I suppose the nostalgia hits differently for some rather than others. For me - and two years after my own graduation from HSU, the year symbolized the first time I felt like I had a little bit of money in my adult life and as a result, I did some grown-up things. Who agrees or disagrees with that statement is fair in his or her assessment; as several of my friends were getting married, starting families, entering peak partying days, or working our asses in the ground (remember 100% Grind? Try to forget it) that particular year rings different bells for different folks.
Exactly, what is '04 rich?
'04 rich refers to the crazy modifications we did to our cars as well as the high-end ones we scraped two nickels together to purchase during the early 2000s that now look gaudy and ridiculous, such as the Pimp My Ride era of throwing spinners on everything; TVs in the headrests playing NC-17 content; and of course, trunk wars of multiple 12" subwoofers sometimes beating harder than the music at house parties. Mannie Fresh said it best in Real Big:
Look at the spinners on the '04 Escalade, he's 04 rich.
You had to be there for it. #LifestylesOfThe04Rich pic.twitter.com/SwzdWe8rHV
— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) May 13, 2024
Why did I think about this beyond looking at my obviously bad choices such as investing in Texas rap CDs instead of the stock market or buying land in Friendship before the developers cashed out on my stomping grounds?
When lessons about gentrification finally began to make sense pic.twitter.com/cQo4E6d3sm
— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) May 13, 2024
There is a neighborhood in town I sometimes drive through to bypass the normal half-mile morning traffic line on Springhill Road that embodies my post: The house in mind has a Navigator, an Escalade, and a BMW M6 [E60 fans know about that V10, and if it wasn't for the homewrecking reputation for unreliability, I might be brave enough to try one. Rod bearings should not be a part of routine maintenance] in the driveway of the era. All rimmed up, ready to kill 'em cruising up and down Colonel Glenn on MLK weekend yet I periodically glance respectfully at the owner's presumably massive effort in keeping that fleet alive.
As I worked my ass into the ground and found the time to party in the interim at most LR bars and nightclubs, what was the endgame?
Was I still getting over a breakup that devastated me?
Was it from basically getting fired from my first real job after college? I did give a two-weeks' notice though the sentiments were the same.
Was it having a pair of come to Jesus moments of 1)I better learn how to save some money if I ever wanted to escape my childhood bedroom, and 2)being awakened to be told of my next venture from God versus mere survival?
Even, was it trying to chase a hoop dream via recreation leagues and Sundays at the park that should have been silenced a decade prior in junior high?
Nostalgia makes 2004 seem like a carefree period that in truth was everything but as proven by the Bush tax cuts from the prior year expiring to an unexpected bill Uncle Sam had his outstretched hand out for, the slow return to normalcy for some following September 11 and the tech bust, and the early stages of R&B music's demise. For the dope albums Lyfe Jennings, Kanye West, and Usher dropped [my 2K4 albums of the year] and movies that get more airplay than they should like Hustle & Flow and Soul Plane, my so-called 100% Grind mode caused me to miss much of the year - and for that matter, my twenties - working every day and night trying to make two nickels rub into something tangible beyond a red Hyundai Santa Fe and its 60 monthly payments at an interest rate I would almost love to have today.
In effect, love me when I'm gone like Three Doors Down before the band was overplayed on rock and pop stations everywhere.
So, here's an Incredible Hulk toast to the illegal club in Rixey, the blazer and jeans combo with or without a striped Polo button down that needed cufflinks as a default party uniform, the orange cooler full of PBR bottles that traveled so well across the state from Jonesboro to Rogers, Arkadelphia to Dumas, and all points in between, traversing the mud bottoms of Faulkner Lake Road for Edgefest '04, childhood friends lost and somehow reacquainted with, and some other stuff I probably forgot. 2004 wasn't just a swimming pool full of fun memories as I was still trying to figure out how to adult properly yet it was not quite the dumpster fire a soliloquy might unintentionally infer.
At least it was unofficially the last year of life before social media forever skewed our perceptions of each other and the world at large.
2004: What a time to be alive!
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