RAWALLTY

Mr.Wood$ first heard in 99' on the gold "No Pigeons",and selling Pepsi with MasterP,now set for national release "Da Jump Off"...feel the buzz as he introduces you to the Outlandish Entertainment sound.His upcoming single Da Jump Off b/w Green wit Envy features J-Records' Olivia, look out for it November 2001. This Far Rockaway,Queens artist/emcee is the originator of the No Scrubs response record,you also heard him on the McDonald's dollar menu commercial. His debut album will feature some of the hottest names in hiphop and R&B including Lil Jon and Kelis. You may have seen him on the nationally televised Farm Club performing on the same telecast with Outkast and others. Mr.Wood$ wants you to hear and feel some of his freestyles, white label remixes(Donnell Jones, Montell Jordan), and songs he has done during the years in which he has been preparing to make a big splash in the industry. OUTLANDISH ENTERTAINMENT presents MR.WOOD$ a mix compilation of "Da Lost Verses..." - IUMA

"No Pigeons" was originally written & recorded by rap artist "Mr. Wood$" alongside of one New York's highly respected mix tape DJs, DJ Rhude. Mr. Wood$ & Dj Rhude wanted to create a male-aimed response after the widespread international success of TLC's song "No Scrubs," a song that discusses the unwillingness of women to engage in a relationship with men who are unemployed, grimy, unsophisticated, or poorly-mannered. The song then was titled "No Vultures" and released independently via "DJ Rhude mix tape" that DJ Rhude was known for in the early to late 90's.

The record "No Vultures" landed into the hands of WQHT/Hot 97's DJ & On Air Personality Funkmaster Flex who quickly realized that the record would be a hit and would be perfect for a group that he produced and mentored called Sporty Thievz. Funkmaster Flex quickly contacted Mr. Wood$ & DJ Rhude to re-record the record along with the Sporty Thievz to be released nationally under the name "No Pigeons" after taking a unanimous vote that a pigeon would work better commercially as being called a vulture may offend some female listeners.

Nationally released as "No Pigeons" by the Sporty Thievz featuring Mr. Wood$ the song discusses the dilemma that "No Scrubs" alluded to, but rather than name women "scrubs," they were denoted as "pigeons." Throughout the course of the song, the artists on the track make overt references to unsightly, substandard women, accusing them of wearing hair weaves, having "more than one baby father," receiving public assistance, personal hygiene & "stripping all week to go clubbing."

The entire song is based on a slightly faster beat of the original "No Scrubs" with added bass.

In 2007 California indie band Brighten covered the song for a Warped Tour compilation album entitled "Yo! Indie Rocks Raps," which was never released via retail outlets but was available for purchase at tour stops. Several of the tracks from this project were eventually re-released with Fearless' compilation Punk Goes Crunk, however No Pigeons was omitted from this list. - Everipedia International

Sporty Thievz’s style was conversational—listening to “Cheapskate” felt like hearing them roast girls live from a stoop in Yonkers—but their audacious sense of humor didn’t translate into much commercial success. “Cheapskate” reached only no. 31 on the Hot Rap Singles chart; the remix, dubbed “Even Cheaper,” peaked at no. 27. Further complicating their situation were issues with Ruffhouse Records that left the group in limbo. “Something was going on, internally, with the label,” King Kirk says. “We were getting held in the middle because of that, so we were trying to get released.” Their lifeline? An unexpected gift from the mixtape gods.

As the popularity of “No Scrubs” increased the popularity of the word “scrub,” a New York–based DJ named Rhude started thinking. “I was like, ‘Damn, they’re getting at the fellas. I need somebody to answer this,’” he says. Unable to address the situation directly, DJ Rhude found a rapper to handle the task. “At the time, I was working with this MC named Mr. Wood$ from Far Rockaway, and I was like, ‘Yo, come up with a quick response to this so I can put it on the next mixtape,’” he says. Rhude ripped the “No Scrubs” instrumental from a cassette single, Mr. Wood$ added a verse, and the freestyle—then titled “No Vultures”—was added to a mixtape he dropped off at Funkmaster Flex’s Franchise Record Pool. He remembers receiving an eager call from Mr. Excitement, Flex’s partner at Franchise, the following day: “Yo, that joint y’all did, ‘No Vultures,’ is crazy. We were bumpin’ it in the office, and Flex heard it and was like, ‘Yo, who is that?’”

The record had potential, but it needed an extra touch. “Flex said, ‘Yo, I like the concept, but I feel like it would be better to get Sporty Thievz involved because it’s more their lane,’” Rhude continues, noting that Mr. Excitement insisted that he and Mr. Wood$ be involved since the idea originated with them. For his part, Funkmaster Flex says he saw the parallels almost immediately. “On ‘Cheapskate,’ Sporty Thievz were talking about girls, so that’s what made me think of them,” he says. Not long after, Sporty Thievz entered the picture.

“We get a call from someone who said Flex wanted to meet us,” King Kirk says. “We went to see Flex, and he was like, ‘Have y’all ever heard of the record “No Scrubs”?’ And of course we had heard of it, so he played this mix record one of his DJs was blending for him with his man Mr. Wood$ bugging out on ‘No Scrubs.’ So he’s like, ‘Y’all have a record called “Cheapskate.” I think if you play around with this sort of like how he played around with that, you could do something.’” The group headed to the studio to cut the new track; Mr. Wood$ ended up getting the final verse because he showed up late, much to Rhude’s frustration. “He was going on a boat ride, and I remember saying that day, ‘Yo, cancel that boat trip, this is a huge opportunity,’” he recalls.

The song was renamed “No Pigeons” around a term that had previously surfaced on a King Kirk verse from “Even Cheaper”:

KFC is good, so girls can’t be chickens
Man listen, but what they can be is pigeons
Pigeons, the worst bird, that’s my word
Eatin’ off curbs in herds lookin’ for herb.
“I won’t say we took credit for using the word ‘birds,’ because they had been saying that in Yonkers,” Kirk explains. “But that word ‘pigeon’? I had been using that for years.” Now Sporty Thievz had the opportunity to build an entire song around the word, all while inserting themselves into a conversation initiated by one of the biggest groups in music on a chart-topping song. “We were always those type of dudes anyway, having fun with the ladies, so we just knocked it out,” says Kirk. “Two or three weeks later, our manager handed it back to Flex and he, as far as I’m told, didn’t really understand what it was.” Flex says that he didn’t anticipate what “No Pigeons” would become. “It was just supposed to just be a promo [to play] on my show,” he says. “It was never supposed to be a record.”

“No Pigeons” was a more contemptuous extension of “Cheapskate” and its remix. It castigated women who had the nerve to dole out criticism like their own shit didn’t stink. The song added a heavy dose of retaliatory venom to the group’s trademark comedic panache, all in the name of evening the score for men via a tit-for-tat approach. - The Ringer