DotMusic.com Interview (2001)

Photos taken by Jerome Albertini

DotMusic.com Interview

10th October 2001

The internal feuds that marred TLC's last stay in the limelight have been well publicized and Lisa 'Left-Eye' Lopes' role as the principle troublemaker appears safe.

Her challenge to Chilli and T-Boz was, of course, that they all make individual solo albums in a bid to find out exactly who had the most pulling power in the R&B market. To date, Lisa is the only one to see that through, although, Chilli is apparently working on something which will follow the next TLC album.

'Supernova' is the fruit of Lisa's endeavors, a perfectly pitched meeting of contemporary R&B and bubblegum pop. We caught up with the diminutive star in London and grilled her on this album, the next TLC release, the politics of the girl band and working with Tupac.

Left-Eye How does it feel to be back in the limelight without TLC?

It feels good. I've been waiting to do a solo project for a very long time, I've got a lot to get off my chest. I've had more room lyrically and more room conceptually.

We heard that you challenged the girls to make solo albums?

I did challenge them but they didn't take me up on the challenge, Chilli is going to make a solo album but she's currently holding off while we work on the next TLC project. The week before there was an article in Entertainment Weekly, an interview with T-Boz and Chilli and what they said was not pretty, it was not pretty at all. They said that I couldn't be bothered to make the interview and that I was causing all kinds of trouble in the group. I decided, "Okay, what am I going to do about this? We've all missed interviews y'know? We've all had our problems y'know? I decided the only way to make the situation into something we could all benefit from was to challenge them to make solo albums. A three CD set called 'The Challenge' with a bonus from the record company for the one that sold the most."

Left-Eye How is the relationship now?

We just started working with Dallas. The relationship is fine, we're best friends and we have a natural connection. There was a time when we were experiencing a lot of problems, with our management and with the label and stuff, we vented and sometimes we vented on each other. The hard times are behind us now and we want to get back to the good times. It's great working together again, it's like working on the first album again.

Who have you worked with on the new album?

Carl Thomas, Blaque, Esthero, Jazzy Pha and Rockwilder is producing with Rick Rock, oh yeah, and Tupac. I love Tupac, he's contributed vocals and production to one track.

How long ago was this done?

About three months ago.

What? You've used tapes?

Yeah, I reached out to Tupac's mother and she allowed me to pick through all the tapes that she has and I found the material that I wanted. That became the track, 'Untouchable'.

You say that he produced one of the tracks, how was that possible?

It's possible because he produced the track a long time ago. We had some problems with the tape though, it was really warped. I gave it to my producer and he said, "I don't know if we can get this thing to sound right?" I didn't want to interfere with Tupac's production too much, I liked it the way it was - real dark. We built around what he'd done.

It's rumored that you'd like to work with Mel C again?

I'd love to. Mel C is an interesting person. She's intelligent and has very good energy. It was great working with her. The theme for the 'Never Be The Same Again' video was her idea - we're just on the same page. I was surprised, she caught on to the stuff really quick and I was like "Wow!" I'd love to do something else with her in the future. I sent her a song from my solo album that she was going to do with me but my deadline caught up on me and so it didn't get included.

How's the new TLC record coming along?

We're just in the early stages. There's just a couple of songs that we're going to demo. But you can expect a new TLC album early next year.

You've been away a long time do you feel that other acts, like Destiny's have stolen your thunder?

I don't know. In some peoples eyes we are number one and in other people's we're not. You're out of mind when you're out of sight. The sound of R&B has changed a lot in that time. Everything always goes in a full circle and now we're moving back into an era where there's more soul in the music, in the lyrics, the poetry. Now you have Jill Scott, Musiqsoulchild and Usher is back."

Are you not a fan of the more leftfield contemporary R&B?

I love Timbaland! I wanted Chris Brann to mix the entire album 'cause he's like the original Timbaland. It was very important to me that I set my sound apart from everyone else with this album.

How did you react to the news of Aaliyah's death?

It was very shocking news. I was just getting off a plane, I'd just arrived in London and the person from the record company that met me said, 'Did you hear about Aaliyah'. 'No.' 'She died in plane crash.' It just seemed like a dream. Goodness, that has got to be one of the scariest ways to die. She started very young and she had such a promising career ahead of her. I didn't know her personally but I met her once backstage at an event.