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TLC Release Limited Edition “Waterfalls” Picture Vinyl For Record Store Day 2020

Leon@TLCArmy 2 Comments

To celebrate Record Store Day this year, TLC have released a limited edition picture disc vinyl of their iconic single, 1995’s “Waterfalls“, to celebrate 25 years of the success of their diamond-selling album, ‘CrazySexyCool‘.

Traditionally on Record Store Day, local independent record stores are given exclusive and often limited releases to be sold only in stores, as a bid to help with the survival of the record stores, which have taken a huge blow in sales due to the growing popularity of digital downloads and streaming platforms such as Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music.

Thankfully, vinyls have seen a resurgence in recent years, with music fans wanting their favourite music to be made available on the classic vinyl formats, leading to an increase in vinyl sales.

Record Store Day 2020 was initially set to go ahead back in June, but due to the unfortunate coronavirus outbreak it was postponed and some of the releases appeared to have been cancelled or heavily limited by some of the record labels, including the TLC release.

Other upcoming releases include Coolio‘s ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’, Destiny’s Child “Say My Name” picture disc and Britney Spears‘ sophomore album, ‘Oops… I Did It Again’ on picture disc.  

This year’s Record Store Day will be taking place a little differently with products being split across 3 new dates: 29th August, 26th September and 24th October in the UK.

TLC’s “Waterfalls” release takes place from September 26th with limited availability in selected stores. To avoid disappointment, please check with your local record stores to find out if they will be stocking the record at that particular store before attending.

You can check for participating stores in the UK here. To check for participating stores in the US check here. For the rest of the world, go here and select your country to find participating stores.

UPDATE (26/9) — The Record Store Day team have sadly informed us that the TLC release will no longer be released on the scheduled date. They will inform fans via social media when they obtain a new release date from the label. 

However, some record stores in Mexico have already been stocking the record in their stores, so if you’re in luck, contact some stores using the store locater in other countries to directly speak to the stores to get your copies if you cannot wait for a domestic release in your country!

Happy hunting, and stay safe!

Anniversary, History, Interview, Music, News

Left Eye’s N.I.N.A Project For Death Row Features Ray-J (Full Album Link)

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Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes shocked the world when she signed with Suge Knight‘s reinvention of his classic Death Row records, renamed as Tha Row back in 2002, as a result of her disappointment at her home label, Arista Records, failing to support her debut solo album, ‘Supernova‘, in 2001.

Lisa’s new moniker was N.I.N.A (New Identity Non-Applicable) on Tha Row, a name given to her by Knight, as he felt her small frame was like a small 9mm handgun (which has a street name of ‘nina’). When she was spotted with Knight at a Lakers/Grizzlies game in LA on Nov 9, 2001, Lisa explains to EW, “I was visited by a man in my dream, one that sweated me all night about Mr. Suge Knight. He was right, but that’s a whole other story.”

Eastwood, a label mate of N.I.N.A on Tha Row worked with her on her solo project shortly before she passed away on April 25, 2002. He told Variety that he worked on 99.5% of her second solo album, and even co-wrote her verse on TLC‘s single, “Girl Talk“, the lead track from their ‘3D‘ album in 2002.

“You know the song “Girl Talk” with TLC? That was their last joint — I wrote her verse on there. If you go back and listen to it, you’ll hear me respond to her in the beginning of that verse. This happened three days before she passed”, Eastwood said.

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Producer Darren Vegas worked on the majority of the tracks for the N.I.N.A project, and when she tragically passed away he was given the task to work with material that was left over, mostly comprising of masters from her previous solo album. “Her vibe was real cool,” he says. “I expected her to be all wild and stuff from what I’d heard, [but] she was real laid back and calm”, he told LA Weekly.

“When she was [signed to Tha Row] she didn’t drink at all. She was on a cleanse, and she actually got artists at Death Row to do cleansings, as she was back and forth to Honduras”, he continues. “She just seemed real determined to have the world hear a solo album. The stuff we were working on, we weren’t copying what she had done [with TLC]. We were creating a brand new sound.”

Many of the tracks were released online over the years as the project was eventually abandoned, officially. Jordan Cooper of the Left Eye fanpage The Eye Is Right decided that the project deserved some more attention, and decided to compile all of the available material from the project as one album for all to enjoy.

After creating some polls with fans on social media, the title of the project was decided as the self-titled ‘N.I.N.A‘, which was released on July 25, 2020 via the fanpage. It also features a version of “Too Street 4 TV” featuring Brandy‘s brother Ray-J, who also signed to Tha Row for a brief period of time.

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‘Tha Row Presents… N.I.N.A.’

Tracklist:
1. Block Party (featuring Eastwood and Phobia)
2. Life (featuring Danny Boy and Eastwood)
3. Let Me Live (featuring Crooked I)
4. Universal Quest (featuring Crooked I)
5. Rags to Riches (featuring Kurupt)
6.Untouchable (with 2Pac)
7. I Believe In Me
8. Hot Lanta (featuring Kurupt and Juvenile)
9. Tru Confessions
10.Too Street 4 TV (featuring Danny Boy)
11. Friends (featuring Kurupt and Danny Boy)

Bonus Tracks:
12. Life (Alternate Version) (Featuring Carl Thomas and Eastwood)
13. Too Street 4 TV (OG Version) (Featuring Ray J.)
14. Crush on You (with Ejypt)

Cover designed by Demar Maurice.

Grab a copy of the full album HERE

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Anniversary, Competition, Music, Review

TLC’s Last Album Reaches It’s First Year Anniversary!

Leon@TLCArmy 1 Comment

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(Originally posted on June 30, 2018).

“It’s been a long, long time coming“, the opening line from ‘Way Back‘, the first single lifted from TLC‘s first album in 15 years, which was released a year ago today on June 30, 2017!

After breaking the record for the fastest Kickstarter funded pop project ever in 2015 (they raised over $430k and smashed their $150k deadline in under 48 hours), the girls were finally ready to unleash their hard work to the world, independently on their own label, 852 Musiq.

The album went on to become the #1 Independent Album on Billboard and topped the R&B Album Charts in the UK and in other parts of the world, whilst the lead single ‘Way Back’ remained in the Adult R&B singles chart for months.

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The girls were toying with the idea of releasing another single from the album and even a remix album (two remixes were made exclusively for the Japan version of the album). However, this did not come to fruition.

We are still super stoked about this solid body of work produced by T-Boz and Chilli.

The essence of Left Eye‘s is ever present on the record, too — through a shout out on “No Introduction“, where they sing “Left Eye still here, irreplaceable position“, and an interlude featuring Left Eye talk about her wishes and aspirations.

Read about how the project was conceived here.

Tell us what your favorite song is on the album!

Anniversary, Announcement, News, Tribute

Left Eye’s Solo Album ‘Supernova’ Confirmed To Be Released On Streaming Platforms

Leon@TLCArmy 1 Comment

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Ever since the debut solo album by the ‘L’ of TLC, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, was denied a US release by Arista Records back in 2001, fans all over the world have been craving it’s presence in the digital era — the album, ‘Supernova‘ was only released in Japan and Europe, and still til this day has not been made available on any streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and Google Play.

Over the years fans of the album began finding creative ways to get the album the justice that it deserved. Last year, Jordan Cooper, who runs the popular Left Eye fanpage/site The Eye is Right, began a petition to help the album achieve justice with a full release to digital platforms. The petition gained a lot of interest and it later became clear that the album was not owned by Sony as previously thought.

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Things began to look brigher for ‘Supernova’ this week. Lisa’s sister, Reigndrop Lopes, joined a live chat on Instagram with Shekinah Anderson to celebrate the life of Left Eye on her Birthday — she would have turned 49 on this day (May 27). During the chat Reigndrop told fans that she had acquired the rights to the full ‘Supernova’ album!

Reigndrop is very aware that fans really want this spiritual masterpiece available on all streaming platforms, so she promised to make that happen. She said that she has the rights to do whatever she wants with it. However, she said that she didn’t just want to put it out there, she wanted to do it right and release it at the right time.

In another live chat on Instagram, this time inviting fans to join her for a joint live chat, she further confirmed details about her plans for ‘Supernova’ when she spoke to Jordan, who asked her some specific questions about the release. She will indeed release the album in it’s original form to digital platforms, which will please the fans of the original album.

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In the absence of the album, fans have been making the most of the only other Left Eye album online, 2009’s ‘Eye Legacy‘, released by Mass Appeal, which remixed the majority of the tracks on ‘Supernova’. Fanpage Ultimate TLC as well as The Eye is Right used the album as a basis for a streaming party on Left Eye’s birthday this year.

Reigndrop also revealed that she is still working on a script for the upcoming Left Eye biopicwhich she will be executive producing. She will also be in charge of casting the actors who will need to fit all the criteria to fit the role of playing Lisa in the movie. Reigndrop says the biopic will go into more depth of Lisa’s childhood and upbringing to help fans know how she became the woman we all grew to know and love.

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Reigndrop is also still working on a book of memoirs about her sister. She wants the book to include the insights of people that have known Lisa. The book with Hype Williams, based on Lisa’s book ‘Open‘ — the original idea to feature an exclusive photo shoot she did with him is also still in the works, which Reigndrop will be a part of.

Are you excited about ‘Supernova’ being made available to streaming platforms?