RIAA Update Sales of TLC’s “No Scrubs” Confirming 5x Platinum Status

Leon@TLCArmyOctober 17, 2020October 24, 2020 1 Comment

The RIAA have officially confirmed that the sales of TLC‘s anthem “No Scrubs” have significantly boosted since it’s release back in March 1999. On October 13, 2020 the RIAA stated that the iconic hit was 5x platinum, a major increase since it’s previous gold certification on April 27, 1999.

This serves as great news for the girls and for the fans, who have been eagerly waiting for the RIAA to update the certifications of TLC’s record and album sales, most of which have not been updated since their original time of release.

Last year, we revealed that the ‘CrazySexyCool‘ album was re-certified by the RIAA to reflect the additional sales of the masterpiece, which is now 12x platinum. It’s previous certification was two decades ago on July 2, 1999 when it was officially 11x platinum. A large portion of the album sales increased as a result of the hit VH1 movie, ‘CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story’, which both T-Boz and Chilli served as executive producers.

Other TLC releases hoping for updated RIAA certifications include the ‘FanMail’ album, (which the girls claim is very close to going diamond) was certified 6x platinum on June 26, 2000; ‘3D‘, last certified x1 platinum on December 10, 2002; ‘Ooooooohhh on the TLC tip‘, last certified as 4x platinum on May 1, 1996.

And the singles, “Waterfalls“, certified 1x platinum on July 31, 1995; “Creep“, certified x1 platinum on January 6, 1995; “What About Your Friends“, certified gold on November 19, 1992; “Unpretty“, certified gold on September 20, 1999; “Hands Up/Girl Talk“, certified gold on May 15, 2003; “Baby-Baby-Baby“, certified 1x platinum on September 29, 1992; “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg“, certified as 1x platinum on May 15, 1992; “Diggin’ On You“, certified as gold on January 3, 1996; “Red Light Special“, certified gold on April 17, 1995.

Sony Music Entertainment celebrates some of the biggest hits of the 90’s with the premiere of My 90s Playlist, a new podcast exploring some of the decade’s most iconic songs and groundbreaking artists. The show’s first episode features a deep dive into the history of hit R&B group TLC and the making of their chart-topping single “No Scrubs.” Listen to the podcast here.

In the meantime, give “No Scrubs” a listen on a streaming service of your choice to celebrate it’s milestone!

Announcement, Appearance, Concert, Music, News

TLC, SWV, En Vogue & Boyz II Men Perform Virtually For DJ Cassidy’s ‘Pass The Mic’ Special

Leon@TLCArmyOctober 14, 2020October 14, 2020 Leave a comment

The first two “Pass the Mic” shows from DJ Cassidy counted as veritable mic-drops for fans of vintage R&B and hip-hop, bringing epic medleys that brought stars from Earth, Wind and Fire to Doug E. Fresh back to reprise a verse or two of their classic hits in a dance-music collage. “Volume Three” is premiered Tuesday night, zeroing in on the late ’80s/early ’90s nexus of R&B history.

In additon to the legendary TLC, other great artists taking part in the exclusively virtual performance include Boyz II Men, Joi of Jade, K-Ci of Jodeci, En Vogue, SWV, Keith Sweat, BBD and Shanice, to name but a few.

DJ Cassidy points to the number of women who were triumphing, separately and collectively, in the late ’80s and beyond as proof of the health and wealth of R&B at that time.

“I haven’t left my house in over four weeks, since I’ve been working on ‘Volume Three’,” Cassidy says to Variety. “It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever assembled in my DJ career.”

The DJ mentions that 15 No. 1 Billboard hits from that time frame will be included, as newly sung on camera by the original artists, with a total of 23 well-remembered songs covered in one 37-minute swoop. The fact that he has 43 individuals showing up to do those 23 songs suggests that there are a good deal of groups involved in this one — not all of them female — so you can take from that whatever lineup clues you might.

“‘Weak,’ my favorite SWV song, you just feel it down your spine. I know everyone’s going to go, “Oh s—, Coko.” She’s singing. And then right before the chorus, I bring on Taj and I bring on Lelee, and then each one is singing their harmony note and they’re all in their own box. And it shows you how great they are, because literally it sounds like they were doing it together. With these groups, I raised the volume of the harmonies, which you might not hear so prevalent in the mix of a final song, but I made them so you can hear everyone.

With TLC, T-Boz comes on first and then I go ‘Chilli, take them to the bridge’ — just those moments of when you’re not sure if you’re getting the whole group and then you get ‘em are amazing.”

“The great thing about this, unlike an awards show or an episode of ‘Saturday Night Live,’ is that it only gets better with time. The live event is a fun way to get people in the chat room and talking about it and people going crazy about ‘Oh my God, who’s coming next.’ But once you put it up then it really starts to be to passed around, it takes on a life of its own.”

You catch watch the full episode of ‘Pass The Mic Volume Three’ on DJ Cassidy’s Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

Thank you @keithsweat @kcihailey @officialswv @therealcokoswv @tajgeorge @therealleleeswv @shaniceonline @stevenrussellhartss @chuckiibooker @after7music @therealkevonedmonds7 @hakimabdulsamad @envoguemusic @cindyherronbraggs @terryellis @officialmissrnb @iamdireed @aquilaphil @therealmangelo1 @kirkland_ek @free_dadreamer @bigbubtoday @fullforceworld @thebowlegged1 @therealpaulanthony @beeisbad @geeniusmusic @therealfathermc @officialchristopherwilliams @realjohnnygill22 @officialbellbivdevoe @mrrickybell @617mikebiv @bigrondevoe kingbobbybrown @therealralphtresvant @teddyriley1 @boyziimen @wanyamorris1 @shawnstockmanofficial and @nathanmorrisphd. You are all my heroes. 👑🎙👑 #PassTheMic

A post shared by DJ Cassidy (@djcassidy) on Oct 13, 2020 at 9:45pm PDT

Anniversary, History, Interview, Music, News

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

Leon@TLCArmyJuly 29, 2020July 29, 2020 Leave a comment

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.

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.

‘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

Anniversary, Competition, Music, Review

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

Leon@TLCArmyJuly 2, 2020July 2, 2020 1 Comment

(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.

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!

TLC-Army.com

The official domain for TLC Army – the fans of TLC!

Music

RIAA Update Sales of TLC’s “No Scrubs” Confirming 5x Platinum Status

TLC, SWV, En Vogue & Boyz II Men Perform Virtually For DJ Cassidy’s ‘Pass The Mic’ Special

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

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