These Y2K Photos Capture Black British Joy In The 2000s

I was obsessed with the Black female artists that dominated the genre, Ms Dynamite (Boo! — if you know, you know), So Solid Crew’s Lisa Maffia, soul singers like Kele Le Roc and Shola Ama, and, before Alesha Dixon became an uber-polished reality TV show judge, we knew her as a singer and garage MC with the girl band Mis-Teeq. They wore their hair in slick-backed hair buns (using tubs of JAM! hard gel), with a long, GHD straightened side fringe. They predominantly wore streetwear or velour tracksuits, low-rise jeans and mini skirts, bandanas, bandeau crop tops, gold earrings and sovereign rings and helped define a whole generation of youth style.  What. A. Time.