

Jonas Brothers, "Burning Up"
 AB: Camilla who?
CR: U mad.
AB: Holler at me Joe Jonas, I'll make the pain go away – that was too much eyebrow for one relationship anyway. Plus, I went to Catholic school grades K-12. [Wink.]
CR: Christ on crutches, the boy wears promise rings.
AB: Oh, sorry, I got distracted. This song totally caught me by surprise – in a good way.

Taylor Swift, "Love Story"
AB: I give her props for calling out Joe Jonas [loyalty is not my best quality]. But the thing I love most about this is your completely unironic love for Taylor Swift. ALL you.

Chris Ryan: I am ... underwhelmed. Usually doubles are so conceptually robust that they demand the extra acreage; or they come at a time in an artist's career where the fever pitch of creativity demands a big canvas. This joint is about as long as Thriller and despite all the talking-points memos going around about B's beguiling "split personality," the two poles of Beyoncé seem to be "slow jams" and "club bangers."

Angela Bruno: I am ... going to ignore 85 percent of this album. Or, I'm gonna wind up saying something I'll regret. Like, oh, her artistic bipolarity only reminds me of that commercial for a product-which-shall-remain-nameless where a woman sees her totally-slummed-out-on-the-inside reflection in the mirror due to a lack of "freshness." Which, actually, is quite applicable here. (Forgive me Sasha, for I know not what I say!) I feel like I'm betraying a good friend, like LC and Audrina or vice versa (depending on whose side you're on). What happened to that brickhouse-ness that only B'Day can invoke?!?! Sigh. I may have to disagree with you on the acreage, though. B covers a whole lotta ground: Buzz Lightyear ("Single Ladies": "Here's a man that makes me then takes me/and delivers me to a destiny/ to infinity and beyond"), Dave Matthews ("Smash Into You," ummm "Crash Into Me"), Renée Zelweger (in Jerry McGuire, "Hello"), Pavarotti ("Ave Maria," WTF?), career criminal ("Diva": "this is a stick up, stick up"), you know. Shall we dissect (further)?

More than perhaps any other modern R&B performer, T-Pain understands that today’s artist is best viewed as a spectacle -- and that the spectacle is art. Witness his entrance to this year’s MTV Video Music Awards on elephants; or his Rhapsody pre-VMA party where the man born Faheem Rasheed Najm was flanked by mimes that looked like rejects from an Insane Clown Posse casting call. Even his singing voice is a novelty that borders on gimmick. The stringy robotic affections of auto-tune at once set the singer apart from the R&B flock, and also grant him a mechanic’s anonymity, giving the effect of a musical mask. It is singular and universal, and it also sounds pretty damn dope when you’re lost somewhere on the Sunset Strip at 3 a.m.

We caught up with the Tallahassee singer one late Saturday night in September as he was preparing to take the stage. As his wont, T-Pain was worried that the audience didn’t really want T-Pain since the opening DJ was rocking electronic beats. “If I had Daft Punk DJ in front of me, I’d feel a little less nervous right now,” he admitted, before adding, “Daft Punk holla at your boy T-Pain. If you did it with Kanye, you can do it with me.” In our brief but revealing conversation, he explained the concept for his new album, exclaimed his love for neo-soul and Roger Troutman, and spoke on upcoming projects such as T-Pain Is Dead and T-Wayne.

Michelle Williams' new album, Unexpected, actually came as a surprise to Williams herself. After two gospel albums, the Destiny's Child alum returned to the studio to work on her third solo effort, this time with a breakup on the brain. The resulting album was, "Alright," says Williams. After calling for backup – her mother – she scrapped it and went back to the studio. "My mom was like, 'You sound so bitter! Make music that people can dance to.' And that really helped me – like even if you are upset, still dance!" And dance, you will. Unexpected is, in a way, Williams' coming out party. With producers like Stargate and Rico Love manning the boards, she successfully sheds some of her good-girl image with a sound that's covered in sequins and sass, delivering a hybrid confection that's deceptively sweet ("Thank U") and naughtily nice ("Private Party"), a blend of R&B ("Hungover") and Euro-pop shimmy ("Lucky Girl"). Here, Williams speaks on her new attitude and more. 

[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]

Fans of any '60s icon share a similar gripe: the legacy of too many great artists is inextricably tied to too few of their songs in heavy rotation on oldies stations. These select tracks get played and played out, and eventually even the lifelong Beatles fan reaches for the dial during the third daily course of "Yellow Submarine." Today, I cued up the Four Tops after reading about the passing of the band's leader, Levi Stubbs, who died in his sleep in his Detroit home at the age of 72, and was reminded about how this predicament is particularly hard on the stable of artists from '60s Motown: The Jackson 5 is relegated to "I'll Be There"; Stevie Wonder, a Motown artist with as deep and wide-ranging catalog of any, is on three times an afternoon with "For Once in My Life." For the Four Tops, the heavy-rotation hits come between 1964's "Baby, I Need Your Loving" and their final Top 10 in 1973, "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)." Of the handful of stuff between these bookends, some, like The Big Chill-approved "It's the Same Old Song," represent Motown's streamlined mainstream operation. Others, like "Reach Out, I'll Be There," speak to the group's power in the studio. But it's the outlying, oddly successful hit "Bernadette," a tune that is among their most popular and their most enduring, that best demonstrates Stubbs' power as a performer. It's the rare example of a heavy-rotation hit that lives up to its responsibilities.