Grandma’s Hands

Withers’ maternal grandfather was born into slavery in 1855; as a child, Withers attended church with his grandmother Lula, and has described the spontaneous communal singing there as his favourite kind of singing — directly inspiring the song, which he wrote for a woman “not sexy at all, but just a nice old lady” whose gnarled hands made his life better when he needed somebody. No lyrics reproduced.

Producers Teddy Riley and William “Skylz” Stewart built this wholesome song about a grandmother into Blackstreet’s “No Diggity,” one of the decade’s sexiest hits. Dr. Dre actually constructed the beat from the sample himself while planning his exit from Death Row — his contribution kept deliberately low-key, with Riley credited as sole producer, to avoid attention during that transition.