No doubt, No Diggity is one of the finest pieces of music written. An overstatement? In terms of what makes up this song, no. No Diggity takes a history of black music and condenses it into four minutes. Starting at the beginning, there's the sample of 'Grandma's Hands' by soul's Bill Withers, a short, blues guitar ode to his aged relative, and her old and worn limbs. She'd have undoubtedly been alive at the turn of the century when life was hella different for a lot of people. Withers' 'Mmm-mmm' at the start and end of the song, strongly resembles the voices of the chain gangs, the field hollers, the work songs of enslaved or imprisoned black Americans one hundred years ago.
The 'shoops' of Blackstreet throughout the song are reminiscent of doo-wop era music, and those piano chords take it back to jazz. On top of all this, there's the perfect fusion of hip-hop and modern rhythm and blues, Blackstreet's smooth sounds, Dr. Dre's rap. Work songs, jazz, blues, soul, hip-hop, R&B, rap, and more I've most likely missed. I know the very essense of hip-hop is to borrow, chop, sample and screw, but very few songs have done it quite so well as this.
Hype Williams is responsible for the video, and it's easily one of his best. Retrained and subtle, with a beautiful colour palette. Highlights are the little puppets playing instruments and the girls dancing on the wet floor in front of the limousines.
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