“No Diggity” is a song by American R&B group Blackstreet as the first single for their second studio album, Another Level (1996), featuring Dr. Dre and Queen Pen. Released in July 1996 by Interscope, At Future Records Recording Studios, Teddy Riley’s former studio in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Riley heard William “Skylz” Stewart experimenting with a sample of “Grandma Hands” by Bill Withers and insisted that Stewart give him the sample. Riley originally offered the song to Guy as part of their short-lived reunion in 1996. After failing to record any material, he then suggested the song to Guy’s lead singer Aaron Hall, who refused to take part in recording the song. He then offered the song to his other group Blackstreet.
The song garnered acclaim from music critics. Larry Flick from Billboard wrote, “Finally honing his Boz Scaggs-like vocal style, [Teddy] Riley utilizes his infallible production and recent free agent Dr. Dre to ensure the single’s add to several radio formats, as well as club and personal boombox playlists.” He added, “As always, other Blackstreet members perform superbly.” James Bernard from Entertainment Weekly felt that “beatwise, it struts confidently, accompanied by a light keyboard action. Voices, including guest Dr. Dre’s, croon and rap with a sexual urgency notable even by today’s standards.”
The accompanying music video for the song is directed by Hype Williams and features Blackstreet members in front of a beachhouse standing in the sand, dancers on a wet road in front of black limousines and marionettes throughout the video playing the piano sample, on guitar and a couple of replicas of the band members, respectively. The music video was released in August 1996.
the song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and in Iceland and New Zealand. It ended “Macarena’s” 14-week reign atop the Billboard Hot 100. In the United Kingdom, the song peaked at number nine. “No Diggity” was the final number-one single of Cash Box magazine. The track sold 1.6 million copies in 1996 and won the 1998 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
“No Diggity” ranked at number 91 on Rolling Stone and MTV’s “100 Greatest Pop Songs”. It was also ranked at number 32 on VH1’s “100 Greatest Songs of the ’90s”, number 407 on Q Magazine’s “1001 Best Songs Ever”, number 33 on Blender’s “Greatest Songs Since You Were Born”, and number 43 on NME’s “100 Best Songs of the 1990s”.
