If I Had No Loot
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"If I Had No Loot" is a song by American R&B group
Tony! Toni! Toné! Tony! Toni! Toné! is an American R&B/Soul band from Oakland, California, popular during the late 1980s to mid-1990s. During the band's heyday, it was composed of D'Wayne Wiggins on lead vocals and guitar, his brother Raphael Saadiq (born Char ...
It was released on June 1, 1993, by PolyGram and
Wing Records Wing Records was a record label subsidiary of Mercury Records founded in 1955, that found its greatest success during the late 1950s. In 1986, the label was revived by Mercury's parent company, PolyGram and the label had brief success with R&B s ...
, as the
lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...
from their third album, '' Sons of Soul'' (1993). The song was produced by Tony! Toni! Toné! and co-written by group member Raphael Wiggins, who said that it is about fair-weather friends. It has a
new jack swing New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle, Jimmy Jam and Te ...
beat, pronounced guitar licks, and vocal samples from
Boogie Down Productions Boogie Down Productions (BDP) was an American hip-hop group formed in the Bronx, New York City, in 1986. It originally consisted of KRS-One, D-Nice, and DJ Scott La Rock. DJ Scott La Rock was murdered on August 27, 1987, five months after the ...
' 1987 song "Remix for P Is Free" and
Ice Cube O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...
's 1991 song "The Wrong Nigga to Fuck Wit". The song became a
hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...
for the group, peaking at number seven on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It was certified
gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) and sold 500,000 copies in the United States. "If I Had No Loot" was named the tenth best single of 1993 by ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
''s annual
Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...
critics' poll.


Background

"If I Had No Loot" was recorded for the group's third album, '' Sons of Soul'', which was recorded and released in 1993. The song was produced by Tony! Toni! Toné! and written by group member Raphael Wiggins, Juan Bautista, and Will Harris. Session musician John "Jubu" Smith played a
Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...
on the song.


Music and lyrics

"If I Had No Loot" incorporates a
new jack swing New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle, Jimmy Jam and Te ...
beat, pronounced guitar licks, and a tempo of 108 
beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...
. It has 1960s
Stax Stax can refer to: * StAX, (Computer Programming) Streaming API for reading and writing XML in Java * Stax Ltd, a Japanese brand of electrostatic headphones * Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, ...
southern soul Southern soul or country soul is a type of soul and country music that emerged from the Southern United States. The music originated from a combination of styles, including blues (both 12 bar and jump), country, early R&B, and a strong gospel ...
influences. The song also contains vocal samples from hip hop songs, including the "da-da-da-day" chant from
Boogie Down Productions Boogie Down Productions (BDP) was an American hip-hop group formed in the Bronx, New York City, in 1986. It originally consisted of KRS-One, D-Nice, and DJ Scott La Rock. DJ Scott La Rock was murdered on August 27, 1987, five months after the ...
' 1987 song "Remix for P Is Free" and the line "and you can ''new jack swing'' on my nuts!" from
Ice Cube O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...
's 1991 song "The Wrong Nigga to Fuck Wit". According to Raphael Wiggins, the song is about " fair-weather friends" and "people who come around you for fraudulent reasons". ''
Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...
'' found its theme similar to
the O'Jays The O'Jays are an American Rhythm and blues, R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in summer 1958 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert, Walter Lee Williams, William Powell, Bobby Massey, and Bill Isles. The O'Jays made their first chart appea ...
' 1972 song " Back Stabbers".


Commercial performance

"If I Had No Loot" was released by Polygram and
Wing Records Wing Records was a record label subsidiary of Mercury Records founded in 1955, that found its greatest success during the late 1950s. In 1986, the label was revived by Mercury's parent company, PolyGram and the label had brief success with R&B s ...
on June 1, 1993, as the
lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...
from '' Sons of Soul'' (1993) and received frequent radio airplay. Its music video received heavy rotation on
MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
and
BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...
. The single reached number seven on the US ''Billboard''
Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...
, on which it charted for 21 weeks. It reached its peak position on August 7, 1993. On August 11, the single was certified
gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA); it sold 500,000 copies domestically. In Canada, "If I Had No Loot" reached number 17 on the ''
RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...
'' Top 100 Singles, on which it charted for 16 weeks. It charted for 16 weeks and peaked at number eight in New Zealand. In Australia, the single reached number 12, spent 22 weeks in the top 100, and was certified gold.


Critical reception

Charles Aaron Charles Aaron is an American music journalist and editor, formerly for ''Spin'' magazine, where he worked for 23 years. Personal life Charles Aaron was born in Rockingham, North Carolina, and raised in Asheboro, North Carolina and Rome, Georgia ...
of ''
Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...
'' viewed the song as one of the group's best and called it "a splashy tour of
20th century The 20th century began on 1 January 1901 (MCMI), and ended on 31 December 2000 (MM). It was the 10th and last century in the 2nd millennium and was marked by new models of scientific understanding, unprecedented scopes of warfare, new modes of ...
American
dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...
—from jumpin'
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
to
urban blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrati ...
to '70s
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
to
hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...
." Aaron found the Ice Cube sample "irrepressible", but felt that the
hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...
is instead "how Dwayne Wiggins's swingin', bluesy guitar becomes its own
break-beat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat har ...
. Meet
the Meters The Meters (later The Funky Meters) are an American funk band formed in 1965 in New Orleans by Zigaboo Modeliste (drums), George Porter Jr. (bass), Leo Nocentelli (guitar) and Art Neville (keyboards). The band performed and recorded their o ...
of the '90s, straight up. The
Brand New Heavies The Brand New Heavies are an English band formed in 1985, consisting of Simon Bartholomew, Andrew Levy, and Jan Kincaid. After the addition of N'Dea Davenport in 1990, the group experienced mainstream success and pioneered a new genre called a ...
aren't even close."
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
of ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'' cited "If I Had No Loot" as a highlight on ''Sons of Soul''. The song was voted number 10 on ''The Village Voice''s annual
Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...
critics' poll for 1993. Music journalist Michaelangelo Matos ranked "If I Had No Loot" number 68 on his list of Top 100 Singles of the 1990s.


Personnel

Credits adapted from
12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compa ...
release. * Tony! Toni! Toné! – producer *
Gerry Brown Gerald E. "The Gov" Brown (also known as Gerry Brown; born 1958) is a recording engineer, mixer and music producer based in Los Angeles, best known for his work with artists including Whitney Houston, John Legend, Earth, Wind & Fire, Madonna, ...
– mixing * Ed Eckstine – executive producer * Raphael Wiggins – co-executive producer


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Decade-end charts


Release history


References


External links

*
"If I Had No Loot"
at
WhoSampled WhoSampled is a website and app database of information about sampled music or sample-based music, interpolations, cover songs and remixes. As of April 2025, the website features 1,155,375 songs and 355,929 artists in its catalog. History ...
(list of sampling connections) {{Authority control 1993 songs Music videos directed by Sanji (director) Number-one singles in Canada Polydor Records singles PolyGram singles Songs written by Eddie Floyd Songs written by Ice Cube Songs written by Raphael Saadiq Songs written by Steve Cropper Tony! Toni! Toné! songs Wing Records singles