"No Scrubs" is a 1999 song recorded by R&B girl group
TLC for their album
FanMail. Released as the album's first single, "No
Scrubs" eventually became TLC's smash single. It also earned
them their second Grammy nomination for Record of the Year, but
lost to Santana's "Smooth". The single is generally considered
to be one of the group's signature songs and was the 2nd
biggest Hot 100 single of 1999, according to Billboard's Year
End Charts. The single was certified platinum in the UK.
Written by producer Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs along with
Tameka Cottle and Kandi Burruss (both from the group Xscape),
the track lyrically explains "scrubs" as reference to a slang
term for a man who is (for the most part) jobless, lacking a
car, lacking money, and otherwise described to have virtually
no ambition or class. "No Scrubs" was the first single for TLC
to feature lead vocals by group member Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas
rather than Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins. There were two versions of
the song: the album version (which was released to radio), and
a "Main Mix" with a rap by Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes. The latter
mix was featured in the music video for the song.
Prior to the release of
FanMail, the track "Silly Ho" received some radio
airplay, prompting a peak of number 59 in the U.S., although it
was never released by LaFace as a lead single. "No Scrubs"
climbed into the U.S. top ten as an airplay only song and
jumped to number one upon the single release. The single stayed
in the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 for 17 consecutive
weeks.No Scrubs is listed at number 123 on the All Time Singles
Chart Worldwide with points of over 6,000,000.
The futuristic music video directed by Hype Williams also
received massive airplay on MTV, and won the group the 1999 MTV
Video Music Award for Best Group Video, beating out favorites
'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys. Each member had a set in the
video. The video also has a dance sequence where the girls
dance in front of the "TLC" logo. The Main Mix is used in the
video instead of the album version. The video features the
girls in three different outfits: Chilli is in white, Left Eye
in black and T-Boz in white and red. When there are shots of
the girls together they have two different outfits: black and
silver. T-Boz's hair is fuchsia in the video. The set up of the
video is similar to the Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson's
video, "Scream" and IMx's video Stay the Night.
"No Scrubs" also draws parallels with Destiny's Child's
single "Bills, Bills, Bills", which was written and produced by
the same production crew. Both songs drew minor controversy as
the members were accused of being gold diggers, women who only
like men for their wealth, in their respective songs. In
response, the New York-based hip hop trio Sporty Thievz
recorded what would become, respectively, their second and
biggest hit, a parody entitled "No Pigeons", and a follow-up
"No Billz Billz Billz (Why, Why, Why?)", released
independently.
This is their first and only single wherein Chilli sings
lead for the full track. T-Boz does not appear on this track,
instead it's Debra Killings, Kandi Burruss, and Tameka "Tiny"
Cottle singing background vocals along with Chilli, though it
sounds distinctly similar to T-Boz.