One of the biggest records of 1999 was, simply, a complaint about inadequate men. “No Scrubs”by TLC was the second biggest selling single of 1999 in the US, behind Cher’s “Believe”. It sold 677,000 copies in the UK, peaking at No 3, meaning that more than one in every 100 people in the country bought it. And, emerging at the height of a phase of staggering invention in US R&B, when producers such as Timbaland and Rodney Jerkins were deploying technology to create a new, coldly synthetic style, it wielded an influence out of proportion even to its massive sales. In Texas, for example, a young female vocal group was playing close attention: “TLC has influenced just about every female group that's out there now, and they definitely influenced Destiny’s Child,” said a young Beyoncé Knowles, the leader of Destiny’s Child, who quickly adopted “No Scrubs”’ defiant stance and found themselves eclipsing their idols.
“No Scrubs” had been written by Kevin "She’kspere” Briggs, an inhouse producer at TLC’s label LaFace, but was transformed when Tameka Cottle and Kandi Burruss heard his version and asked to rewrite the lyrics. “She had a concept ’cause she had been, like, ‘I wanna talk about a screw-up, a guy that's a screw-up that doesn't have their own business in order,’” Cottle told Rolling Stone of Burruss’s idea. “It came from a previous relationship that she was in. And we took that and wrote about what we call a scrub.”
“Scrub” was a piece of Atlanta slang, but clearly the song needed to define it, which Cottle and Burruss did with the chorus, offering no attempt at sympathy for the subject: “A scrub is a guy that can’t get no love from me / Hanging out the passenger side / Of his best friend’s ride / Trying to holler at me.”
Cottle and Burruss had recently left the the R&B group Xscape and were trying to forge a career as a duo. “No Scrubs” was to be their breakout hit. Until it wasn’t. Recognising the strength of the song, Briggs took it to the executives at LaFace, who reassigned it to TLC, a far greater priority for them. Burruss and Cottle weren’t too disheartened – the publishing royalties from a hit of “No Scrubs”’ magnitude were immense, the song won them Grammy awards, and opened the door to a songwriting career for Burruss, who wrote the hardly dissimilar “Bills, Bills, Bills”for Destiny’s Child, from an album produced by Briggs.
“No Scrubs” was a perfect package. The lyric was memorable, while Briggs’ arrangement – centred around a Spanish-flavoured acoustic guitar, electronic percussion and the breathy samples that were the trick du jour of late-90s R&B – was both gossamer light, and rhythmically sturdy. And TLC were the perfect trio to deliver it, a girl group who did not need to shout slogans about “girl power”, but who seemed genuinely perfectly willing to take on men they didn’t care for, physically if necessary (in 1994, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes set fire to a pair of shoes belonging to her abusive boyfriend and as a result burned down the mansion they shared).
It didn’t take long for “No Scrubs” to enter the public consciousness. Within months, the male hip-hop group Sporty Thievz had answered with “No Pigeons”, repurposing the backing track to defend the honour of feckless men against snooty women. And the cover versions followed: Scout Niblettturned “No Scrubs” into spectral, mournful Americana; Bastille did their big, emotive pop thing with it; it turned up on the Glee soundtrack. And then, earlier this year, it became an element of the biggest song of 2017 – the most streamed song ever on Spotify – when Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” gave a songwriting credit to Cottle, Burruss and She'kspere.
Eighteen years later, “No Scrubs” still sounds like a record from pop’s future. And still, when it is played by DJs, you can see women take to the dancefloor in groups and sing to each other: “‘Cause I'm looking like class, and he’s looking like trash / Can't get wit’ a deadbeat ass.” And you can see the men shrink a little.
We’d like to hear from our readers. Do you like ‘No Scrubs’? Do you have memories of the song? Let us know in the comments below.
‘The Life of a Song: The fascinating stories behind 50 of the world’s best-loved songs’, edited by David Cheal and Jan Dalley, is published by Brewer’s.
Music credits: Arista/LaFace Records, Columbia, Ruffhouse, Drag City, Columbia
Picture: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc