"#WithLoveFromUncleKyle Part 2 Interview"

So here is the interview everybody! Sorry it took so long to get it done! Here is Part 2 of the interview we did with one of Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes' uncles, fashion designer Kyle Young! We hope you enjoy! We discussed the “Supernova” LP, Uncle Kyle’s relationship with Lisa, Lisa’s & Uncle Kyles friendship with the late Prince, The ‘Never Be The Same Again’ Tour & more!!!

Ever since he joined the group, and even before then, Kyle Young has always been in the faces of many fans in respect and love of us, himself, and his niece, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, showing an immense amount of love, honesty, and appreciation. He even would go out his way to answer questions many of us fans have in regards of Lisa, and he would give us his most memorable and honest answers. He also held an auction years ago, selling some of his clothes he made for Lisa that he held onto specifically with the fans only because he knew we would appreciate it more, and decided to do an exclusive interview with one of Left Eye’s fan groups! If you knew Uncle Kyle, he has no problem being one of the people speaking in her defense since she is no longer here to speak for herself that knew and loved her. When doing Part 1 of this interview, so much info was passed that we couldn’t even get through the entire list of questions, and got only half of them answered! So if you have any further curiosity, in regards of Left Eye and TLC, it may end here, but how rude would it be to interview this man, and not ask any questions about himself at least! So I needed to be the one

Born in September of 1962, raised in San Fernando, St. Maries, Trinidad, Kyle Young has always had the taste for Fashion since his early years, idolizing gowns, but just like his mother, he is also a singer. “Most of everybody in my family sings. I used to be in a singing group in a church called Fortress, and I also been a choir director for about 40 years. I love anything that’s artistic.” He also makes abstract art. “I used to get paid for just illustrating. I’ve been doing that for a long time.”

As we spoke, we talked about the time Lisa left Philly to go to Atlanta with a guy named Lorenzo, how she made her music video debut as a fly girl in his music video “Angel”. I brought up how Lisa said in an interview that she was in another girl group before TLC. He remembers, but not sure if it’s the group she may have been talking about in the interview, because he doesn’t remember another group after until Second Nature to TLC. “I don’t remember the name… I know there was another group she was in here [Philly], but I thought they were a group of girls that just went to showcases and challenges. I didn’t think it was an official group.” I clarified she never clarified that the group was serious about it or not, or when it was. We carried on, and he stated “We loaned her money when she wanted to go to Atlanta, and a suitcase. She was staying with us back and forth [at the point before she left]. Wanda would put her out sometimes. So she would stay with us periodically. When she moved to Atlanta, we helped her with the funds to get there, and whenever she wanted to come back, I would Western Union her some more money. That was our deal, and we’d tell her “Don’t come back until you do what you came to do!” She would get hyped about that part, saying “Yes! Yes!” and it would make her smile because it showed we believed in her that much.” He mentioned that family members, including his late father in law [Wanda’s father, who passed away around Lisa’s 15’s Anniversary of her passing in 2017]. He was like a father to me. He told Lisa “If you come back, you have to work in a factory.” She was very hurt by that. “We’re not paying all this money for this to not happen. Atlanta or bust!”. He continued about her having a determined attitude, and over the next couple of months, she would call, and tell us who she met, and she said “Wish me luck!” when she was auditioning for Ian Burke. She was going to rap for this guy who was a manager, and the rest was history!

With Uncle Kyle being a man of fashion, I had to ask him about what he thought of TLC’s look when they debuted with ‘Ooooooohhh… on the TLC Tip!’: “It wasn’t something that I liked. I know the objective was to be a female version of Bell Biv DeVoe, the cross color thing was in, and I was doing clothes for Diana Ross, and Lena Horne. I was doing those type of elaborate things. So I wasn’t into it, initially. The look they had at first wasn’t that great until Pebbles came and revamped it. She literally went out to the stores and bought the clothes. What people see is Pebbles vision. I believe Pebbles came up with the bandages in alternative of the condoms Lisa had only came up with along with the accessories and condoms.” He remembers when he first met T-Boz: “I first met T-Boz is when they put Chilli out the group. They went on a national hunt for a new members, and Philly was one of their stops. When they came to Philly, that’s when I met Tionne. She was a sweet lady! We hit it off! She was into fashion and said “I saw your fashion! [in an enthusiastic voice]” I loved her voice, and in fact, she wasn’t singing in that lower register. She sang in an Alto. She was also coaching one of the girls [that auditioned to replace Chilli], and while coaching her, she was singing the song for the girl, and we all clapped! She was really good!” He met Chilli much later on, a brief moment at a state fair, but didn’t really sit with her until they were all on set of the “Hat 2 da Back” music video. He continued: “One of my daughters was in the “Hat 2 da Back” music video with Lisa. DJ Dolomite was there while they were playing with bats. Pebble’s son was in the video too, but there was also a brief moment before that where we came to the city of Atlanta on a trip to see Lisa while they were on tour (MC Hammer Tour). We were at a state fair and we met Chilli there. It was really quick. She was actually leaving. She had a little buggie, a little Volkswagen. She said “Hi” and gave us hugs first before she left. We all loved both of the girls. Back then, they were really sisters! They were truly acting like sisters! Lisa was so overwhelmingly happy about them.”

His favorite moment being around TLC? It took him a while. He couldn’t come up with just one. He said “It’s was while they were still on the MC Hammer Tour.” That’s when we met Wanya Morris, too. We were at Jerry’s Deli in California. It was so funny! I don’t think Chilli came with us, but Tionne was making jokes like crazy, and was making jokes with the Wayan Brothers. One of the Wayan Brothers had a white girl with him. So she started busting on the girl! She didn’t care where she was. She was like “Yeah, you talk now when you got that white girl on your arms!” She went there with him! And he was like “I don’t see color! I don’t see color!” and she was like “Yeah, since you got some money, you don’t see color!” It was a back and forth, but it was hilarious, and she was jumping on everybody! She jumped on the bodyguard! She said “You fat! I bet you got a small dick!” He was like “You don’t want me to pull it out right here!” She was like “Pull it out! Yeah!”. She started taking bets and she started talking with the people at the next table! I was like “Come on, man! Really?” but it was hilarious!” But he made sure to say one that had Chilli in it, and it was quite the moment! “I remember. They were on tour. Chilli had us all falling out! We were getting out of a limo, on our way into a hotel, and there was this really fat guy that looked like Reverend Al Sharpton, and she started talking to him like Al Sharpton like “We’re gathered here...” She started talking to him in his voice, and were falling out laughing! At first, he didn’t catch on. He was just like “Yeah baby! Yeah!” He wasn’t catching onto what she was doing. She was going on and on! We were outside, standing with this dude for about half an hour, and he wasn’t catching on. When she was done, we fell out! Everybody couldn’t believe it, and she stayed in acting mode! She stayed in that character mode! After she lost it, we started walking away.” I asked him “What did he think she was doing?” and Uncle Kyle wasn’t sure. He said “He came off of kind of slow and he was probably thinking it was just basic conversation. He was like “Yeah baby! I go to church too! Yeah!” She was like “I hope you go to church! Jesus walked the waters!” He didn’t catch it until she said something, and it just made sense. Lisa or Tionne lost it, and we all fell out! Chilli gave him a hug and kept on going.”

A moment passed by, and we ended up drifting from the questions and ended up catching up with each other, brushing back into our last topic. The last time we left off in part 1 where we were speaking in regards of Lisa’s solo album ‘Supernova’. He said Arista Records expected the album to enter in the Top 10 of the Billboard Charts or the Top 100, but it didn’t. He said fans weren’t buying it like they would buy a TLC album, and because of that, they released it in Europe first. I took the moment to express to him more on the fans expectations of the album, how much I find the album not able to be replicated, and how I always come back to this album. ‘Supernova’ is a true work of personal art and therapy that a lot of people won’t understand because of how worldly and friendly yet dark and personal it is. Like Lisa said, the album goes through stages like a embryo. I believe the album is ahead of it’s time, because some of the music I hear now, some of the sounds from ‘Supernova’ are low-key being replicated. Uncle Kyle dove in to say “Her flow is different. She did what she wanted to do with this album. You gotta understand, she purposely invented the Left Eye character. She wanted her to be catty.”

With all this talk of the music, I did ask what did he think of the ‘FanMail’ album. “I love the ‘FanMail’ album.” but the album he gravitate most to is ‘CrazySexyCool’ because he worked more with them on the album. He starts to express his love for the album and says his favorite look he made for them was the silk pajamas he made for them during the Budweiser Superfest Tour “It was another pair of silk pajamas I made where it was a crop top, backless with straps, and pajama pants. They were the cutest thing and the girls were fighting over those! They were real silk and they were sweating it out in real silk on stage! It was a problem because I only made 1 duplicate and they had to dry clean it at every stop. They ain’t wanna pay us by nothing for it too.” I asked him if he made the silk pajamas in the 3rd music video shoot. He said yes and he styled the girls during the first “Creep” video, saying him and Tionne went to NY and pulled some stuff from Versal. Now for the final video, he spilled the beans that TLC did not wear the initial silk pajamas he made for them for the video shoot. TLC’s then main assistant, Joselyn, said that the iron was too hot and that both Lisa and Tionne’s pajamas got scorched when they were being ironed. They had iron marks on them. “We had to run and pull silk pajamas from Melrose to finish up that part of the video. They were cheesy, old, assitate pajamas, but I’m a designer. I can find things that look good! When we opened it up, of course, Tionne was like “Oh these old shits? These old things?” Well, they ironed the actual ones and they scorched it! I was like “I can’t make another one! I’m already here!”” He said he wanted to make 2 more, but they had no choice but to go and find more. He also said T-Boz and Chilli weren’t down for the silk pajamas idea and that Lisa had to encourage them to try it. “When I made them, they were like “Aw, this the shit! This the shit!”” I asked him if he can tell me who made the first “Creep” video since he worked on it, but he couldn’t remember. He said he has the paper work still. So he can look it up and tell me later. He said he wished he had pictures of them wearing the pajamas on the tour. I asked him why Chilli have two looks. He said “ I know they colorized the look...I know it was silver/gray and they colorized one of the looks.” He said they had different color looks, including canary yellow that the girls didn’t like. He said the girls would pick and choose the ones they wanted but when Julie stepped in the picture, it wasn’t like that with her. He said, in Julie’s voice “Nooo, Uncle Kyle! They could never do that shit to me!” and she would choose the look for them.” We ended up talking about the “Dear Lie” video and he said Lisa had an eye infection and that her hair stylist had to help find a way to cover it up, but his favorite looks are the silk pajamas he made for the BSF Tour and the white coveralls with chains for the ‘CrazySexyCool’ album shoot.

We got back to the questions. It was a hard to get some of questions answered directly because it’s been a while since we spoke! So catching up at the same time doing the interview. I had to ask Uncle Kyle about Andre again. Us fans want to know what the family thought when they met him. Although Wanda didn’t like him, Uncle Kyle did. I asked him about the time he toured with Lisa & Shawn in the Europe, touring to promote “Never Be the Same Again”, and hanging out with Melanie C and Madonna. “Melanie was really, really a fan and into Lisa! They did photo shoots and she really wanted into anything Lisa wanted to do! We went to her home, had dinner. We actually met with Madonna. Lisa wanted Madonna, Prince, and Michael Jackson on her album.” We then proceed to talk about Prince and the She couldn’t get Prince for any of that. They recorded somethings I’d like to get... But they never released it. I remember him saying he had to do editing and everything, and when I tell you that song is out of this world! It’s called “Make That Move””. He starts singing “Make that move right now” and said a piece of Lisa’s lyrics “Motherfucker, if you wanna make the move...”, stating she was on that kind of vibe with him. The song is in Prince’s possession. So it’s with whoever controls his music. He said the reason why the song never came out was because Prince became a Jahovaswitniss. Once that happened, everything went out the window, including “Make That Move”. “I remember when Prince came to one of Lisa’s pajama parties. The guys expected him to be upstairs with Shawn Newman, but he was downstairs with the girls.” He decided to move back onto the question. He said it was a very special time for Lisa, recapping on how the song stayed #1, and how it helped make her more of a big star in Europe outside of TLC. Also about how the system in Europe is different from the U.S., and how they hold onto an artist forever. He said they were touring, went to Melanie’s house a lot, how cool she was, how she genuinely loved Lisa, and considered her a girlfriend (as in a best friend) and how Lisa was like “Damn!” and never really looked at the things Melanie C. saw within herself.

He goes on to talk about another unreleased collaboration for ‘Supernova’ how Lisa met Madonna and Debra Harry (“Blondie”) and remade Debra’s song “Rapture”. “Lisa had a rhyme for “Rapture” that was out of this world!” It was for ‘Supernova’. We went to the ideal collaboration with Michael Jackson and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, mentioning it was at the time Prince still had issues with Michael. “I think the label couldn’t pull it together. Knowing what I know now, if the label can’t pull it together, they won’t do a proper agreement with another label. ‘Cause if you gonna gonna make it happen, you have to make it happen. Arista Records didn’t come to Michael’s people correct.” But he did say Michael later agreed to do it for the creativity, points on the album, and for the fact that he believed in her. Lisa felt like she was in a rock and a hard place since Prince and Michael didn’t like each other. He said Prince found out and ended up approaching Michael, saying “You messin’ with my peeps!” and Michael said “We’re just friends..”. He didn’t know any other detail on how the collaboration didn’t go through.

We then proceeded to mention she wanted Andre 3000 on the album too, how Andre and Lisa was born on the same day, and about “The Universal Quest”, my most favorite song by Lisa. “She also wanted this European girl, Esthero. I don’t know how they settled for her. I heard it when she was playing me some of the songs. I wasn’t into it, but Lisa was into it. Lisa had a vision for that song and I don’t think it came out that spectacular. Definitely one of my least favorites, although I love her rhyming on the song, but it was just the background vocals. I felt she should have had someone more soulful! I thought of Wanya Morris. I suggested him and he was actually supposed to do something, or even Sade. She’s a fan. We met her at the MOBO Awards. Lisa met with Sade manager (who was Tina Turner’s manager). I actually shared a hut with him in Honduras. He came and stayed at his own expense for 2 or 3 days, but Lisa really thought of having him as his personal manager if TLC didn’t want to replace Bill.” He said Sade was supposed to be on the album too. Sade was choosing a song. He highly suggested this song when it came to either one of them, but it didn’t work out like that. Esthero made the cut, and said he asked Lisa, with disgust, “Where did you get her from?” After laughing, I told him about how much that song really means to me. Besides the vocals, ‘Supernova’ came at a time of my life where I needed it, and “The Universal Quest” spoke to me the hardest! I’m able to hear Esthero, basically with Lisa’s ear at the time, and feel such an appreciation for the song that it became one of my favorite songs! He was surprised because he basically cannot get around Esthero’s vocals on the song, finding her really flat. “I think Lisa’s rap is untouchable, but the girl [Esthero] kinda spoiled it. I remember a while back before recording it, Lisa talked about the many levels she made for this song. She rapped it for me and I was very excited to hear the outcome! She mentioned Sade and a guy… I can’t remember his name.” I chimed in and backed him and Lisa up on if Sade would have did the song instead of Esthero. Just imagine! “The Universal Quest” featuring Sade! The song would have been SOAKED in soul! We went into deep thoughts about how the song could have took off with her on the record with Lisa. “It would have gotten sooo much marketing if you knew who Sade was!” he said. He even started talking about if they even did a music video, this is how he would have laid it out for Lisa. “I can see a video with them! I would dress Lisa like a freakin’ Princess! She would sexy one shot and fucking regal in the next! The universal quest! Queen of the Universe! I had sooo many ideas for that! Just think of that”.

Before moving on, I expressed to him that I never heard of a song that was so challenging! I grew up around Hip-Hop music that was more of the likes of DMX, G-Unit, Eve, Biggie, Lil’ Kim, mainly NY underground and mainstream type of Hip-Hop artists including 2Pac. I never experienced a rapper like her and when I got my hands on ‘Supernova’, my ears surfaced to a whole nother level! The album was so refreshing to me, a breath of fresh air ‘cause I needed to hear an album like this. The production around her words didn’t matter to me so much. Her words were hitting me like rocks with every bar! Uncle Kyle came in and said “I was excited about ‘Supernova’ based of that, the levels she wanted work on, and producers she wanted to work with! The label would tell her “Yes! It’s in the bag! It was just the time where the artists have a break where she can go over music and record with them at the same or in different places. She was showed the opposite. Arista would build her up and disappoint her so much! That was the point where she found out the truth about Perri and is when she went to Suge Knight. She found out LaFace used Perri as an escape goat! She wasn’t in charge of the money. Her ex-husband was” My next question was about Suge too. I asked on a scale of 1 – 10, how shocked was he that she went to Suge Knight. He said “I wasn’t so much shocked ‘cause I know she really loved 2Pac and it was a reminder of 2Pac. I didn’t think she would fall for him. Lisa like big guys. She went with a guy Hassan from here. A fat motherfucker!” I also brought up Lance “Un” Rivera. “Oh yeah! Un! We loved Un! He was Biggie’s partner. Un was in loooovveee with Lisa!” I asked him what happened with that. He said “He called me, crying one night. He bought Lisa this diamond increased necklace that was broken in half. He wore one half and Lisa wore one hald (You can see Lisa wearing it at his birthday part where T-Boz, Aaliyah, and Lil’ Kim attended. She hosted the event.) He was giving her jewelry and everything! But he was like “I don’t know what’s going on.” Lisa was player! She was a Gemini. She got tired of it and moved on. It was different from Andre. She wasn’t tired of him. We brought it back to Suge and talked about Suge choking Lisa. He wanted to keep that short, and he said it like this “Lisa went to the studio because she to know if Natina and herself could get their advance money. She wasn’t angry. She came to him calmly, but instead, he ended up choking her with one hand. The relationship wasn’t the same since.”

We drifted back to ‘Supernova’ where I realized I skipped a question. Uncle Kyle brought up how Lisa was on Hot ‘97 and the radio station was playing “Hot!”, “The Block Party”, and another song from the album he couldn’t remember. I asked him the next question, which was what was his thoughts on “The Block Party” music video. “I did the clothes, which I can’t stand. I just wasn’t happy with the looks. Well, I can’t say “I can’t stand” because it was playful, and Lisa want put things like that out, the stockings, cutting shorts, things she wear people would dress in.” and I backed Lisa up on that. Over the recent years, I’ve been seeing people rock some of the things she wore in the music video, the booty shorts and colorful stockings, the shirts with the rips at the bottom (that she was bringing back that TLC wore in one of their leftover “Creep” music videos), also the colorful puff ball Lisa was sporting in one of the shots similar for the ‘Supernova’ album shoot that’s blue. A lot of girls started wearing it on their keychains, but in different colors. Also the name plate belt buckles was a thing and became more of a thing after the video. “We were buying baby-tees too. My son (Kyle Young Jr.) was in the video (he was one of the three kids knocking at Lisa’s door at the beginning in a red jersey. The little boy who was next to him is Lisa’s cousin, Tangi Forman’s son.). Wanda was in the video. The focus just wasn’t on her. Everyone was in the video. I liked the song a bit. Not one of my favorites. It does make me think of a summer breeze and a summer block party or going to the park. It was very child like, like how she wanted.” He continued to express through his concerns with the looks she was choosing with him for it “I personally had a problem. A lot of the looks are not what I really wanted her to select, but she wanted to take it to another direction. Since it was her first solo piece, I wanted her to come out with a bang like Beyonce did with “Crazy in Love”, with all that and a bag of chips! I wanted it to be like that!” He further states that he really wanted either “Hot!” or “I Believe in Me” to be the debut single, talking about how he envisioned the videos to be and how he would have styled her, starting with “I Believe in Me”. “I can hear little kids on a school bus saying “Yeah! Me!” Like, forreal! And with “Hot!” was just a hot song! Man, I would have Lisa in a dress, like in The Hunger Games, that’s in flames! It would be off the chain! I would play her up to something I would say that’s couture because she went through the early TLC days, looking like a kid with the big baggy stuff. The looks from “The Block Party”, I think she should have came out more bad! I think “The Block Party” should have came out later. The strong songs should have came out later.” He also expressed that the label made Lisa believe that one of those 2 songs would be the next single, mainly “Hot!”. He strongly didn’t agree with it and thought she should should have came out more sexy, model-like, runway style like how she was presenting herself at the time in magazines. He felt she should have brought that same fever in her debut video and he was trying to make it happen. He said Lisa agreed that she didn’t want “The Block Party” as the first single and wanted 2 other songs as the single. He could only remember “Hot!” as one of the choices. I tried to help break it down, but he still couldn’t remember. Just know that it wasn’t either “Let Me Live” nor “Untouchable”.

We moved on from the ‘Supernova’ and N.I.N.A questions, and went back to TLC. I asked him what were his thoughts on ‘3D’. “I like ‘3D’. I thought it was good. I thought it was a good effort. I thought there were a few songs. Look. I like “Girl Talk”, I like the video, I like how they were changing [still on the “Girl Talk” video,] I like how Chilli was changing things up with her hair, but Tionne’s hair was giving me a headache! I literally felt sick looking at her hair. When I seen her, I was like “Why? Why are you still looking like this?” She’s a pretty girl and she can do so many things with her hair! Even Marie Davis, who came up with that look, felt the same. I asked if she was still doing her hair and she said “Naw! She had someone else doing it”. It was still surfacing around the same look. I liked Chilli with the ponytails. They looked cute for her. I didn’t like the outfits at all! I didn’t think they were being imaginative. I felt they looked boring and too safe. At ‘3D’, it was like they were graduating from a different level. Lisa was gone. They don’t have to do the same things. They don’t have to wear the same kind of outfits or be so close in color or fabric or silhouettes. They’re girls with 2 different body types and there’s things I wouldn’t put on [them]. I’d put Chilli in anything that compliments Tionne… But back to ‘3D’, there were only 3 songs I liked and would keep on repeat. I liked them at that much! I played them over”. I asked if he was coming up with looks for ‘3D’ and he said “No.”

He had a lot of favorite moments with Lisa, but his most favorite memory was in Honduras at one point. Everyone was gone. Lisa bought property and it was just him and Lisa. They we sat, smoked, and talking about things all night long. He mentioned London and how they had a ball! I asked a very personal question that I already could guess the answer to, but I still had to ask – I asked if he feel that, because her father died when it all began, that he became something like a father figure to her, being around all that much, being her Uncle as well. He responded: “That’s how I felt when she asked me to walk her down the aisle at her and Andre’s wedding. She initially wanted L.A. Reid though. I didn’t have a problem with it. Then she asked me and decided to ask L.A. Reid to do the introduction. That made me wonder, and think of what people said about me being her Dad or something. We had fun like me and Natina had fun. They both were my babies!” It was kind of hard to keep talking about Natina with Uncle Kyle. Even though it’s been over 5 years, it’s still fresh to him. He’s at a point where he can speak more on Lisa and not get as emotional, but not with Natina. They both, as we can say, were like his daughters. However, just like with Lisa, he feels he has to learn to get pass that with Natina. He brought up how much Natina loved chocolate covered cherries. However, I felt the need to change the subject for the moment, and talk about ‘Open’. He confirmed the Hype Williams shoot in Honduras was for the book and only the book. He talked about how much fun It was and one one of the best times with her. He said they had to climb the mountains to get the shots. It took them 5 hours. He was in the tents with the Natives, having fun while Lisa and Hype were shooting. The jeep broke down at one point to get around. There was a small river that you could drive through, but the water was coming in, and they had to walk across the water. He had to carry the clothes on top of his head, and the water was rising to his chest! He didn’t know that particular route can get that deep. It wasn’t that high, but the ground went on a slant. So they had people who were sliding down, but on the side of them, they saw Flying Fish jumping out of the water. He said “It was just magical, man! It was like in a Disney movie! One of the best times that I remember.” He mentioned the goal was a tastefully nude photo shoot for the book and he said he said there’s an unreleased shots with body jewelry, one shot of her in a tree in a parachute skirt/pants, hanging from the tree as if she fell from the sky and was caught in her parachute skirt/pants. He doesn’t have the rest of the shoot, but wish he did.

Although we love Lisa, I am interviewing Fashion Designer, Kyle Young, right? So I had to ask if he still has to passion for fashion like he was younger. He said “Yeah. I’m just at a different level of my like where it became more business like then fashion wise, like how I enjoyed. So I’m trying to flip that around. I’m trying to open up a Boutique, where people can buy pieces, and I actually want to open up a place where I can make pieces for myself. I want to keep it affordable as well.” He said he is going to make a website for it, and I told him when so to pass me the link so I can put it in the ‘Merchandise’ section of The Eye is Right website like with Reigndrop’s ‘Eye Legacy Wear’ for Lisa. He said as well that he has been doing stuff for other people for years, and would like to make a boutique of his own where he can at least out some of the stuff he made, and can be as creative as he wants to. I would love to see this happen for him!

Now, I know I stated how he felt about Natina, but I had 3 Blaque questions for him. I brought it up and he said he was ready for them. I asked him do he remember the day he met them. “Yes,” he said, “They came to Club Egypt in Philly Lisa had for all her Left Eye Productions people where they would come and do shows. We met after the show. They were kids! Very pretty.” He became tight with Natina first. He brought up ‘Bring it On’ and how Natina and Shamari were mad at Brandi during the set of the movie because Brandi brought her father, who was basically being over-protective. “The girls felt like they couldn’t be themselves, and because of that, Shamari and Natina were hard on Brandi. Brandi was very pretty, but very tender [sensitive] too. She would cry, and she had that cry that would make you cry with her. They were putting it on her more and I started catering to her more.” I mentioned Blaque’s new fan page, Blaque Squad. Uncle Kyle knows both Darius Thomas and Michael Benjamin (who are good friends of ours) who run the page with a guy named Juan (who created the page), and I mentioned how they brought up Natina not being with Shamari and Brandi at the premier of ‘Bring it On’, rolling solo and distant from the girls, not even dressing similar. They also posted a flier from Blaque BEGGING to replace Natina. Since we haven’t interviewed Blaque yet, I asked for his intake. In short, “Yeah, there was a time they were really going through it. Natina did that a lot. She was warring against them. Although she had the most vision in the group. She would sit with me JUST like Lisa did. Lisa and I vibed the same way Natina and I vibed, and came up with some good images and looks! But I was getting tired of the space shit. I felt Blaque should have evolved from that. Natina wanted that for a very long time with everyone, but the rest of the girls, and Columbia Records, thought it was just something I wanted. I said “If Blaque decided to choose anything anything else, I’m going all out for them!”. He went on to explain even further detail… “I think Shamari is [a] very talented [singer]. Brandi is more eye candy, but she has a cute voice, very Janet Jackson like. I do feel it isn’t the same without Natina though, but Blaque was in talks with Ejypt with doing a project called ‘BlaquEjypt’. Shamari is always in the studio with Ejypt.” He said he would work with Blaque again, but give them something that makes them look like they came off the runway!

Before we closed it out, I had to ask a few more questions, one more in regards of Prince. I remembered and I asked if he can speak more on how crazy Prince was about Lisa’s looks he made, including her purple look for the 2000 Soul Train Music Awards. “Prince said to me he loved everything she had! There were times Prince called me and be like “Oh Man! I liked that!” or Lisa would be like “Uncle Kyle! I got Prince on the other line!” He was talking about how dope she looked at the Soul Train and MOBO Awards and she would be like “Yeah! You did that, Uncle Kyle!”. I asked if he designed for everyone he wanted to design for over the years and he said “No!” One of the people he previously mentioned was Monica, and how she was the one that got away due to personal reasons. He said he would love to design for Gabrielle Union, Tracie Ellis Ross (since he worked with her mother), and Gwyneth Paltrow for shor

t. I asked if he’s working on anything else. He wants to do short movies as well, only mainly highlighting the work he does and how it gets done, but overall, he mentioned his health. I posted about this before, and if anyone can donate a kidney, PLEASE don’t be shy to hit him up on Facebook or contact us, The Eye is Right, and we’ll direct you to him! Before he can do anything, he has to make sure his health is up first! Advice to anyone in question… He also add, if he could do anything in regards of Lisa’s legacy, he said “I would start a ‘Left Eye Legend’ collection in his website having pieces of clothes similar or close to what I made for her, but water it down where it is less costumy, and more wearable, more flexible that you can put in your closet. I’d like to also create an Artist Development program, something she died doing. I’d like to find a particular state, and open an Artist Development Center where Artists can come, and can actually lecture and showcase aspiring artists and singers, helping them find their style, linking them with the right producers, and everything is laid out for them immediately for anybody! Even for those in fashion, calling it ‘Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes’ Studio of Artist Development.’

In closing, I told him “I just wanna say thank you, not only for doing this interview with me, but for being apart of ‘The Eye is Right’. I can’t imagine all the feels you have being here and I just wanna say I respect you and your presence here very much! I respect and love everything you’ve been doing for Lisa, ESPECIALLY after the TLC movie! I thank you all for releasing ‘Last Days of Left Eye’! It really changed my life and helped shaped me into the man I am today. Is there anything(s) you’d like to note to the Eyenetics before we close this interview? Is there anything/anythings you would like to ask me as well?” He followed with this:

“Well, I wanna say to the fans I appreciate and adore the fact that there’s fans today after going on 16 years later, and they’re still keepeng her legacy alive, and like the song “Let Me Live”, I love how they’re true and dedication, people like you, it really keeps Lisa alive, vibrant, and we thought people would have forgot Lisa by now… We’re happy that she still has that fan base there that loves her. You’re a very nice guy! I appreciate your energy and I appreciate your respect! I appreciate the love you give to my niece!”

​It’s been a year since we laid the last interview, and want thank you all for being patient of this outcome!