Centennial Media released an exclusive collector’s edition tribute magazine in March 2022, dedicated to the life and legacy of the TLC superstar Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, entitled, ‘Centennial Legends Music Spotlight presents Lisa Lopes: Tribute to a Legend’.
The 98-page special looks back at the remarkable life and career of Left Eye, and offers a complete guide to all things Left Eye and TLC, from the very beginning of Lisa’s upbringing in Philadelphia and how her career began after her move to Atlanta, to the impact that her legacy has left on the music industry to this very day, with her influence present in artists like Nicki Minaj, Doja Cat and Cardi B, amongst others.
Other notable highlights in the special are the detailed milestones in Lisa’s career timeline; how she overcame her relationship issues and legal problems to still produce the biggest hits throughout the 90’s and cement TLC as the biggest-selling female group in the United States with 85 million albums sold to date!
The magazine also touches on the various ways T-Boz and Chilli have continued the legacy of Left Eye through their ongoing commitment to keep TLC alive, with new music, multiple television appearances, an upcoming musical and remaining a consistent presence on tour with sold out shows across the United States and all over the world.
There is even a fun quiz at the end of the magazine to test your TLC knowledge and see if you really are a big diehard fan! Major props to the publishers Ben Harris and Sebastian Raatz and the rest of the Centennial team who put in the work and research to make this project happen. It truly is one of a kind, Lisa will be so proud of this.
‘Lisa Lopes: Tribute to a Legend‘ will be available on all good newsstands until June 20th, 2022. It has been purchased by fans at stores such as Target, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Whole Foods, Giant Eagle, Walmart and Woodmans, to name but a few.
Not only did Lisa receive a phenomenal tribute magazine this year on the 20th year anniversary of her passing, Lisa was also honored with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the 6th annual Glitz & GirlPower Awards on March 31, 2022 in Hollywood, FL.
Lisa’s younger sister, Reigndrop Lopes, was in attendance at the show to receive the award on behalf of her sister. Here’s what the organisers had to say, “As a member of TLC, one of the most successful and beloved pop groups of all time, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes dedicated the last years of her life to the education and empowerment of humanity, through holistic healing.”
“Lisa’s spiritual journey began while traveling through the impoverished Central American country of Honduras – drawn to the regions natural beauty, and most of all, its people. While there, Lisa discovered that the key to physical, mental and spiritual health could be found in the earth’s natural resources; an insight Lisa was eager to share with millions.”
Lisa’s sister Reigndrop accepts Lisa’s Lifetime Achievement Award on March 31, 2022
“Today her legacy lives on through the Lisa Lopes Foundation, which is dedicated to assisting families in need, while empowering individuals with the tools to live a more self-sufficient and healthy lifestyle.”
Let’s hope we can get Lisa’s “Supernova” album released on digital platforms this year finally!It’s what Lisa would have wanted, her work of art touching as many ears as physically possible!
Big thank you to Jordan Cooper for filling me in on the Lifetime Achievement and Megan Dove for helping me get the magazine! 😊
Ciara didn’t come to play games this year for Halloween. After receiving praise for her Selena impersonation just a day previously, Ciara went all out today (Oct 30) and broke the Internet by posing as not just one, but all three members of TLC, as she recreated the iconic “No Scrubs” music video!
The attention to detail is on point, as Ciara convincingly pulls off her Chilli, T-Boz and Left Eye — even taking on Lisa’s epic rap verse, which often gets overlooked due to radio airplay time limits omitting the rap.
Posting on social media, Ciara shared a side-by-side image of herself as TLC next to the original pose of the group that she chose to replicate, and she did them justice! She was proud to represent for her fellow ATL sisters.
“Honoring my hometown girls TLC,” Ciara said. “Their swag was on another level. One of the best female groups of all time! This was so much fun!”
Even Chilli approves of Ciara’s tribute and showed her some love via Instagram under the post. Former Arista boss LA Reid also joined in the praise, commenting “Yeah C!!”.
Yolonda Frederick was responsible for providing the make-up duties to bring Ciara’s recreation to life. She reveals that TLC were actually her first celebrity clients! “They believed in me and they gave me a shot”, she wrote. “I will forever be grateful to these uber talented… beautiful girls… Love them to the moon and back”.
The hairstyles were handled by celebrity hairstylist César DeLeön Ramirêz and the costumes were created by LA ROXX.
The original video was directed by Hype Williams and it won TLC the MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video in 1999.
The year was 2009 when the blaxploitation 1970’s classic ‘Black Dynamite‘ was given a reboot on the big screen. That was when Cartoon Network‘s adult animated division Adult Swim decided to create an animated spin off series, based on storylines from the updated movie.
The original pilot episode of the animated series, executively produced by Carl Jones (‘The Boondocks‘), debuted in 2011. The series wasn’t released in full until 2012, lasting 2 seasons and airing 20 episodes in total.
T-Boz was no stranger to the world of animation. She had announced in 1999 that she was working on developing a cartoon with the Jim Henson Company, titled ‘It’s A Fly World’, although it never came to fruition.
She had also provided voice-over work for André 3000‘s Cartoon Network series ‘Class of 3000‘. “I did the voice, but they ended up going with someone else because I couldn’t get my voice to sound younger,” T-Boz told Billboard.
T-Boz was then hired by the Adult Swim company to play a guest role as Pam Grier on the second season of ‘Black Dynamite’. During this episode, Pam Grier is kidnapped along with some other top Blaxploitation actors, such as Rudy Ray Moore, and Jim Kelly, by the notorious Bill Cosby, who wants to transform actors into dignified representations of the black race.
“I was the reverse stripper,” T-Boz explained. “It was funny because I was supposed to be sexy, but I started off naked and put my clothes on.” While Bill Cosby is on his mission to force the changes, Black Dynamite, who is voiced by the original actor Michael Jai White, saves the day.
T-Boz later supplied her voice-over talents as a favor to The Asylum’s 2016 movie, ‘Trolland‘, where she played the character Jarvik. Ja Rule and Dick Van Dyke also star.
We hope to see T-Boz in more voice-over roles in the future, as well as acting roles!She starred in ‘After Masks‘ earlier this year.
TLC hit the road again this year to celebrate the success and legacy of their most iconic album to date, 1994’s ‘CrazySexyCool‘. Originally intended for a 25th anniversary celebration, the world had other plans with a global COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the tour and all other plans — including the musical and A&E documentary — to be postponed for almost two years — until now.
Following a lengthy hiatus from the stage, T-Boz and Chilli broke their 18-month absence with a live performance at the SweetstockFestival in Iowa on August 28, 2021, one of the various festival spot dates the girls are performing at that had been rescheduled from last year.
The energetic concert gave fans a preview of what to expect on the upcoming ‘Celebration of CrazySexyCool‘ tour, including new musical arrangements, additional tracks from the ‘CrazySexyCool’ album NEVER performed before, and six new dancers to occupy the stage with the girls.
The North American national amphitheater tour was a perfect setting for the girls, ensuring a safe outdoor atmosphere for everyone concerned about the COVID-19 situation (most venues require attendees to have been tested as negative prior to attending). During the only indoor show the girls performed at for theRNB Rewind Fest #9 in Los Angeles’ Toyota Arena on September 5, 2021, TLC and their dancers all wore face masks throughout their performance.
Chilli spoke to Forbes about her delight being allowed back on stage after such a long period of downtime. “I was at home for way too long. I was like, “Okay, oh my gosh, I’m ready. ” ‘Cause I love going on the road. It is like my favorite thing. So I love touring, and so I’m in heaven right now. I’m so excited.”
Forbes referred to this tour as a beginning for TLC, and noted that the girls are also working on some new music, something they have said before, as they told Cheddar back in 2019 that they will be recording more music to be used in their upcoming TLC musical which is still being developed and plans to hinge on stories the girls never told for their VH1 biopic, “CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story.“
The TLC Dancers
Chilli is most excited by the new dancers hired for the tour, who now consist of Will Simmons, Daquan Williams, Devin Pornel, Jadyn Hernandez, Kira Leach and Rehima Jordan. “Just the energy is different,” Chilli told Chicago Tribune . “It’s refreshing, but we’re teaching them how to catch the ‘TLC groove,’” she joked. “
“I’m like a machine. I’ve worked them hard,” Chilli admits. “Tionne, she goes a little easier, but not me. I just want it to be amazing … People are paying their money to come see us. We don’t take that for granted.” And that hard work and dedication certainly shows in the final result of the full-length concert.
The ‘CrazySexyCool’ tour starts off with a montage of TLC photos throughout their career on the large screen behind the stylish custom staircase on the stage. Along with the visuals are lots of ‘CrazySexyCool’ flashing logos, as the six dancers burst into an intensive routine whilst another new addition to the tour, superstar DJ Adrian “DJ Dubz” Wiltshire jams on the decks and introduces the tour over the sounds of a remix of the ‘CrazySexyCool’ “Intro-lude“.
The iconic sounds of a trumpet can then be heard, leading us to their first #1 single, “Creep“, being the perfect way to start off the celebration of the album. T-Boz and Chilli emerge from the top of a platform wearing shiny silk pajamas just like they wore in the music video for the hit single. Everyone from the dancers to theguitarist Mykal Curtis and DJ Dubz couldn’t resist getting involved with the dance routine.
The girls take a moment to thank the audience for attending the show before getting into an energetic performance of 1992’s “Hat 2 Da Back“, Chilli’s favorite song. The track then transitions to the Jermaine Dupri-produced “Kick Your Game“, a first time performance of the first verse and chorus. The medley concludes with a brief performance of 2002’s “Girl Talk“.
“This song should have been a single”, T-Boz declares about the next performance, the fan favorite “Case Of The Fake People“, another exclusive for the tour. “And I know you know what that is, because we’ve all got some fake ass people in our lives!”
They swiftly get into a dance break of the viral TikTok dance, the Chosen Breakfast Dougie Challenge with their dancers, showing the crowd how current and versatile they actually can be. The girls take a short break to change their outfits whilst DJ Dubz entertains the crowd with some dance interaction.
The group burst back onto the stage to reintroduce the crowd to 1992, taking them way back to the beginning of their career with performances of “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg” and “What About Your Friends?” from their debut album, ‘Ooooooohhh… on the TLC tip’. Fans are hyped to hear Left Eye’s verses intact with the live vocals of T-Boz and Chilli.
We then fast forward to 1999 with solid performances of the club anthem,”Silly Ho”, and the title track of that years comeback album, “FanMail”, the audio love letter dedicated to the fans thanking them for remaining loyal during the group’s five year hiatus between albums. “Just like you, I get lonely, too”.
The girls bring the party forward to their most recent release in 2017, “Way Back”, lifted from their self-titled album funded by their diehard fans via Kickstarter. T-Boz takes a moment to talk to the crowd in a poignant moment as she reflects on topics including the pandemic and the proetsts that followed after the police brutality and murder of George Floyd.
They give a striking performance of “American Gold“, a track she wished could have been a single. “Sumthin’ Wicked This Way Comes” follows straight after, featuring the opening verse by Outkast’s Andre 3000. During the performances are lots of visuals of people of all backgrounds uniting as one. The girls offered their gratitude to the troops, healthcare and frontline workers. Fans have been wanting this song performed for years, and the girls finally delivered.
The thought-provoking “Unpretty” came next, their 4th #1 single from the ‘Fanmail’ album, a song close to T-Boz, who wrote the single from her book of poetry, ‘Thoughts’. Chilli takes center stage with a sultry performance of “Take Our Time“. T-Boz returns to take lead on the seductive “Red Light Special“. The sexy aspect of CrazySexyCool is well and truly lit at this stage of the show. Hot!
“Diggin’ On You” came next, the final single released from the CrazySexyCool album in 1995. The girls take us to one of their greatest love songs, “Baby-Baby-Baby“, before Chilli gives the crowd a lecture on what kind of man they should not be entertaining, as they launch into their mega hit, “No Scrubs“.
DJ Dubz dives into his playlist and TLC and their dancers give us some ATL flava to the soundtrack of “Planet Rock”. The mood is then set for the finale of the show. “This one is my sister’s favourite song, so we’re gonna dedicate this one to Lisa”, T-Boz announces as they perform their timeless single, “Waterfalls“.
As the show comes to a close, the girls thank the crowd for their support and DJ Dubz gives shouts to T-Boz, Chilli, the dancers and the rest of the band — Terrail Moody, Eric Ewill Williams and Mykal Curtis.
The Celebration of CrazySexyCool tour is a must see for the day one fans and for the new generation of fans that have discovered the legacy of TLC through their family or through the ongoing love and respect from their peers, and the many artists inspired by them.
Tickets to the Celebration of CrazySexyCool tour are available at livenation.com and ticketmaster.com
VIP packages are limited and can be purchased HERE
Leon@TLCArmy
TLC-Army.com 