Ab minor · Camelot 1A · 92 BPM
No Scrubs
by TLC
- 92
- BPM
- Ab minor
- Key
- 1A
- Camelot
- 75
- Danceability
- 3
- Acousticness
Kandi Burruss wrote "No Scrubs" on an envelope while sitting in her car. She took the idea to Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, her former Xscape bandmate, who loved the freestyle, and the two fleshed out the entire song and recorded a demo. They intended to keep it for their own joint project, but Dallas Austin gave the song to TLC as the first single for FanMail. Producer Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs received a writing credit alongside Burruss and Cottle, and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes contributed lyrics to the rap version.
Released on February 2, 1999, by LaFace and Arista Records, the single gave Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas her first lead vocal on a TLC release, something Austin regarded as a breakthrough for her. The word "scrub" was Atlanta slang for an unsuccessful person of low social status, and the song carried the term worldwide. Two versions circulated to boost airplay, one straight R&B and the other containing Left Eye's rap verse. "No Scrubs" spent four weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, TLC's third chart-topper there, and ranked second on the year-end Hot 100 behind Cher's "Believe."
Hype Williams directed the music video, set in a futuristic space station where the trio wore silver and blue metallic outfits. Chilli practiced constantly on the swing before the shoot and then did not want to get off it. The closing scene of the three members fighting came from them struggling against a moving set, with Thomas and Lopes hitting each other by accident.
No Scrubs runs at 92 BPM, the tempo of hip-hop, R&B and reggaeton. In classical terms it sits in andante territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.61 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 652 ms. It is in Ab minor, Camelot 1A, which shares its notes with B major and mixes cleanly with C# minor and Eb minor.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.