Most of this site views 2002 as a fully early 2000s year and 2004 as a fully core 2000s year, and place 2003 in the middle as a transition year, but do you guys think that 2003 is a little bit more like 2002 or a little bit more like 2004?

2003 is only similar to itself!

Now this one is though. The later half of 2003 was more similar to the early half of 2004, but the earlier half was more similar to the later half of 2002. If had to choose I'd go with 2004.

2004. Both 2003 and 2004 were core 2000's, whereas 2002 was still quintessential early 2000's.

2002. 2003 was early 2000’s thick and thin. Cheaper by the Dozen came out in December 2003 and I would never call that a “mid 2000’s movie”. 2003 also felt early 2000’s from start to finish imo. 2004 was more transitional.

b44tHAFX8JQ

n_imnKMRwQw

The 2003 school year felt very early 2000s to me. 2003/2004 school year was part of the mid 2000s

I think 2003 was more similar to 2004 in that it was already a mid 2000s year on the whole. 2002 always felt much more early 2000s to me and you started to see more modern stuff (for the time) pop up in '03.

If I talk about music in 2003. (specifically hip hop oriented)

Crunk (which is often looked at as an early 2000s subgenre of southern hip hop and started gaining popularity in 2001 before starting to fall off in 2004 and disappearing in 2005) peaked in 2003.

"In Da Club" by 50 Cent released in the first week of 2003, which set the catalyst for his popularity in the mid 2000s, though the song itself sounds more early 2000s than mid.

"Hey Ya" by OutKast has a very early 2000s vibe.

2003 is very much a middle year between the early 2000s vibe of 2002 and the mid 2000s vibe of 2004, but overall I'd say it's more similar to 2002.

It shares elements of both:

- George W. Bush/War on Terror
- Dial-up, CD players, and VCRs still widely used
- Microsoft XP
- Hip Hop popular
- Shows like Boston Public and The West Wing
- Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies

I remember back in the day on this website people got mad at me for saying the mid 2000s started in 2003 but honestly a song like "Where is the Love" by BEP would sound out of place in 2002. Also in terms of kids culture, a new era of Disney has already started in 2003 when shows like Lizzie McGuire and Even Stevens were ending. There was just something that felt pretty new about 2003 in comparison to 2002. But it's not as if all early 2000s trends were gone in '03 either.

Probably 2002, 2004 felt more like a transitional year.

I remember back in the day on this website people got mad at me for saying the mid 2000s started in 2003 but honestly a song like "Where is the Love" by BEP would sound out of place in 2002. Also in terms of kids culture, a new era of Disney has already started in 2003 when shows like Lizzie McGuire and Even Stevens were ending. There was just something that felt pretty new about 2003 in comparison to 2002. But it's not as if all early 2000s trends were gone in '03 either.


I see what you mean. 2003 had a lot of early 2000’s influence that still lingered from 2002. While also the start of mid 2000’s. For disney channel, I know a few people brought up Cheetah Girls from 2003 and how it is heavily early 2000’s, the second movie captures the mid 2000’s more.

As for Black Eyed Peas “Where is the love”, there were a lot of R&B songs back then that had that sound. Case’s “Not your friend” sounds very similar and that was released in 2001. It also sounds similar to  camrons “hey ma”.

Also another song is Lumidee’s 2003 hit “Never Leave You (uh oh)” . The music video gives me way more early 2000’s vibes than mid 2000’s. Especially the fashion.

k03HK88HhmU