An Oral History of TLC's 'No Scrubs'

By the time early 1999 rolled around, it had been almost five years since the release of CrazySexyCool. When you've been away for a minute and you're coming back, you need a song that's automatically going to stop people in their tracks and grab their attention. TLC was able to accomplish that during the CrazySexyCool era with "Creep" as the kickoff (those opening horns automatically lock you in), and they knew exactly what it was going to take to do it again.

Enter "No Scrubs."

Written by Kandi Burruss as a track that she originally intended to record with her Xscape group mate Tameka Cottle, TLC was instead given the track by producer Dallas Austin upon the group beginning recordings for the FanMail album in April 1998. Designated as the first single off the record, "No Scrubs" was released to radio stations on February 3, 1999—roughly three weeks before the album hit shelves.

Back then, when you wanted a banger of a music video with a hint of futuristic vibe to it, there was one person you called for the job—Hype Williams. There's no real way to "describe" a Hype Williams video other than the fact that you automatically knew when it was Hype due to the distinct nature of his production and artistry. Responsible for some of the greatest and most progressive music videos to come out of the late 1990s and 2000s, Mr. Williams is indeed the mastermind behind the "No Scrubs" video—which can best be described as a mixture of Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream" with a little bit of Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, and TLC's flavor and personality sprinkled all over.

Le sigh. Needless to say, there was a certain sector of hit dogs that were hollering when "No Scrubs" was released. Some of these individuals tried to boycott TLC and the song by not listening (which clearly didn't matter because the song went number one). Others went down the route of making a response song and music video. All we'll say is this—a lot of these same folks were blasting Big Tymers "Still Fly" when it came out three years later with no shame. And if you've listened to the lyrics of "Still Fly," then you already know that if somebody personally identified and sung the lyrics of "Still Fly" to the top of their lungs, then they personally should have had a little bit of shame. That's all.

This is where we'll leave the FanMail era for now. When you have the biggest song of the year, then you've got to perform at one of the biggest music events of the year—the MTV Video Music Awards. Fun Fact: Prince (who had a good relationship with the group) is actually the one who introduced TLC for their performance. Music nerd info aside, this is my favorite TLC performance of "No Scrubs" for a couple of reasons the first being—the choreography. Sometimes TLC would mashup "No Scrubs" and "Unpretty" in their performances (which prompted a different routine), but this was performance where they let the song stand alone—and the choreography was fire. I also loved the red version of the outfits they were wearing in the music video and the final dance break at the end, but what I loved the most was Left Eye's rap.

If you watch the video, you'll see Left Eye rapped her part to the instrumental of Q-Tip's "Vivrant Thing" instead of the "No Scrubs" beat, which got the crowd super hype. All we can say is watch it and you'll be able to see and hear exactly what we're talking about. See y'all for the 25th anniversary of the FanMail album.