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Announcement, Appearance, News, Television, Tribute

TLC To Be Portrayed in Andre Rison Biopic ‘Wide Open’

Leon@TLCArmy's avatarLeon@TLCArmy 1 Comment

Andre Rison, the former Atlanta Falcon and previous boyfriend of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, has decided to produce a biopic based on his life, ‘Wide Open: The Andre Rison Story’, after the success of the 2020 Lifetime special, ‘Hopelessly In Love: Lisa Lopes & Andre Rison‘, a documentary that chronicled the ups and downs of their relationship.

Rison announced that the project was in the works last year and subsequently sent out a casting call in August to hire talent in Atlanta to play the various characters in the movie, including Tupac Shakur, Deion Sanders and of course, the members of TLC.

The actresses hired to play TLC are Ashanti Harris as Chilli, Tetisheri Moniz as T-Boz, and Chaz aka Pink B as Left Eye. Pink B has been compared to Left Eye for having very similar looks. She had a small cameo in the VH1 biopic, ‘CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story‘ in 2013, playing a friend of Lil’ Mama, who played Left Eye in that film.

Pink B says that although some people wanted her to get the role of Left Eye in the VH1 biopic, she wasn’t ready at the time. “I’ve experienced a lot and did acting classes and went through a spiritual change so now is better than ever!”, she said on Instagram.

Andre Rison will be directing the film alongside film director Jerry D. May. In a press release, it states that Rison ‘takes off the gloves and gives it to you raw in the real story behind the ESPN, VH1, fluff. Film director Jerry D. May and best-selling author Derrick Handspike teamed up to produce what many are calling one of the most anticipated celebrity biopic films since “The OJ Simpson Story”.’

Rison has an in-depth relationship with TLC. Not only was he the love of Lisa’s life, he was also very supportive of T-Boz and Chilli, helping all three ladies during the infamous lawsuit they went through in 1996 when they filed for bankruptcy.

We look forward to seeing what details he provides for us and how the portrayal of TLC will be in this movie!

Will you be watching ‘Wide Open’?

Announcement, Television, Tribute

Normani Pays Homage To TLC During Her ‘Wild Side’ VMA Performance

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Normani and the members of her former group Fifth Harmony have always been huge fans of TLC, and they would always show them love, praising them as inspirations in interviews and covering their songs in various shows.

Normani has paid some more homage this week, when she deservedly was presented with the opportunity to perform her latest single, “Wild Side“, at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, and she did not disappoint!

Normani delivered the TV debut of “Wild Side” in a TLC inspired silver metallic outfit that drew from the group’s 1999 “No Scrubs” video. Normani was joined by a group of backup dancers in similar outfits that accompanied Normani as she danced across the stage.

Normani’s performance for the song, which samples Aaliyah’s “One in a Million”, also featured choreography very reminiscent of Aaliyah’s music video for the hit 1996 track.

She then gave us a raunchy dose of Janet Jackson inspired choreography, when she brought out singer Teyana Taylor out on stage, strapped to a human shaped platform, where she then seductively danced around and over Teyana, very much like Janet seduces a fan during the segment on her own tour.

Fans were also quick to point out the similarities and excitedly took to Twitter:

https://twitter.com/dlceszn/status/1437232826299166721?s=19

What were your thoughts on the Normani VMA performance?

Announcement, News, Tribute

Funko Release Second Line Of TLC Pop Vinyls From Their 1992 Debut Album

Leon@TLCArmy's avatarLeon@TLCArmy 2 Comments

Funko received so much praise for the first set of TLC Pop! Rocks vinyl figures, they have now commissioned a second set of TLC Pops, which they announced this week (July 1)!

The first TLC Pops that were released earlier this year, were based on their look in the “Waterfalls” music video, taken from the 1994 album, ‘CrazySexyCool‘. They even came with limited edition ‘Chase’ variants, which were translucent to represent the scenes of the video where the girls transformed into water figures!

Funko are now releasing a set based on TLC’s earlier, more colorful look from their debut single, “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg“, taken from the album, 1992’s ‘Ooooooohhh… on the TLC tip‘, set for release on August 26, 2021!

Funko revealed a huge assortment of upcoming Pop Vinyls, as part of their new Popapalooza event, some of your favorite artists, bands, and albums are coming to life in glorious Pop Vinyl format. Popapalooza is a first-time event for fans to enjoy!

Inspired by the Lollapalooza music festival that began in the early ’90s and continues to this day, you can expect to see many more Pop Rocks figures based on musicians from the past and present which launched on June 30th and July 1st.

funko-popapalooza-top

Popapalooza Day 1 Releases for June 30th

Popapalooza Day 2 Releases for July 1st

It would be great if Funko make this a hat trick and give us a look from the ‘FanMail‘ era! TLC Pops in “No Scrubs” mode, or the mystical looks from the “Unpretty” video.

Will you be getting the new set of TLC Pops?

Interview, News, Television, Tribute

Kiely Williams Star of ‘BET Presents The Encore’: “3LW Were Inspired By TLC”

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Kiely Williams is a founding member of the R&B girl group 3LW, whose platinum self-titled debut album, ‘3LW‘, was released in 2000, with hits such as “Playas Gon Play“, “No More (Baby I’ma Do Right)”, and “I Do (Wanna Get Close To You)”, taken from the follow-up album, 2002’s ‘A Girl Can Mack’.

After Kiely ended her time with 3LW, which also consisted of members Naturi Naughton, Adrienne Bailon, and Jessica Benson (replacing Naturi in 2003), she took the opportunity to join another girl group in 2002 with Adrienne — The Cheetah Girls — along with Raven-Symoné and Sabrina Bryan — for the Disney franchise, until 2008.

Kiely has been most notably quiet since the groups ended, focusing on family life, but she has finally broken her silence this year, as she is one of the stars of ‘BET Presents The Encore‘, an experimental reality show to see how nine former R&B stars can come together to form a super girl group!

She spoke with BET’s Noteworthy this week to talk all things girl groups, and admits that she has a real passion for 90’s R&B. When the hosts asked Kiely about the 3LW influences from other girl groups before hers, Kiely proudly reveals that her group was very inspired by the style and the individual characteristics of the legendary TLC!

“We modeled ourselves after, I guess more TLC, with the idea that each person had their own individual style, and not having like, one main lead singer”, Kiely states about the magical formula that helped TLC stand out from the crowd. “People sung, people rap, people danced, people did everything”.

“We did it that way, rather than like with The Supremes model, where there is a lead singer and back up singers”, Kiely continues. “So, we definitely modeled ourselves after TLC, but still in our own little way. The idea for 3LW was little women, that we are — we might be small, but we are mighty! We know our business”.

TLC have always been supportive and open to other girl groups doing their thing, as they never saw girl groups as competition — they would rather compare themselves to guy groups like Bell Biv Devoe and Boyz II Men!

Back in 2001, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes told MTV News that she indeed was a fan of 3LW. “Let’s see, I like 3LW. The first time I saw the ad, I did think it looked like a JCPenney ad”, Lisa jokes. “But, it took me to watch the video of the girls in action, and they are adorable. They are doing their [thing]”.

“Look, this is how it is”, Lisa concludes. “Anybody can copy TLC — either you got it, or you don’t.”

Kiely reveals why she loves girl groups so much. “For me personally, growing up, I was always a fan of Total, Xscape, Brownstone, the list can go on and on. But I love R&B girl groups. I love 90’s R&B in general. I think it was the best era”.

Watch ‘BET Presents The Encore’ every Wednesday 10/9c on BET