No Scrubs

"No Scrubs" is a song recorded by American girl group TLC for their third studio album FanMail (1999). The lyrics posit that a man who does not have his own car is a "scrub" (also known as a "buster") and is undesirable as a romantic or sexual partner. LaFace Records and Arista Records released it as the album's lead single on February 2, 1999. The song was written by Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs alongside former Xscape members, Kandi Burruss and Tameka "Tiny" Cottle. The single version containing a self-written rap by Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was not included on the album FanMail, and later appeared in a slightly shorter edit on Now and Forever: The Hits and 20. "No Scrubs" was the first time Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas took the sole lead vocals on any TLC single. The album version of the song won Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal and Best R&B Song at 42nd Annual Grammy Awards.

"No Scrubs"
Single by TLC
from the album FanMail
B-side"Silly Ho"
ReleasedFebruary 2, 1999 (1999-02-02)
RecordedDecember 1998
StudioD.A.R.P. (Atlanta, Georgia)
GenreR&B
Length
  • 3:34 (album version)
  • 4:00 (main mix with Left Eye)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)She'kspere
TLC singles chronology
"Diggin' on You"
(1995)		 "No Scrubs"
(1999)		 "Unpretty"
(1999)
Music video
"No Scrubs" on YouTube
Audio sample
  • file
  • help

"No Scrubs" met with international success. It became TLC's third number-one single and eighth top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100. It also earned them their second Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year. "No Scrubs" is one of TLC's signature songs and was the second-biggest Hot 100 single of 1999 in the U.S., only behind Cher's "Believe", according to Billboard's year-end charts. On the decade end chart for 1990–1999, "No Scrubs" was ranked at number 33. The single was certified Platinum in the UK and Platinum in New Zealand.

Background

The song was initially written by Kandi Burruss on an old envelope while sitting in her car, in which she "freestyled the entire song while just driving down a highway: the verse, hook, pre-chorus, the whole thing." The song was initially meant for Burruss and Tameka Cottle to record together, however Dallas Austin decided to give the song to TLC as their first single for FanMail, with Chilli singing the lead vocals. Austin further emphasized that the song was a breakthrough for Chilli, as he felt that "It was a great way to expose her; being a secondary vocalist was not just her purpose."[1]

Composition

"No Scrubs" is described by Vibe as "a scathing critique on men at the bottom of the dating pool".[2] In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2014, Cottle described the process of creating the song with Burruss:[3]

I wanna talk about a screw-up, a guy that's a screw-up that doesn't have their own business in order. It came from a previous relationship that she was in. And we took that and wrote about what we call a scrub.

The song contains "airy remnants of an electronic guitar", which begins with Chilli's angelic vocals. The word "scrub" originated from Atlanta, which was initially used as a slang term for a person who couldn't get their life together.[4] The composition of "No Scrubs" is based on 4
4 common time, the tempo is 93 BPM and is played in the key of A-flat minor.[5] According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by EMI Music Publishing, the vocal range of TLC spans from the low note F#3 to the high note of C#5.[6]

Critical reception

In 1999, "No Scrubs" was listed on The Village Voice's annual poll Pazz & Jop at number one.[7] The song also came in at number two in the NME Top Tracks of 1999 and number 45 in the NME 100 Best Songs of the 1990s.[8][9] Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 10 in their list of the 50 Best Songs of the Nineties.[10] Additionally, VH1 listed the song at number 22 in their list of the 40 Greatest R&B Songs of the 90s, ranking behind TLC's 1995 international single "Waterfalls" which placed at number 6.[11] Billboard ranked the song at number 42 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.[12]

Chart performance

"No Scrubs" jumped to number one upon the single's release on the April 3, 1999 issue of Billboard.[13] The single stayed at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks from April 10, 1999, to May 7, 1999.[14] The single stayed in the top-ten of the Billboard Hot 100 for 17 consecutive weeks.[4] "No Scrubs" airplay was at the time, the first song to peak with over 140 million audience impressions, and was crowned the Top Airplay Song of 1999.[15][16][17] It holds the record for most weeks at number one on the Rhythmic Top 40 with 15 weeks, as well as being ranked at number two on Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1999, only behind Cher's "Believe".[4]

In Australia, "No Scrubs" was a huge success, spending seven consecutive weeks at the summit of the ARIA Charts from May 2, 1999 to June 20, 1999.[18] In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart, becoming TLC's highest-charting single in Britain.[19] The song was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry.[20]

Music video

Background

The Hype Williams-directed video was set in a futuristic space station, where the trio wore silver and blue metallic outfits.[2] It includes a dance sequence where the women dance in front of the "TLC" logo. The Main Mix is used in the video in place of the album version, which includes a rap verse by Left Eye. T-Boz described how the group went all out during production of the video, with her being specifically excited about "wearing the all-white outfit", while Chilli initially felt apprehensive about going on the swing, constantly practicing before the shoot until she did not want to get off afterwards. The scene at the end of the video showing the three fighting each other and being silly was a result of the tube moving and the group attempting to fight against the moving set, with Chilli and Left Eye hitting each other by accident. American drag queen RuPaul also appeared off-camera to see them.[1] The video is stylistically similar to Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson's music video "Scream" (1995), as well as the Busta Rhymes and Janet Jackson music video "What's It Gonna Be?!" (1999), which was also directed by Williams.[4]

Synopsis

The video features the women in three different colored space-suits: white, black, silver, and Left Eye in blue. When there are shots of the women together they have two different outfits: black and silver. T-Boz's hair is fuchsia in the video. It also features a scene of Chilli on a swing singing, alongside T-Boz dancing as well as Left Eye. As Left Eye's rap begins, she is positioned in a garage wearing white clothes while rapping, and practicing martial arts in a futuristic blue outfit in a separate scene. She is filmed by a drone, as she continues rapping; "Can't forget the focus on the picture in front of me/You as clear as DVD on digital TV screens." The final scene shows TLC fighting each other, while also dancing and having fun.

Reception

The futuristic music video received massive airplay on MTV and BET. It also won the group the MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards.[21] As of March 2020, the video has over 200 million views on YouTube.

Legacy

Covers

UK band The Saturdays covered the track on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge segment in 2013.[22] Philadelphia singer/songwriter Avi Wisnia covered the song on his 2010 album Something New.[23][24] Karmin covered "No Scrubs" in 2011 shortly before releasing "Crash Your Party", connecting the "throwback cover" of the song to the "old school sample" in "Crash Your Party".[25] Kelly Clarkson covered the song during her 2012 Summer Tour on August 23, 2012.[26]

The cast of Glee covered the song in the "Sadie Hawkins" episode of the show's fourth season. It was performed by Kevin McHale, Chord Overstreet, Blake Jenner, Samuel Larsen and Darren Criss.[27] Bastille covered the song alongside The xx's "Angels" in a mash-up entitled "No Angels", which features on their 2012 mixtape Other People's Heartache, Pt. 2.[28] Scout Niblett covered the song on the album It's Up to Emma.[29] Kacey Musgraves covered the song during her tour "Same Tour, Different Trailer" in 2014.[30] In January 2019, Weezer released a cover of the song, which was included on their twelfth studio album, Teal Album.[4]

Samples in other songs

In 2013, DJ and producer Le Youth sampled the song in his single "Dance with Me", which reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart.[31] XXYYXX sampled the song in his "Good Enough" track on the album XXYYXX.[32] While not incidentally crediting the writers, the writers on "No Scrubs" were later credited on Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" as it interpolates "No Scrubs".[33] "SOS" by Avicii featuring Aloe Blacc contains an interpolation of the song, as the songwriters were credited.[34]

Other responses

After TLC released "No Scrubs" in 1999, Sporty Thievz made an answer song called "No Pigeons" that same year.[35][36] Chilli felt that they made the song because they felt threatened by the song's success, stating that "they can't take the heat!"[1] The word scrub rapidly spread globally, with the vocabulary being commonly used by women.[4]

Track listing

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[86] Platinum 70,000^
Belgium (BEA)[87] Platinum 50,000*
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[88] Gold 45,000
France (SNEP)[89] Gold 275,000[90]
Italy (FIMI)[91] Gold 25,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)[92] Platinum 10,000*
Sweden (GLF)[93] Gold 15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[94] 2× Platinum 677,000[95]
United States (RIAA)[96] Gold 500,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

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