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.
En Vogue perform for DJ Cassidy
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.
SWV perform for DJ Cassidy
“‘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.”
Boyz II Men perform for DJ Cassidy
“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.”
TLC are the epitome of girl power! So much so, that they never see other female groups as competition and always give props to their peers. Instead, they would rather go head-to-head with male groups like Boyz II Men, who were just as successful as TLC at the peak of their careers in the 90’s.
TLC would playfully rival Boyz II Men with their succeses, trying to outdo each others’ record sales. To this date, they both have the same amount of top ten Billboard hits and number one singles. When it came to the groups like SWV, En Vogue and Xscape, TLC had nothing but support and respect for them.
Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas were special guests on T.I‘s hit podcast ‘ExpediTIously‘ (recorded back in April shortly after Tionne’s 50th Birthday when the COVID-19 lockdown began) airing on August 13, 2020 to set the record straight on a number of things — one thing specifically being to clear up a misconception that his previous guest Jermaine Dupri put out, stating that he was the reason T-Boz got her iconic low register singing style.
“The reason why it’s important for me to say something, as a black woman in this industry — for both of us to not sleep our way up, suck our way up, and for me to do this off of my talent”, Tionne states regarding her statement. “Certain accolades that you’ve worked hard for, you can’t let people take that from you”.
“The other day when JD was on your show — some things were very inaccurate. It was like a revision of history — that’s when somebody changes what happened in the past and makes it different. I have proof, facts are facts.” Tionne goes on to state that she appreciates what Jermaine did for her, but she wants to set the record straight on how she started her deep singing style, auditioning for Ian Burke and Rico Wade before Jermaine had ever heard her sing.
“When I first met Lisa in Second Nature, Rico and Ian came to my house because a girl named Crystal wanted to start a group”, Tionne says. “Lisa stayed out in the car, so I hadn’t met her yet (she was QT at the time). When they came in I did my dance, my ATL thing.” She sang the 1987 hit song “Still A Thrill” by Jody Watley, which also helped her know she can sing deep, and 1990’s “Wanna Get With U” by Guy. “I was rocking the low notes since I was 17 years old”.
T-Boz in 2nd Nature with Lisa and Crystal in 1990
Jermaine hearing T-Boz singing deep led him to place her on demo’s for his upcoming group at the time, Kris Kross. Tionne praised JD for helping her feel comfortable singing low after producing her first demo, “I Got It Goin’ On“, and not fearing being called gay for singing deep.
“I came out [with TLC] and they thought I was gay anyway because of the way I was dressed, but back then I didn’t wanna fight a fight that wasn’t mine, but my mom said it doesn’t matter what people think, as long as you and God know”, Tionne says. “So JD did have a good idea to just keep it as my thing. He made me feel confident doing something that I was already doing and it turned out to be great for us”.
After this week’s highly anticipated Verzuz episode with Brandy vs Monica, is the world any closer to receiving a TLC Verzuz episode? Musicians like SWV and Xscape have offered to go up against TLC in a Verzuz battle, but TLC have other plans for the suggestions. “People compare us to other girl groups just because we’re girls, but I think we’re all different”, Tionne states. “In my opinion, we never like to be compared to females — there’s no competition, we support each other”, Chilli adds. “We felt our competition was more with boy bands, so I’d say maybe TLC against Boyz II Men or something”.
Previous Verzuz ideas with SWV and Xscape
T-Boz reminds us that they have always shared love with the females, by adding Christina Aguilera, Destiny’s Child and Blaque as openers to the FanMail tour in 2000. “We were never in competition with them”, she insists. As for the Boyz II Men Verzuz, T-Boz had this to say to them, “We’re calling you out, come get some! Let’s go, Verzuz!”
Dealing with coronavirus
Chilli: We have a lot of TV stuff we’re working on behind the scenes. Sadly, we’re supposed to be on the road right now. The tours are all cancelled until next year. Hopefully they find a vaccine soon or something.
T-Boz: I’m scared to take it, I’m not taking it!
Chilli: I get the flu shot every year, I don’t play! I’m not opposed to a vaccine, I just don’t want to be the first to take it! I’ll wait a while. Get oregano oil and cod liver oil [to boost your immune system]. Regardless of the news, they do not understand this stuff. When I go to the grocery store, masked up and keeping my distance —
T-Boz: Respecting the rules!
Chilli: A couple of people I’ve had to tell to get back. But even kids with nothing on, it doesn’t have to be a professional mask. We need to take this seriously. Boost your immune system and stay safe.
T-Boz: On a serious note, there’s people like me with sickle cell disease with no cure; my mom has cancer right now and my daughter has Lupus. It suppresses our immune system. So there’s people like us who can’t fight off stuff like that who can die. So, when you’re not respecting the rules you affect people’s lives tremendously, people like me who can’t afford to catch anything.
Spitting bars and group roles
T-Boz: Lisa was always the rapper. But we did a [rap] song on the first album.
Chilli: Marley Marl! Do you remember him, the producer? We did a song with him, and said you should all rap. I was shaking in my boots!
T-Boz: I sounded like a man! I sound manly as hell! I know why they thought I was gay now, they were coming for me!
Chilli: I was very proud of my rap, I was so excited, it came out good. Lisa told me that she was proud of me. That’s the only time that happened. Everybody came in the group already doing their thing. Lisa was a rapper, she doesn’t sing. That’s the special thing about this group, we were like three solo artists put together, and it just works. That’s our formula. We respect each others lanes.
Beating SWV to be called TLC
T-Boz: What’s funny is SWV were TLC at first [Taj, Lelee, Coko]. But they didn’t legally lock it in, so Pebbles got it. So they became Sisters With Voices.
Chilli: That was the name of their group, yes. It was like whoever came out first. We just happened to beat them to the punch with that one.
What are your thoughts on TLC Verzuz with Boyz II Men or BBD?
The R&B groups of the 90’s aren’t done with the topic of a girl group 90’s Verzuz battle just yet. Tamika Scott of the group Xscape today (July 29, 2020) gave Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins a public reply, in response to T-Boz saying she would willingly battle the any of groups back in May. “It would have to be in a ‘nice and love’ way, a friendly competition”, she insisted.
Tamika reached out to T-Boz via Instagram, to inform her that she has the blessing of her group mate Tameka “Tiny” Harris and SWV member Lelee Lyons. Tamika said, “Okay T-Boz, I hear you… I spoke with Tiny last night and I spoke with Lelee today. We’re here for it, let’s do it for the culture! Let’s have some fun ladies!!”
A post shared by Tamika Scott (@therealtamikascott) on
It is currently unclear how three groups could carry out a head-to-head challenge, but if the technicalities can be figured out this would be an epic Verzuz episode, breaking the boundaries and making new rules for a three-way challenge for the first time.
As long as one member from each group agrees, this could finally happen. The Verzuz team have already teased some interest in the acts included in this challenge, so it’s just a waiting game.
Verzuz has quickly become one of the most powerful quarantine-friendly entertainment platforms going. Ever since March 2020, music artists have been having a blast taking part in Verzuz challenges, set up by Timbaland and Swizz Beats. In this online series on Instagram, two artists engage in a face off with a selection of their biggest hits for a friendly competition with each other.
In the past, the series has featured some memorable battles, kicking off with The-Dream vs Sean Garrett, Ne-Yo vs Johnta Austin, Ryan Tedder vs Benny Blanco, Scott Storch vs Mannie Fresh, T-Pain vs Lil’ Jon, Erykah Badu vs Jill Scott, Nelly vs Ludacris, Bounty Killer vs Beenie Man, 112 vs Jagged Edge, and most notably the Babyface vs Teddy Riley battle, which was infamously overwhelmed with technical difficulties and over performing on Teddy’s side. Once they rescheduled and ironed out the kinks, the show later ran smoothly, much to the delight of the fans.
The Verzuz Instagram highlighted a comment Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins made this week on a post regarding a TLC Verzuz battle with the girl groups SWV and Xscape, which she co-signed and it went viral on the blogs. Since then, thousands of fans have shown their approval to the suggestion. “Text us at (718) 866 -1775 and tell us“, Verzuz stated on the post.
The suggestion was actually presented to her last month on her 50th birthday (April 26), by her brother Carnoy “Koko” Watkins. He suggested that TLC should do a Verzuz battle with Destiny’s Child, although Tionne initially protested and said there are other groups besides them.
“That would be fun“, T-Boz said. “It would have to be in a ‘nice and love’ way, a friendly competition.” The Spice Girls could also be considered, as a battle between the two biggest-selling girl groups in the world would be an iconic moment.
TLC in 1999 (Photo: Ron Davis)
Girl groups aside, TLC could even battle a male group. With the strength of their solid catalog, they have the capabilities the battle against boy and girl groups. Candidates like Boyz II Men and BBD, who were also considered to be their competition at the peak of their careers.
Lelee of SWV comments on the Verzuz
Not only is being part of a Verzuz battle great for the culture, it will also give the featured artists a major boost in their music sales and streams. Jill Scott and Erykah Badu saw their streams triple after their battle on May 9, whilst Babyface saw his Instagram followers rocket from a modest 420k to 1.1 million, after his rescheduled battle with Teddy Riley on April 20. This is now known as the Verzuz effect.
“A lot of people call it battles — we’re battling enough in the world today“, Swizz Beats said about the Verzuz series. “Let’s flip it around by celebrating each other with these amazing songs that changed the world“.
Who do you think TLC should do a Verzuz battle with? Vote below!
Leon@TLCArmy
