It was written by Beyoncé Knowles, LeToya Luckett, Kelly Rowland, Kandi Burruss, and Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs and produced by the latter.

[6] Burruss stated that the idea for the song came to them when they were in a store and Briggs began beat-boxing the beat in his head.

[8] Musically, the song is a sassy, playful, and jittery R&B track with slinky instrumentation led by harpsichord-synthesizers.

[9][10] The track is described to have a quirky melody and descriptive lyrics that draw attention to listeners because of the story the group members are singing.

[20][21] It was Destiny's Child's first song to peak at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the ninth-best-selling single of 1999 in the United States.

[24] The video takes place in a hair salon, inspired by Tina Knowles, Beyoncé's mother and the group's fashion stylist at the time.

In another setting, Destiny's Child are wearing black and white, zebra-like patterned outfits while so-called "broke", "tired", and "good for nothin'" men are seen in rooms behind them.

The song was also performed a cappella by the fictional Dalton Academy Warblers group on the American musical television series Glee in the eleventh episode of the second season, entitled The Sue Sylvester Shuffle.