It's hard to believe that No Diggity is 17 years old, but it's true. 1996 was when it was released. I remember it well, and that was a great year for me. I had just come off the worst semester of my life in University, and was ready to re-focus.
As I've said before, music is supposed to transport you to a specific time and place. Strangely, "No Diggity" does that for me. I was a Junior at College, and this song was everywhere.
Blackstreet was an R&B group that was headed by New Jack Swing inventor Teddy Riley. He also had appeared previously on Wrex N Effects "Rump Shaker", another song that brings back some wild memories. Anyways, Blackstreet had originally come to the attention of the public by being on the CB4 movie soundtrack. (I remember listening to them at Camelot at the Volusia Mall. Boy does THAT date me.)
Anyways, onto the song. It features a great guest by Dr. Dre, who had just left Death Row to form Aftermath records and who was a co-writer of the song. The harmonies are tight, the beat is sick and the flow is amazing. When this came out, it blew up big time in clubs and at parties. Everyone was singing the chorus, "I like the way you work it/No Diggity/I got to bag it up (bag it up)."
The first verse is just awesome. Love the break too: "Can't get her out of my mind (what)/I think about the girl all the time." And then comes the sing along part.
"Hey yo Hey yo Hey YOOOOO/(Hey Yo that girl looks good)/Hey yo Hey yo Hey yo." Back in 1996 you couldn't go to a club in DC (except the goth club) that wasn't playing this song. When it came on, everyone hit the floor and sang along. Guys did the bounce dance we do. Heck, it even got this Baptist boy on the floor dancing. (And we know the joke about Baptists and dancing.)
The reason this came up, besides the fact that I have this song on my iPad and listen to it every once in a while, is because I saw it in a movie recently.
Since I had 17 hours in the air from Atlanta to Johannesburg, I decided to watch "Pitch Perfect"on the flight. Decent movie. Rebel Wilson is a riot, Anna Kendrick is great, and the music was actually quite good. In one of the scenes everyone is doing a capella in a drained swimming pool, and one of the songs they do is "No Diggity". It was pretty darn cool.
This is one of the songs from the 1990s that I'm glad hasn't been lost down the memory-hole. There was quite a lot of rock and R&B back then that was pretty great that I'm afraid will be forgotten. (Except here in South Africa, where I've previously said they're in the 1990s on the radio. Seriously, they played an Alanis Morrisette song from the "City of Angels" soundtrack the other day.) Montell Jordan's "This is How We Do it" or Screaming Trees "Bed of Roses" are just a couple of examples. Or Tad's "Jack Pepsi" and SWV's "I'm so in to you".
Anyways, it's a Friday. Go out, have a good time. Or, if you're a parent without a babysitter, stay home and maybe put on some old music. "No Diggity" might in fact put you in a better mood.
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