Towards the very end of high school, my friends and I were really into Hip Hop and R&B – which is a complete shift from the alternative and grunge stuff we listened to just a couple of years earlier.

The way our class schedules were set up, we had 8 classes a year, half in the first semester and the rest in the second – so 4 for each half-year. We’d have 2 classes before lunch and 2 after. In Ontario, where I lived during those years, we had 5 years instead of 4. (Up to grade 12 was mandatory but grade 13 (or OAC, as it was called) was for “university prep”.) Starting in grade 12, you could potentially have a “spare” instead of a class to attend. (I guess it’s basically the same as the American “study hall”.) Either you had no need of the full 8 credits for the year, having completed them ahead of time, maybe in summer school, or you weren’t planning to go onto post-secondary education and didn’t need that many, or you were stupid and lazy like me and decided not to take them, even though I needed those credits…

Anyway, my very last semester of high school, I worked my schedule so that I had a spare before AND after lunch so I basically had 3 hours to “study” (which I definitely did not do). I would convince my slightly harder-working friends to ditch whatever classes or study plans they had to go to the mall, or Tim Horton’s for a really long lunch, or just drive around and do nothing with me.

Even though it was a horrific waste of valuable time for school stuff, some of my best memories are of “cruising” down the road, windows down, in a car full of girls, blasting our favourite songs of the moment.

a Playlist by kmah88~

Vol. 1

1. Destiny’s Child – No No No Part 2 (feat. Wyclef Jean)
2. 112 – Anywhere
3. Rascalz – Northern Touch (feat. Kardinal Offishall, Chocolair, Thrust, Checkmate)
4. Ginuwine – What’s So Different
5. 2 Rude – Thinkin’ About You (feat. Latoya & Miranda)
6. Montel Jordan – Let’s Ride
7. R. Kelly – Down Low
8. 112 – Only You (Clean Radio Mix feat. The Notorious B.I.G.)
9.  Noreaga – Mathematics (Esta Loca)
10. Big Moe – Hip Hop Queen
11. R. Kelly – You Remind Me of Something
12. Master P.- Make Em Say Uhh
13. Sporty Thievz – No Pigeons
14. Ginuwine – Pony
15. Noreaga – Superthug
16. Sillk the Shocker – Somebody Like Me (feat. Mýa)
17. Tyrese – Sweet Lady
18. Krayzie Bone – Thug Mentality

Vol. 2

1. SWV – Can We (feat. Missy Elliott)
2. Next – Too Close
3. BLACKstreet – No Diggity (feat. Dr. Dre & Queen Pen)
4. KP & Envi – Swing My Way
5. Total – What About Us (feat. Missy Elliott)
6. Jay-Z – (Always Be My) Sunshine
7. Tamia – So Into You
8. Ma$e – Tell Me What You Want (feat. Total)
9. Timbaland & McGoo – Luv 2 Luv U
10. Janet Jackson – I Get Lonely (Remix feat. BLACKstreet)
11. Ginuwine – Same Ol’ G
12. Xscape – My Little Secret
13. Jay-Z – Can I Get A… (feat. Lil’ Kim)
14. Pras – Ghetto Superstar (feat. Old Dirty Bastard & Mýa)
15. Silk-E Fyne – Romeo and Juliet (feat. Chill)
16. Total – Sittin’ at Home
17. Usher – U Make Me Wanna

Vol. 3

1. 2Pac – Changes
2. Masters of Da Game – I Want U Back
3. TWDY – Playa’s Holiday
4. 702 – Where My Girls At?
5. Blaque – 808
6. Missy Elliott – All N My Grill
7. Ja Rule – Holla Holla
8. 112 – Love You Like I Did
9. Naughty by Nature – Jamboree (feat. Zhané)
10. TLC – No Scrubs
11. TQ – Westside
12. Monica – The First Night
13. OutKast – Rosa Parks
14. BLACKstreet – Boyfriend/Girlfriend (feat. Janet Jackson)
15. Naughty by Nature – Holiday (feat. Phiness)
16. Usher – Nice and Slow
17. Def Squad (Erick Sermon, Keith Murrary & Redman) – Rapper’s Delight

Vol. 4

1. TLC – Unpretty
2. Usher – My Way
3. Tamia – Imagination
4. Beenie Man – Who Am I?
5. Mýa – Take Me There (feat. BLACKstreet, Ma$e & Blinky Blink)
6. Big Pun – Still Not a Player (feat. Joe)
7. Brandy & Monica – The Boy Is Mine
8. Busta Rhymes – What’s It Gonna Be (feat. Janet Jackson)
9. Mýa – Moving On (feat. Silkk the Shocker)
10. Monica – Angel of Mine
11. DMX – Ruff Rider’s Anthem
12. Tatyana Ali – Daydreamin’
13. Cam’Ron – Horse and Carriage (feat. Ma$e)
14. Brandy – Top of the World (feat. Ma$e)
15. Missy Elliott – Hit ‘Em wit da Hee
16. TLC – Silly Ho
17. OutKast – Skew It on the Barbie