It’s easy forget how slang can date you in a way that no other aspect of the language can. For instance, the other day, I received an email in which someone was referred to as a “scrub.” Seeing the word in type was one thing, but to see it in an email (something that was borderline “futuristic” when the word first entered our vocabulary) made it feel like a lost transmission from a different time. This, of course, got me thinking about said time, and a funny exchange that could have only happened in the brief moment before the internet had reached ubiquity.
The exchange I’m talking about has to do with a song called “No Scrubs” by the female R&B trio TLC. The track, which criticized young men for being cheap, obnoxious idiots, took on a whole new level of buzz when an unknown all-male rap group called The Sporty Thieves released an answer to the song, entitled “No Pigeons.” The result was a bizarre on-air music video battle between diva ladies and thug gentlemen. I even have a vague recollection of Hot 97 sponsoring a “Scrubs vs. Pigeons” street party somewhere in Harlem that summer.
What I love about these videos is how innocent they were—even when everyone thought they were being so controversial. Today, this exchange would have happened on YouTube – inspiring any number of video responses, memes, and backlashes. Watching them now, they seem like a warm and fuzzy time capsule, and make me more than a little nostalgic.
