# 2002    BLACKstreet featuring Dr. Dre – NO DIGGITY


       View the all-time countdown here!		            Another Level , Interscope Records, 1996


  BILLBOARD CHART ACHIEVEMENTS:
# 1 on Hot 100 for a month
         # 1 in R&B Airplay for 7 weeks                          # 1 in R&B Sales for 4 weeks

GLOBAL CHART ACHIEVEMENTS:

# 63 hit of 1997 in Australia

                               # 9 in the UK 

Grammy winner: Best R&B Performance
                                        by a Duo or Group,                                       1998.

top 10 hit at MATT RADIO
                                     



This track was a collaboration between two or more artists who do not typically record or perform together.

This track features rap and was a significant moment in hip-hop history. Holla!

One Hit Wonder: this group never had another hit at MATT RADIO.


In 1992, Teddy Riley was widely viewed as a defining force in contemporary R&B. He’d guided albums by of-the-moment sensations like SWV and enduring superstars like Michael Jackson (earning a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album for Jackson’s Dangerous that year).  He’d also been a founding member of R&B group Guy, which disbanded in 1991 after two platinum albums.

Having settled in Virginia Beach, where he’d opened Future Recording Studio, Riley was contemplating his next move. He longed once again to be part of a team. So, with singers Chauncey Hannibal, Levi Little and Dave Hollister, Riley formed BLACKstreet.

Brandishing an electrifying mix of soul, funk, hip-hop and gospel, BLACKstreet delivered its self-titled debut album in the summer of 1994. The disc was certified platinum, rose to #7 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and spawned three hit singles: “Before I Let You Go” (Top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100), “Joy” (#8 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list) and “Booti Call” (Top 20 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay). These, combined with MTV and BET airplay and a thriving tour, established BLACKstreet as one of the most promising outfits on the R&B landscape. Perhaps more importantly, though, their sound represented a new direction. Testified SPIN magazine: “Lest we forget, Teddy Riley’s spring-heeled, pyrotechnic production extravaganzas had a seismic impact in a field then dominated by obsequious balladeers dressed like head waiters."

Still, as history would bear out, BLACKstreet was just getting started. Little and Hollister departed the group to embark on solo careers, but in 1996, with Mark Middleton and Eric Williams on board, BLACKstreet defied the sophomore slump with an album that soared.
 
Appropriately titled Another Level, the disc debuted at #1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and at #3 on the Billboard 200 (it would reside on both charts for more than 60 weeks). This spectacular premiere was due in no small part to a Riley-produced monster called “No Diggity.”

Deemed one of the 100 Greatest Pop Songs by Rolling Stone and MTV, “No Diggity” broke new ground with its amalgamation of gritty hip-hop beats and smooth-as-silk harmonies. The sweltering intensity of BLACKstreet’s vocal performance, coupled with the track’s pulsating rhythms and G-funk-infused sonics (including a cameo from Dr. Dre), propelled the song to platinum certification.  Helping it along was a steamy video directed by a newcomer named Hype Williams.

source:  hiponline.com