“No Diggity” by Blackstreet featuring Dr. Dre & Queen Pen

"No Diggity" led off Blackstreet's second album, Another Level, as its first single in 1996, with the R&B group bringing in rappers Dr. Dre and Queen Pen. It samples Bill Withers's "Grandma's Hands", which is why Withers shares the writing credit with Teddy Riley, Chauncey Hannibal, Richard Vick, William "Skylz" Stewart and both guests. The whole thing moves with an unhurried, bulletproof cool, the kind of swagger that never has to raise its voice.

Interscope put it out, and it went to number one in the US, plus Iceland and New Zealand, sold 1.6 million copies in 1996 alone and went down as the final chart-topper on Cash Box magazine's pop singles chart. Hype Williams directed the video, a 1998 Grammy followed in the R&B duo-or-group vocal category, and the best-of lists have kept it close: NME placed it at 43 among the best songs of the 1990s.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.