The 333 Best Pop Songs of the 2000s: #224

#224: "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)" (2002) - Erykah Badu (featuring Common)

Love story (that resembles my own, so perhaps I'm a bit biased to the song) that's perhaps an allegory of her love of hip-hop; read it however you want to, but Badu's vocals need no interpretation or inspection, as you can just slide on her smooth tones and her half-jazz, half-slang delivery around the '70s soul groove (with the post-Bitches Brew era keyboard tones), and later fall into the love story of Badu and guest-rapper (and one-time Badu romantic partner) Common, complete with an allusion to Streisand's "The Way We Were." Of course, if those sentiments seem too sweet and sickly, then you probably don't dig love songs in the first place, but you'll still tune in for some prime Baduizism.