"No Scrubs" is a song recorded by American girl group TLC for their third studio album FanMail (1999). It was released as the album's first single on January 23, 1999. The song was written by Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs alongside former Xscape members, Kandi Burruss and Tameka "Tiny" Cottle. The single version containing 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 for Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas taking the sole lead vocals on any TLC single.
"No Scrubs" was 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 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. The single was certified 2x platinum in the UK and platinum in New Zealand.
Critical reception
In 1999, the song was listed on The Village Voice's annual poll Pazz & Jop at number one. 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.
Chart performance
"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 at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks from April 10, 1999, to May 7, 1999. The single stayed in the top-10 of the Billboard Hot 100 for 17 consecutive weeks.
"No Scrubs" airplay was at the time astonishing; it was the very first song to peak with over 140 million audience impressions and was crowned the Top Airplay Song of 1999. It holds the record for most weeks at number 1 on the Rhythmic Top 40 with 15 weeks.
In Australia, "No Scrubs" was a huge success, spending seven consecutive weeks at the summit of the Australian Singles Chart from May 2, 1999 - June 20, 1999.
In the United Kingdom, "No Scrubs" peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart, becoming TLC's highest-charting single in Britain. The song was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry.
Music video
The futuristic music video, directed by Hype Williams, was shot on March 18, 1999, and also received massive airplay on MTV and BET, and won the group the 1999 MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video, beating out favorites NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys. Each member had a set in the video. The video also has a dance sequence where the women dance in front of the "TLC" logo. The Main Mix is used in the video instead of the album version.
The video features the women in three different outfits: 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. It also features T-Boz dancing as well as Left Eye. As Left Eye's rap begins, she is in a garage-like place with white clothes on while rapping. It also shows her practicing fighting moves in a futuristic blue outfit. One of the final scenes shows TLC fighting each other, while also dancing and having fun. The video is stylistically similar to Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson's music video "Scream".
Legacy and pop culture fame
After TLC released "No Scrubs" in 1999, Sporty Thievz made an answer song called "No Pigeons" that same year.
In 2013, DJ and producer Le Youth sampled the song in his single Dance with Me, reaching number 11 in the UK Singles Chart
No Scrubs was played on The Prom episode of Moesha.
Covers
- During live performances, Blink-182 commonly used the "No Scrubs" chorus during the bridge of the 1998 hit "Dammit".
- UK band Kids in Glass Houses covered this song at an acoustic night of the Full Ponty festival.
- Swing Out Sister also covered the "No Scrubs" chorus in their version of "Now You're Not Here" registered live on Live in Tokyo (2005).
- Marjorie Dawes sang part of the song on the UK comedy show Shooting Stars.
- Incubus covered part of "No Scrubs" during their MTV Acoustic performance
- Lisa Loeb performed an acoustic cover of part of the song when she appeared on a late-night talk show in 2000.
- Lizette Carter recorded a cover for the animated film Happy Feet (2006).
- UK band The Saturdays covered the track in 2010, but their version remains unreleased, Only a live version exists.
- Philadelphia singer/songwriter Avi Wisnia covered the song on his 2010 album "Something New"
- 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"
- The group Sporty Thievz released a response song from the male perspective called "No Pigeons" off their 1999 album Street Cinema.
- Kelly Clarkson covered the song during her 2012 Summer Tour on August 23, 2012.
- 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.
- 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.
- Xxyyxx sampled the song in his "Good Enough" track on the album XXYYXX.
- Scout Niblett covered the song on the album 'It's up to Emma'.
- Le Youth sampled the song in the track "Dance With Me"
- Kacey Musgraves covered the song during her tour "Same Tour, Different Trailer" on 2014.
- Set It Off sampled the song in their cover of "Problem" originally by Ariana Grande featuring Iggy Azalea which is featured in the sixth album in the long running Punk Goes... series.
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