I’m counting down my 100 favourite songs of all time. To keep this from becoming a Bob Dylan / Tom Waits love-in, only one track per
artist is allowed.
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Another Level is easily Blackstreet’s most successful album. Yet the band’s co-founder and prime producer Teddy Riley doesn't think that the record has a signature Blackstreet song on it.
You may also know Another Level as the No Diggity album.
At first, I thought Riley’s reluctance to give No Diggity signature song status was the Dre-effect. The NWA producer not only provides the track’s opening verse (“giving ‘em eargasms with my mellow accent”), No Diggity also features uncredited production from him.
Dr Dre had originally created the No Diggity beat for Death Row Records labelmate Tupac Shakur. But after falling out with the rapper and the label’s notorious head honcho Suge Knight, he brought the beat to Riley. Tupac later used the song’s backing track to diss Dre on Toss It Up, where he claims it’s “no longer Dre Day” and questions the producer’s sexuality before laying into Biggie and Puff Daddy.
Never change Tupac…not that he had much chance to as the video for Toss It Up was recorded just days before his murder.
If the No Diggity beat is Dre’s, what about the song’s memorable guitar loop and “mmm-hmms”, both sampled from Grandma’s Hands by Bill Withers? Riley says he was inspired after a friend introduced him to that song, yet it also sounds like a classic Dre lift, like how he uses the melody and moaning woman from Leon Haywood’s I Wanna Do Something Freaky to You on Nuthin’ But a G-Thang.
And there’s that piano line, so memorably played by a puppet in the Hype Williams directed video. There’s no official source for it, but strong piano samples run through Dre’s back catalogue, from Joe Cocker’s Woman to Woman on 2Pac’s California Love to the urgent chords of Still D.R.E. that were probably inspired by Grant Green’s Maybe Tomorrow.
The original rump shakers
While it’s hard not to think of No Diggity as another “bomb Dre track”, it’s also unfathomable that Riley had little input into its creation. After all, this is the man who basically invented new jack swing’s blend of hip-hop beats and RnB vocals, co-wrote My Perogative for Bobby Brown and produced half of Michael Jackson’s Dangerous album, including the hits Remember the Time and In the Closet.
In fact, Dre was a huge fan of Riley’s work and his verse references the Wreckx’n’Effect track Rump Shaker, which Riley produced and performed on. Though apparently it was more the sax-playing, bikini-clad ladies in the video that caught Dre’s eye, as he called his buddy Jimmy Iovine begging to be involved in Riley’s next video.
So, let’s consider Riley’s insinuation that No Diggity is not a signature Blackstreet track as less to do with professional jealousy and more an honest statement of fact. It’s not an assessment I can actually make as I’ve never knowingly heard a Blackstreet song other than No Diggity. As the purpose of this interminable top 100 is to find out more about the songs I love, perhaps some research is in order…
Right, I’ve now listened to more Blackstreet, which—unsurprisingly—was revealing. Just five tracks into the band’s self-titled debut album is a song called I Like the Way You Work, whose title line would become part of No Diggity’s chorus. While working on a remix of that track, Riley invited LL Cool J to add some vocals. The rapper improvised the line “no diggity, no doubt”, completing No Diggity’s phenomenal hook.
Along with a No Diggity origin story that pre-dates Dre’s involvement, listening to the band’s back catalogue confirms that the song does not sound like a typical Blackstreet track. It’s no surprise that Riley later revealed that convincing his bandmates to record it was hard work. In fact, his first instinct was to offer No Diggity to his previous group.
Guys and Halls
Riley had started out in a band called Kids At Work with childhood friend Timmy Gatling. When Gatling introduced Riley to Aaron Hall, a singer who worked in the same clothing store as him, the trio formed a group called Guy. As Riley and Hall began to gel as songwriters (Hall is the other co-writer of My Prerogative), Gatling fell out with his former co-worker and eventually quit the group.
Hall drafted in his brother Damion as a replacement and Guy went on to have a couple of hit albums in the RnB charts. The band also contributed to some of the era’s most notable movie soundtracks: Do the Right Thing, New Jack City and…errr…Fern Gully.
When Hall decided to pursue a solo career, Riley formed a new band with three singers he met while producing for Bobby Brown: Levi Little, Joseph Stonestreet and Chauncey “Black” Hannibal. The band was originally going to be named after Stonestreet before the group decide to incorporate Hannibal’s nickname and become Blackstreet. Good thing too as Stonestreet was replaced by Dave Hollister before the group’s self-titled debut album was released.
Much like with Guy, Blackstreet was built around a songwriting and production partnership – this time Riley and Chauncey. The other group members were expendable and by the time of Another Level, new boy Hollister and old guard Levi Little had been replaced by Mark Middleton and Eric Williams. This was the line-up that proved reluctant to record No Diggity.
No Diggity, some doubt
Riley first offered No Diggity to Guy, who had reformed for a reunion tour but didn’t end up recording any new material. Next Riley approached still-solo Aaron Hall who refused to record the song. Chauncey, Middleton and Williams were just as skeptical.
Not bringing No Diggity to Blackstreet right away suggests that Riley really did believe that it wasn’t a signature song for the group. But he also knew it was a great song and didn’t give up, finally recalling that they agreed to do it if he sang the first verse so the band’s fans would mainly associate this presumably dud album track with Riley.
Is it significant that Riley says the song starts with his super smooth “Shorty get down, good lord / baby got ‘em open all over town”? It’s a great verse, packed with fine lines – “she got tricks in the stash / stacking up the cash / fast when it comes to the gas” – all delivered in Riley’s honey tones with the group adding memorable “wah wah” backing vocals. And technically Dre’s rap is more intro than proper first verse. But the song is well into its groove by the time Riley features.
It goes even deeper when Chauncey finally deems that the coast is clear enough for him to make an appearance. The second verse builds on Riley’s opener, delivering more great rhymes that become even more memorable when the music drops out for “Curve’s the word / spins the verb / lovers it curves so freak what you heard”.
In between these verses, the chorus builds on that LL Cool J enhanced “I like the way you work it” hook with a hypnotic “hey yo hey yo hey yo” chant, creating a slick package that collates the very best of 90s RnB but takes it out of the moment and into the timeless sphere. But get this…we haven’t even hit the best bit yet.
What you know about me?
Riley’s suggestion that No Diggity isn’t a signature Blackstreet is on one hand a reasonable opinion given how the song’s sound fits with the rest of the band’s back catalogue. But it’s also hard not to suspect that his oblique dismissal is tinged with bitterness that No Diggity is so readily associated with other artists. And it’s one thing to be upstaged by a rap legend, quite another to be outshone by your protégé.
Queen Pen was not officially credited as appearing on No Diggity but that didn’t stop her stamping her name all over it. The rapper had been performing around her hometown of New York for close to a decade when Riley heard her and offered her the opportunity to close out his new track. After recording her part – a drawlingly expressive blast of feminine energy and striking staccato phrasing like “icy gleaming pinky diamond ring” – Riley immediately signed her to his Lil’ Man label.
Pen went on to record two albums, the first of which featured Girlfriend, one of the first hip-hop tracks to explicitly explore same-sex relationships, earning her a place on Foxy Brown’s long and tiresome diss list alongside Queen Latifah and Lil Kim. Pen reportedly tried to settle this feud off wax in a Reno hotel but the fight was broken up by rapper Cam’ron.
That was probably the peak of Pen’s fame. She’s now a writer with two novels and a short story collection to her name but she’ll forever be remembered for “sitting in car, let's say around 3:30, Queen Pen and Blackstreet, it's no diggity”.
Collab creation
No Diggity isn’t a signature Blackstreet song because it’s the ultimate collaboration between a diverse group of artists. LL Cool J’s old school input, Dre’s always-fresh production and Queen Pen’s flash-in-the-pan contribution all combined with Blackstreet’s soulful swing to create something truly unique. While today, the band’s typical new jack swing style is a little dated, their defining hit has never sounded so great.
No diggity, no doubt.
Follow me on Twitter
If you like this song, try:
I Like the Way You Work
Fix
Grandma's Hands - Bill Withers
Nuthin' But a G-Thang - Dr Dre
Girlfriend - Queen Pen
Go to 74: Donnie Darko by Let's Eat Grandma
Go to 76: Your Life Keeps Life Me Higher by Jackie Wilson
Go to 74
Go to 76
Another Level is easily Blackstreet’s most successful album. Yet the band’s co-founder and prime producer Teddy Riley doesn't think that the record has a signature Blackstreet song on it.
You may also know Another Level as the No Diggity album.
At first, I thought Riley’s reluctance to give No Diggity signature song status was the Dre-effect. The NWA producer not only provides the track’s opening verse (“giving ‘em eargasms with my mellow accent”), No Diggity also features uncredited production from him.
Dr Dre had originally created the No Diggity beat for Death Row Records labelmate Tupac Shakur. But after falling out with the rapper and the label’s notorious head honcho Suge Knight, he brought the beat to Riley. Tupac later used the song’s backing track to diss Dre on Toss It Up, where he claims it’s “no longer Dre Day” and questions the producer’s sexuality before laying into Biggie and Puff Daddy.
Never change Tupac…not that he had much chance to as the video for Toss It Up was recorded just days before his murder.
If the No Diggity beat is Dre’s, what about the song’s memorable guitar loop and “mmm-hmms”, both sampled from Grandma’s Hands by Bill Withers? Riley says he was inspired after a friend introduced him to that song, yet it also sounds like a classic Dre lift, like how he uses the melody and moaning woman from Leon Haywood’s I Wanna Do Something Freaky to You on Nuthin’ But a G-Thang.
And there’s that piano line, so memorably played by a puppet in the Hype Williams directed video. There’s no official source for it, but strong piano samples run through Dre’s back catalogue, from Joe Cocker’s Woman to Woman on 2Pac’s California Love to the urgent chords of Still D.R.E. that were probably inspired by Grant Green’s Maybe Tomorrow.
The original rump shakers
While it’s hard not to think of No Diggity as another “bomb Dre track”, it’s also unfathomable that Riley had little input into its creation. After all, this is the man who basically invented new jack swing’s blend of hip-hop beats and RnB vocals, co-wrote My Perogative for Bobby Brown and produced half of Michael Jackson’s Dangerous album, including the hits Remember the Time and In the Closet.
In fact, Dre was a huge fan of Riley’s work and his verse references the Wreckx’n’Effect track Rump Shaker, which Riley produced and performed on. Though apparently it was more the sax-playing, bikini-clad ladies in the video that caught Dre’s eye, as he called his buddy Jimmy Iovine begging to be involved in Riley’s next video.
So, let’s consider Riley’s insinuation that No Diggity is not a signature Blackstreet track as less to do with professional jealousy and more an honest statement of fact. It’s not an assessment I can actually make as I’ve never knowingly heard a Blackstreet song other than No Diggity. As the purpose of this interminable top 100 is to find out more about the songs I love, perhaps some research is in order…
Right, I’ve now listened to more Blackstreet, which—unsurprisingly—was revealing. Just five tracks into the band’s self-titled debut album is a song called I Like the Way You Work, whose title line would become part of No Diggity’s chorus. While working on a remix of that track, Riley invited LL Cool J to add some vocals. The rapper improvised the line “no diggity, no doubt”, completing No Diggity’s phenomenal hook.
Along with a No Diggity origin story that pre-dates Dre’s involvement, listening to the band’s back catalogue confirms that the song does not sound like a typical Blackstreet track. It’s no surprise that Riley later revealed that convincing his bandmates to record it was hard work. In fact, his first instinct was to offer No Diggity to his previous group.
Guys and Halls
Hall drafted in his brother Damion as a replacement and Guy went on to have a couple of hit albums in the RnB charts. The band also contributed to some of the era’s most notable movie soundtracks: Do the Right Thing, New Jack City and…errr…Fern Gully.
When Hall decided to pursue a solo career, Riley formed a new band with three singers he met while producing for Bobby Brown: Levi Little, Joseph Stonestreet and Chauncey “Black” Hannibal. The band was originally going to be named after Stonestreet before the group decide to incorporate Hannibal’s nickname and become Blackstreet. Good thing too as Stonestreet was replaced by Dave Hollister before the group’s self-titled debut album was released.
Much like with Guy, Blackstreet was built around a songwriting and production partnership – this time Riley and Chauncey. The other group members were expendable and by the time of Another Level, new boy Hollister and old guard Levi Little had been replaced by Mark Middleton and Eric Williams. This was the line-up that proved reluctant to record No Diggity.
No Diggity, some doubt
Riley first offered No Diggity to Guy, who had reformed for a reunion tour but didn’t end up recording any new material. Next Riley approached still-solo Aaron Hall who refused to record the song. Chauncey, Middleton and Williams were just as skeptical.
Not bringing No Diggity to Blackstreet right away suggests that Riley really did believe that it wasn’t a signature song for the group. But he also knew it was a great song and didn’t give up, finally recalling that they agreed to do it if he sang the first verse so the band’s fans would mainly associate this presumably dud album track with Riley.
Is it significant that Riley says the song starts with his super smooth “Shorty get down, good lord / baby got ‘em open all over town”? It’s a great verse, packed with fine lines – “she got tricks in the stash / stacking up the cash / fast when it comes to the gas” – all delivered in Riley’s honey tones with the group adding memorable “wah wah” backing vocals. And technically Dre’s rap is more intro than proper first verse. But the song is well into its groove by the time Riley features.
It goes even deeper when Chauncey finally deems that the coast is clear enough for him to make an appearance. The second verse builds on Riley’s opener, delivering more great rhymes that become even more memorable when the music drops out for “Curve’s the word / spins the verb / lovers it curves so freak what you heard”.
In between these verses, the chorus builds on that LL Cool J enhanced “I like the way you work it” hook with a hypnotic “hey yo hey yo hey yo” chant, creating a slick package that collates the very best of 90s RnB but takes it out of the moment and into the timeless sphere. But get this…we haven’t even hit the best bit yet.
What you know about me?
Riley’s suggestion that No Diggity isn’t a signature Blackstreet is on one hand a reasonable opinion given how the song’s sound fits with the rest of the band’s back catalogue. But it’s also hard not to suspect that his oblique dismissal is tinged with bitterness that No Diggity is so readily associated with other artists. And it’s one thing to be upstaged by a rap legend, quite another to be outshone by your protégé.
Queen Pen was not officially credited as appearing on No Diggity but that didn’t stop her stamping her name all over it. The rapper had been performing around her hometown of New York for close to a decade when Riley heard her and offered her the opportunity to close out his new track. After recording her part – a drawlingly expressive blast of feminine energy and striking staccato phrasing like “icy gleaming pinky diamond ring” – Riley immediately signed her to his Lil’ Man label.
Pen went on to record two albums, the first of which featured Girlfriend, one of the first hip-hop tracks to explicitly explore same-sex relationships, earning her a place on Foxy Brown’s long and tiresome diss list alongside Queen Latifah and Lil Kim. Pen reportedly tried to settle this feud off wax in a Reno hotel but the fight was broken up by rapper Cam’ron.
That was probably the peak of Pen’s fame. She’s now a writer with two novels and a short story collection to her name but she’ll forever be remembered for “sitting in car, let's say around 3:30, Queen Pen and Blackstreet, it's no diggity”.
Collab creation
No Diggity isn’t a signature Blackstreet song because it’s the ultimate collaboration between a diverse group of artists. LL Cool J’s old school input, Dre’s always-fresh production and Queen Pen’s flash-in-the-pan contribution all combined with Blackstreet’s soulful swing to create something truly unique. While today, the band’s typical new jack swing style is a little dated, their defining hit has never sounded so great.
No diggity, no doubt.
Follow me on Twitter
If you like this song, try:
I Like the Way You Work
Fix
Grandma's Hands - Bill Withers
Nuthin' But a G-Thang - Dr Dre
Girlfriend - Queen Pen
Go to 74: Donnie Darko by Let's Eat Grandma
Go to 76: Your Life Keeps Life Me Higher by Jackie Wilson
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