“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.
TLC sat down with Beats 1 on April 25, 2018, the 16th anniversary of the passing of the beloved Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes.
On Cardi B Paying Them Homage
T-Boz: “I know she wore my outfits at the Grammys and she wore Lisa’s hair. It was our whole Grammys-TLC feel when we were on stage, and she said Left Eye on one song, and paid homage to TLC on another song — our “Creep” song and then our name, too. She did it twice and she also paid us love on our page. So a lot of love — it was awesome.”
On TLC’s Legacy
T-Boz: “It’s really an honor. You never think people are going to be — like, you always wish that, you want that. We would always say, ‘we want to be trendsetters. We want little girls to dress like us.’ But when you actually see them do it for Halloween, and have birthday parties, and generations — the grandma, the mom, and the daughter — all at the concerts. It’s really amazing. We’re blessed to be 25 years in, and people are still doing it.”
Chilli: “We are really blessed. And like she said, as an artist when you’re new coming out, your dream is to be able to have that type of effect — a positive one — on everybody, and to have that longevity. You don’t know if that’s going to be your story, so time tells that, and it has. It’s been 20 plus years, and even Bruno Mars, for that matter — the video that he had featuring Cardi B — it was almost like our “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” video, and he had on a TLC t-shirt! It’s amazing and it’s a blessing for us to see that. It makes us feel really good and lets us know, OK we did it right. We’re still doing it, so yes, it is awesome.”
On The Anniversary of Left Eye’s Passing
Chilli: “First of all, when you think of the word anniversary — I mean, I know that it’s a date that something took place. But when you think about that, you think of happy times.
When people celebrate the anniversary of a wedding, or a marriage, or a relationship of any kind, and it seems like to me it’s all something cheerful, and there’s nothing cheerful to me about her passing. I mean nothing. We don’t go out of our way to do anything like that. I mean, when her birthday comes around, yes, we talk about that, but not the death.”
T-Boz: “But we celebrate it all year round. I mean really because we always incorporate her in everything we do. We always keep her memory alive. We showcase the great things, like why people loved her. So yeah, like when anybody else’s mom or sister dies, I don’t know a lot of people who celebrate cake or anything.”
Hard to believe it has been 22 years since we have enjoyed this ground breaking album, which broke down the barriers for many of todays music acts and enabled R&B to crossover into the mainstream!
TLC followed up their hugely successful 1992 debut album ‘Ooooooohhh… on the TLC Tip’ with a more laid back, grown and sexy approach with the help of Jermaine Dupri, Organized Noize, Babyface and Dallas Austin.
In between the recording of the album, Left Eye’s personal life became headline news when her relationship with Atlanta Falcon’s footballer Andre Rison went up in flames, literally!
Lisa accidentally burnt down Andre’s mansion while merely trying to torch a set of tennis shoes in the bathtub after a dispute between the two. She was arrested and sentenced to rehab after the event.
While on the way to the diversion center, Lisa saw a rainbow in the sky. It went on to be the inspiration behind her rap in the record breaking and probably the most important song of the 90s, ‘Waterfalls’!
Despite selling more than 10 million copies in the US alone, becoming the first group to earn a diamond certified album, TLC filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy following the revelation of their not so great contracts with their label and former manager.
Left Eye’s personal affairs clearly boosted interest and sales of the single and album, but the music speaks for itself.
The standard of the songs, top quality production and the unique style and chemistry of T-Boz, Chilli and Left Eye made this timeless album stand the test of time, remaining just as important to the world after 22 years as it was in 1994!
Leon@TLCArmy
