No Diggity (1996)

"No Diggity" is a song by American R&B group Blackstreet featuring American rappers Dr. Dre and Queen Pen, serving as the first single from their second studio album, Another Level (1996). The song includes samples from Bill Withers's "Grandma's Hands". "No Diggity" was released by Interscope Records on July 29, 1996, and reached number one in the United States, Iceland, and New Zealand. In the US, "No Diggity" was also the final number-one single on Cash Box magazine's Top 100 Pop Singles chart.

"No Diggity" sold 1.6 million copies in 1996 and won the 1998 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The music video for the song was directed by Hype Williams. The track ranked at number 91 on Rolling Stone and MTV's "100 Greatest Pop Songs." It was also placed at number 32 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the '90s", number 407 on Q Magazine's "1001 Best Songs Ever", number 33 on Blender's "Greatest Songs Since You Were Born", and number 43 on NME's "100 Best Songs of the 1990s".

Background

At Future Records Recording Studios, Teddy Riley's former studio in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Riley encountered William "Skylz" Stewart experimenting with a sample of "Grandma's Hands" by Bill Withers. Riley insisted that Stewart provide him with the sample. Riley originally offered the song to Guy as part of their brief reunion in 1996. After failing to record any material, he suggested the song to Guy's lead singer Aaron Hall, who declined to participate in the recording. Subsequently, he offered the song to his other group, Blackstreet. In a 2010 interview, Riley revealed that the song was initially a hard sell among group members. He stated:

"None of the guys liked 'No Diggity.' None of them. They would even say it. That's why I'm singing the first verse. You know how they say they pushed the little one out there to see if it tastes good and see if he would get egged? Well, they pushed me out there – and it became a hit. And now they wish they were singing the first verse so that they could have the notoriety like me. So they trust what I'm saying..."

Upon the release of the finished recording by Blackstreet, Tupac and Death Row responded with a diss track called "Toss It Up" containing numerous insults aimed at Dr. Dre, set to an instrumental sampling "No Diggity." However, they were forced to replace the production after Blackstreet issued the label a cease and desist order, preventing them from distributing the song. An updated version of this response, "Toss It Up," would be released under his Makaveli alias just days after his death, featuring Aaron Hall.

Content

The song's musical backing track features an altered sample from the beginning of "Grandma's Hands" by R&B singer Bill Withers. Dr. Dre's opening rap of the song finishes with "The original rump shakers" referencing Teddy Riley's other group Wreckx-n-Effect's 1992 song "Rump Shaker".

Critical reception

Larry Flick from Billboard magazine wrote, "Finally honing his Boz Scaggs-like vocal style, [Teddy] Riley utilizes his infallible production and recent free agent Dr. Dre to ensure the single's add to several radio formats, as well as club and personal boombox playlists." He added, "As always, other BLACKstreet members perform superbly." James Bernard from Entertainment Weekly felt that "beatwise, it struts confidently, accompanied by a light keyboard action. Voices, including guest Dr. Dre's, croon and rap with a sexual urgency notable even by today's standards." A reviewer from Knight Ridder described it as an "uptempo excursion" and a "pointed, post-hip-hop strut." Connie Johnson from Los Angeles Times felt "No Diggity" "is definitely one of this year's most delectable dance releases."

Tony Farsides from Music Week's RM Dance Update gave the song a score of four out of five, commenting, "A real grower which is already popular in the clubs, the song features Blackstreet's trademark harmonies interspersed with rap and a killer grand piano sample following the chorus. Unlikely to cross over but a good bet for R&B fans and the lower reaches of the charts." Malaysian New Straits Times stated that sampling Bill Withers's bluesy "Grandma's Hands" and fitting it with a swingbeat base "instantly transforms the song into a hip-hop masterpiece of unimaginable brilliance." Jon Pareles from New York Times noted that the track uses a spiky Bill Withers guitar lick and features a rap by Dr. Dre, who promises that listeners will be "giving up eargasms with my mellow accent."