As 1999 ticked away and Christmas approached, what featured on the Christmas list of a twelve-year-old suburban white girl?

Willenium by Will Smith. Oh yeah. After enthusiastically belting out “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit’ It” every time it came on the radio (no, I didn’t know what it meant, and yes, I’m sure it was hilarious to watch/hear) and grooving to “Men In Black” during the credits of the movie, I was ready to party like it was 1999 – oh wait, it was! As such, I think I am the only person I know who remembers that there were songs other than “Willenium” and “Wild Wild West” on the album, if not the only one who remembers the album at all. I know because I transferred some of them to my mix tapes.

Oh yes, mix tapes. I still have them too. When I’m in the mood for a laugh I pop one in and hear one of my favorite songs of the time – “I’m Comin'” which Amazon.com tells me was track 1 on the CD. “I’m comin’, I’m comin’. You can’t stop me, you can’t stop me. I’m comin’. I’m comin’. You can’t hold me back.” Pure poetry that is.

Just picture it – a Bambi-eyed seventh-grader head banging (or trying) to those lyrics in a room under the watchful eyes of my Barbie collection. Cleverly making her fingers into a W at middle school dances when “Wild Wild West” was played. Reveling in her rebellion because Will Smith “sang rap songs” – as I informed my mother one day. Well, come Christmas I did indeed get what I’d wanted, just in time for the Millenium – oh excuse me, Willenium. At the time I was thrilled. Now I just wonder – What was I thinking?