Sister 2 Sister Magazine Tribute (Kyle Young Interview) (2002)

(Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and Kyle Young behind the scenes of Lisa's photo shoot with photographer Jack Chuck in 2001)

Inspiration from Left Eye's uncle, Kyle Young, started off this farewell. Ms. Ida Harris called and told me to talk to Uncle Kyle because he needed to talk. We figured that if he needed to talk, to say good-bye, so did others. Uncle Kyle gave the most extensive interview. He was very distraught. He was very close to Lisa. He's a clothing designer and designed many of the outfits she wore, especially when she was hosting the hit MTV show, "The Cut." He and Lisa created a

hip-hop clothing line called M.0.B. Also, Lisa was working with the group, Egypt, which was a group Uncle Kyle put together. Uncle Kyle is married to Lisa's maternal aunt, the beautiful Pamela, This is a close-knit family. Uncle Kyle and I had many conversations. We are humbled that he shared with us. We here at Sister 2 Sister are very honored that the family chose our publication to celebrate Lisa's life.

Jamie: Aren't you the uncle who was there when Lisa was with Andre Rison?

Kyle: Yeah. I was the one that pulled her out of the fire. I'm the one that does

all of her clothes and wardrobe.

Jamie: You're Wanda's sister's husband right? [Wanda is LeftEye's mother]

Kyle: Yes.

Jamie: Can you tell me what's going on? I don't want her legacy to be that fire.I don't want no bullshit about this baby.I am going to interview you and others because I just want a beautiful book left about her, if you don't mind. 

Kyle: I know that Lisa adored you. I knew that anytime we talked about anything, she would say, "Well let me contact. Jamie." She would tell Stephanie [Lisa's personal assistant] and Ida [former GM of Lisa's company, LeftEye Productions] ...and even when Denise Howard [LeftEye's other assistant] was working with her, she would say, "Well, contact Jamie”

Jamie: That was my baby. I don't know if I told you, but just three days before the accident, I told Ida, "Go find my baby." Now what happened? Lisa was on her way to a photo shoot; that's what  Quynton [LeftEye's stepfather] told me.

Kyle: Well, it wasn't so much a photo shoot. I have a girls group, which was actually called "Touch." Lisa changed the name to "Egypt." They got a demo deal through Dreamworks [Records].She was working with them. She took them with her to Honduras. I was supposed to be there with her. They worked out and she was gonna have a trainer work with them to get their bodies in shape, do the cleansing and just kinda mentally get them together because of the peacefulness that she felt Honduras offered 

From what I understand-and I have spoken to both Stephanie and two of the girls in the group. Stephanie made arrangements for the girls to sing at the mall in Honduras. It was all set up, but Lisa protested. She didn't want them to sing at the mall. They had sung at the prison there.Dr.Sebi [LeftEye's holistic doctor in Honduras] has a son, Asami, that is in prison. Every time that Lisa would visit Honduras, she would visit Asami. [He] is in prison for growing marijuana. It was a whole political thing, but she stood by his side. She brought him everything that he needed for his holding cell. She would visit him and bring him anything that he needed So Stephanie wanted the girls to sing and had it set up at the mall because the mall is really the only glimpse of civilization there. The girls would frequent the mall. 

Jamie: How long had the girls been down there?

Kyle: I believe for a month. It was like April 1st.

Jamie: You have gone through so much with this baby. I know that she told me about you. I never met you and I am sorry that I have to meet you under these circumstances. I just really appreciate this. I listened to Andre Rison talk about how he loved her and I think that he did love her, but I don't like the fact that people just think that she was nuts because his house burned down.I remember she told me that you said to her-when you all turned around and saw that the house was burning-that it was a relief to her.

Kyle: She looked up at me and said, "It's gone." I was angry with Lisa because she didn't tell people what led up to the fire. Lisa would never tell. She said. "Well, it will be in the book, whenever I get that together." Amazingly, she said to me, "I am gonna go there and write that autobiography.' 

She went out with me, her sister, Raina, and I think one other girl. The other girl was a girlfriend of Andre's uncle. She had gotten dolled up... because you know Lisa would be in her oversized stuff, She had gotten this dress and got her hair done and she came in. LaFace had flew me down there to work with TLC on the CrazySexyCool album. I hadn't expected it. I was just supposed to work on designing a wardrobe for that. 

She began telling me all of the things that had been happening and how Andre was treating her and that she was trying to get away from him.She told me that the only way that she could get away from him was for her to move and to sleep in the backroom which they called the kids' room. There were people that would come by and she would have to pay them off because Andre owed them money. She said he wasn't paying for the house; she was paying for the house. Many people don't realize that she was paying for that house. He was promising to marry her. She would go on tour and come back and find women hiding in the closet. One girl, she had to have at gunpoint because she was hiding in the closet. It was just so many things that happened  Andre was with one of her friends and she was just sick of it. 

Between that, she had a situation with Jamal and Malik, a group that she had. She was sick of how they were treating her. She was just tired. We decided to go out. I asked her what did she want me to do and she said, "Can you just whip [Andre's] ass?" We laughed. 

We went out riding. The places that we went to were places that she thought he would be at. So I know, mentally, Lisa was thinking, "Okay, let me go to a place so that I could show up and see him there." Well, we didn't find a place. 

Finally, we came back. We drove and Lisa had a couple of drinks and was driving and Andre showed up with his brother and his boys. He had his cousin and some other people with him. Andre is always knee deep in niggas. Andre walked over to Lisa and said, "Look at you. You have on this hoochie dress." Of course she got angry and she smacked him. 

We went inside the house and he said something to her and she smacked him again. Then I broke into it. He said something "Well, Kyle, this is my woman. Why are you gonna treat me like this? You are in my house." 

They went back into the room and there was an argument. Then, I heard her crying and calling out, "Uncle Kyle.” I went in the back room and Andre came out and me and him started going at it, physically. Then his cousins and brother started jumping into it. They were swinging at me. It was just a wrestling match. When I saw her face, I was just so involved in that whole battle with Andre and myself, I didn't see that Andre had hit her in her lip. Her lip was swollen. Her eyes and nails, there was blood from her fingers because you know she had gotten her nails done. Apparently, her nails had come off. 

The next thing I know, I turn around and Andre had cooled down and I was still going at it with his cousins and brother and Andre. Andre calmed down and said, "You know, I am sorry Uncle Kyle," and he left. Lisa was just angry. I turned around and I don't know where his cousins went. She was screaming. I tried to calm her down and she was saying, "Go get him and whip his ass.” She calmed down for a minute but she went crazy again when she looked in the mirror at herself. She saw her face and came out and was trying to run out of the door to get him. 

Later, I remember her going to the bathroom and burning up the cards that he had and teddy bears. Then, there was the stack of sneakers. Then, there was this stack of sneakers. At that time, I think Andre had a contract with Nike. He was a commercial for them. Nike would send him tons of sneakers. There was a wall of sneakers. Lisa had asked him, “Well, can’t you just ask them to send me some?” Later, she told me that he would say to her, “Yeah, I am gonna ask them.” She knew that all his boys had brand new sneakers. She was pissed and she had took the sneakers and we had left. I was calling his boys to come and help me put out this fire. They were all high. They were in the house.

Jamie: So you saw the fire?

Kyle: Yeah, I saw the fire. Raina was also in the bathroom with us. We saw the fire, but it was containable. I mean if they were straight mentally, then we could have just put out the fire. I went and started pouring water. When we walked out, the next thing I know, we hear this explosion. Apparently, it was the sneakers with the air pockets that started it. So that's what happened with the fire.

Jamie: So you all tried to put the fire out and then you walked out and asked the cousins to put it out?

Kyle: Well, Lisa and Raina didn't try anything. Raina was trying to calm Lisa down. I had gotten a bucket and was throwing it on the fire. Then came out and asked the guys to help me put out

the fire and they were like, "Yeah I smell smoke, what's going on?" We tried to put it out and when we finally walked out, we heard the combustion of the sneaks. It had gotten to the ceiling

that point.

His cousin started to run out of the house and people actually began to try and fight Lisa. They were like, "Look at this, you trying to fuck up our life. We trying to get everybody out and the whole group moved outside. I am telling them to call the fire department. At this point, I am caught between the cousins and Lisa. They are trying to fight her. A dude tried to swing at her and I had to jump in between them. 

I could see the smoke actually rising up from the roof and I could see smoke coming out of the windows. His brother and his other cousin had started busting out her car windows. They took a pipe and were busting out the car windows. The boy had the pipe and he was swinging it at Lisa. The press said that Lisa busted out the car windows and Lisa never said anything. There was glass everywhere from the car windows. 

Lisa wouldn't leave. One of the neighbors came from across the street and begged her to come out of there. His cousins got in the car and drove off. She wouldn't leave. She just stood there

looking at the fire.

Jamie: She was probably in shock.

Kyle: Yeah. I picked her up and put her over my shoulder and carried her to the end of the road. Once we got there, she told me to just put her down. I am looking for Raina and for her friend's car because we needed to get to the hospital. She just sighed out of relief. 

Later, we got in the car and we got to the hospital. As we were driving, we saw that Andre was still walking. Once we got to the hospital, we said, "Look, this woman is clearly abused. She has been beaten." A few minutes later, the doctor comes out and tells us that we need to leave because the police are looking for her. They were trying to put some kind of ointments on her bruises. 

In the middle of that, we had to find her and get her out of there. I called Denise Howard, who was her assistant then. Denise called someone and LaFace [TLC's record label] had found a location for us to go to for her to stay. Initially, we were gonna go to my hotel. That is actually where we were on our way to. We went to another location. She was in shock. Pebbles [who discovered and initially managed TLC] had come to the thing and she was going through her whole talk about, "Girl, I am there for you…” Pebbles was really trying to assist. 

People at Arista [then the parent company of LaFace Records] were extremely mad with Lisa for messing things up for TLC. In fact, I spoke to the girls later on and they told me, “What Lisa has done has fucked up our lives,” and there was just no sympathy. 

Hiriam [Hicks, who managed TLC after Pebbles, and later became President of Island Records] was very good for her. She really cared for him. One of the reasons that Hiriam was let go was because the other girls just weren't feeling him. But there was no sympathy. They were completely rude. A LaFace person called them and told them what happened. I had to get home to do a deposition about what happened. They said, "I don't know why you are calling us. We aren't paying for you to fly back. You need to find a way back because there ain't no TLC." Lisa

had so many enemies at Arista and LaFace, people that just secretly didn't like her.

Jamie: Why do you think that was?

Kyle: I don't know. Of course I have a biased perception of my niece. My view

is that Lisa was nice to everybody. People that I have talked to speak about how Lisa always took the time whereas Chilli would be nasty with folks and Tionne would just ignore you. I believe that with Lisa's talents, they just looked at her as being crazy. When they gave them the name of "Crazy, Sexy, Cool" they were really looking at her as being crazy. I remember being in the room and folks knowing that I am Lisa's uncle, saying, "Well, the name is certainly right, 'Crazy.'"

Jamie: I remember the first time that we interviewed them. My husband was in the room and wanted to adopt all three of them. He was so in love with them. He brought them little gifts and we were just watching Lisa. Chilli took a while to tell her story, and then Tionne told her story. Lisa was just quiet. She allowed them to tell their story. She wasn't rushing them, but when it was time for her to tell her story, Lisa was a new person  She was talking about being in grammar school when she tried out for a talent show. She said she was twirling a baton, then she went into a split, then she was trying to break dance. She said she didn't win anything

and that she had it all wrong. We just fell in love with her. She was just so special. She told us about when she got the record deal with Pebbles, how she tried to call her father and he had just been killed.

Kyle: It was not too long after she got the deal that her father was in a brawl with a family member. Her father was very abusive to her mother. They grew up seeing him abuse the mother all the time. Wanda's eyes were always black. I believe they had gotten a divorce when I came into the picture. I was dating my wife, who was 15. When I came around, Wanda, Lisa and her siblings had come from Florida. My wife told me, "I want you to meet my oldest sister's kids." I fell in love with them. Lisa would actually go on dates with us. Lisa would admire my wife and she would emulate her hair and makeup and be so into her. She became more than a niece to me. She was my confidante. I would ask her what she thought I should do about things. When I would argue with my wife, I would talk to Lisa and she would tell me, "Y'all know y'all love each

other, I don't care what you all say." She would actually calm me down and set up s#ot to make us get back together. Like I can recall one time we were arguing. I was telling Lisa, "I don't go out, I don't do anything, I don't got no friends. I am just music industry to them MFers. They ain't my friends." I was just going on and on about how I felt and things that my wite was doing. She was demanding this and demanding that. I was on the road with TLC. Lisa had hooked it up for my wife to come up. I think we were in Washington. She hooked up a dinner tor us and she said, "Look, you need to go out, Uncle Kyle." 1 am thinking that it is just her, and my wife comes out, all dolled up. You know, she would just do things.She would think of creative things I know that there were tons of things that she would do, or talks that she wouldm have about me with my wife.

Jamie: What was she like as a little girl? You met her when she was 15, right?

Kyle: No, when my wife was 15,I was 18. Lisa was about 10 or 11.

Jamie: Lisa carried a lot of people's pain. For her to be so small, for her to carry so much.....

Kyle: She helped everybody. She was concerned about everybody. She carried everybody's burdens

Jamie: Now, how did she meet Dr. Sebi?

Kyle: I believe that she met him through someone else. It could have been Ida, but I know that she mentioned to me that someone told her about a doctor that was a holistic doctor. Lisa was just very much into that.

Jamie: I had to do a story over in London about Lisa because they reported that Lisa had alcohol on her breath during the accident. They said that Usha was a rehabilitation center instead of a cleansing center. I said, as I understand it, Lisa was a teetotaler. Hadn't she stopped drinking alcohol?

Kyle: Yeah. The only thing she would drink is wine and that was really at dinner. She had not consumed alcohol in a while. Everything was 100% juice. And even with wines, there were only certain wines that she would drink; as long as it was on that 100% grape limit, Part of the cleansing is that you have to drink 100% juices. She would have pears and pear juice that were never bought from the stores. She had stacks and stacks of them lined up in her

refrigerator.

Jamie: Well, how did she get with Suge Knight?

Kyle: Well, let me tell you this before I forget. I don’t know if you are aware of this but Lisa also paid off Andre’s debt to his baby momma for child  support. You know Andre was wanted for not paying for child support. Of course, he didn't have any money.

Jamie: And the family was gone? Because they lived with him.

Kyle: Yeah, so she paid off his child support. I think it was like $150,000. She was always doing that, Jamie. She was paying for the house that burned down.

Jamie: I know. This girl was incredible. Did she ever make up with Chilli?

Kyle: From what I understand, she and Chilli were cool in the past few months. Chilli was upset because of statements that Suge had made and she was trying to get in touch with Lisa because Suge made statements that Chilli was doing lap dances at Death Row. I remember getting on the phone talking to Lisa about it. I started laughing and she said, "Uncle Kyle, don't laugh. I know she is mad." I said, "Why would he say something like that?" It wasn't funny because I understand that Chilli's son was in the car when this came on. Her son overheard some of the stuff that he was saying. Chilli was very distraught from it. LeftEye was like, "What can I do? I already talked to him and told him that it wasn't right."

Jamie: What happened with her solo deal at Arista? All of a sudden the album didn't come out and they weren't happy with it.

Kyle: The album came out. I did the photo shoot and I worked with the video with [video producer] Hype Williams. We weren't pleased with the video because she had a different view

of the video. She wasn't pleased with her hair and her makeup. We talked about that and the whole concept was just a collaboration. I told Lisa, I think that it is a little bit over the top. I mean, you are supposed to be animated, but come on. She agreed, but it was already done at that point. She just wasn’t happy with how the whole solo project was turning out. Mark Pitts from Arista had collected like a pool of different producers and allowed her to listen to different tracks.

The tracks were definitely hot. She wasn't very, very pleased with the project. There were some songs that she did like and some songs that she didn't. I think she was just confused and nervous. This being her solo project, she wanted it to be perfect. She had a differview, but there were so many people coming along and changing her views. She and I had talked years before she did the solo project. We talked about what it was that she wanted to do. It was more or less the image. I told Lisa that I thought TLC had done the little kid thing, the animated thing. It was time for you to just be a woman. I think we accomplished that. Andre came in and they were back together. She was confused about that because he was telling her something, Arista was telling her something else. They were talking about going on a school tour with kids. That was actually changing the whole direction that we were talking about.

Jamie: Why was she dressing like a boy? People were telling me that Lisa went to the Apollo and people didn't recognize her until much later. She looked like one of the boys

Kyle: Lisa always dressed like that.

Jamie: Was Lisa driving or was she passing when the accident happened? She didn't have on seatbelt or what?

Kyle: Lisa was driving. I don't think she had a seatbelt on.

Jamie: Did the other girls have on ser belts?

Kyle: They probably didn't either. I know most of the time that Lisa drove, she didn't wear a seatbelt. I remember sometimes telling her that she better put that seatbelt on.

Jamie: But she was peaceful, right?

Kyle: Yeah. Her face was just peaceful. Her face wasn't distorted. She just looked ready. Based on conversations that I have had with her, I knew that something was going to happen. You know Lisa was really into meditation. She loved her father. She couldn’t let the fact that he was gone, go. Everything that she has written has some link to her father.

Jamie: Do you remember anything?

Kyle:I know this last song that she wrote for ‘Supernova’ was a tribute. It was all about her talking to her father. I know that in "Waterfalls," when she said "I seen a rainbow yesterday," she had gotten out of the halfway house and she looked up at the sky. She told me that when she looked up at the sky, she kinda talked to her father. She was thinking about him. So there was always some kind of connection to her father.

Jamie: Do you think that maybe she felt that she was going to see him?

Kyle: I'm pretty sure that she did. I know that she was meditating and she felt that he talked back to her.

Jamie: Was he Hispanic?

Kyle: Yep.

Jamie: She loved him a lot, but he was abusive to Lisa's mother.

Kyle: He was abusive to the mother and kinda abusive to the kids as well by being very strict. He has a military background and was strict about things that they had to do. He used to beat them. I don't know what his mindset was but one person may say that it is abuse and another person may say that it is discipline.

Jamie: What happened to Blaque?

Kyle: Blaque was dropped from Columbia and I believe that Dreamworks has picked them up.

Jamie: Now I am still curious as to how Lisa got with Suge.

Kyle: Lisa had actually had a dream or a vision and it somehow connected to Suge. You know. Lisa used to go with Tupac?

Jamie: Yeah, I know. And Tupac treated her kind of stupid.

Kyle: He treated her like sh#*. Lisa never got over it. There's a song called "Got to Get Away" that I believe Tupac wrote and it was actually talking about a conversation that Lisa had with Tupac about her situation with Andre. In the song, the female says, "I got to get away”. He says, "You got to get away?" She says, "I can't. He won't let me," and so forth. I can recall preparing for the tour for CrazySexyCool, when they were opening up for Boyz II Men out in L.AAt that . time, Chilli was going with Prince. We were in the van and Lisa was talking to me. Chilli was handing out little bottles of perfume that Prince had given her. They were little bottles with Afros on them. Lisa kept playing the song over and over and Chilli was saying, "I wish you would stop playing that d@#n song. Lisa was crying while the song was on. I asked her what is it with this song? I know that you are upset with Tupac. She told me that the song was about her and Andre. Tupac was telling her to get away and they could get away from Andre. Lisa had a close connection with Tupac's mother. In fact, on her Supernova album, she had gotten a song with Tupac. It's on there. Suge was a connection with Tupac, so I know that she had not let go of the Tupac situation. I knew it by her putting the song on her album. She was just so excited about it.

In the dream that she had she said that Suge was a knight and he was rescuing her. She called Suge and told him about the dream and so forth. She went on to tell him, "The knight was you." Suge looked at her like she was crazy. Then, they got together and he called her. They started getting together. Next thing I knew, just like every man that Lisa was with, she was moving

in. She was in with Suge. She was happy. She called me about doing a clothing line called

M.O.B. Suge's favorite saying was ""money over bitches." She wanted to change the name to "money oriented business.” We did a presentation to Suge and he was putting in some money to this line. She was just excited about her existence with Suge. Suge was going to rescue her with her situation of Arista not releasing her and not treating her right and not getting any respect. Now that it comes down to her finally getting her solo project, Arista just ain't doing right

By It. That's how she got with him. Later, it just didn't happen. The situation later escalated after a point because Ida said she went to pick up Lisa and Suge had sent back all of Lisa's clothes in FedEx boxes. Lisa also told me that the reason for the breakup is that Suge went to meet with LA [Reid), apparently on Lisa's behalf about Arista releasing her. She was waiting for a good outcome from that. Suge and L.A. negotiated some other deal that Suge wouldn't even tell Lisa what it was about. He told her that he had it handled. She said "Motherf#@$r, what do you mean you got it handled?" He just wouldn't tell her. They got into a big shouting match. The next thing I know, it was like, "No, it ain't working out with Suge, Uncle Kyle, and I'm on my way back to Atlanta.

Jamie: Was she still friends with Andre?

Kyle: During the Suge process, no. Andre wouldn't leave the little house where she has a recording studio. Andre was staying there and wouldn't get out. They would beg him. Andre wouldn't get out. Finally, Suge got on the phone after Andre and Lisa were going back and forth. Lisa called me up, laughing. She said, "Guess what? That MF got out." Apparently, Suge got

on the phone and said some things to Andre and the next thing they knew everybody said

that within the hour, Andre was gone.

Jamie: Did Andre have a place to stay?

Kyle: I know there's a woman that he stays with that is like a mother to him and I believe that he is staying with her now. Andre knew other people there, but it was just a whole big thing. Lisa had an apartment in New Jersey overlooking New York. Andre and her were staying there while she was in New York. Andre actually hid out there while he was wanted for the child support. She had smuggled him there under someone else's name. She was always doing something for him.

Jamie: He lost his contract, right?

Kyle: Yeah

Jamie: What about Parron, her stepbrother?

Kyle: Wanda married a man named Sherman Washington. Sherman met Wanda and Sherman infatuated her. That marriage didn't work out. It lasted maybe about six months or less. Sherman was verbally abusive to Wanda. They had a publicized wedding. Parron was Sherman's nephew, but Sherman had custody of him. He called him his son. Parron and [Lisa's brother] Ronald were very close. He was very bright and Lisa had taken him in. She liked him.

Jamie: How old was Parron when he passed?

Kyle: He had just graduated. He had to have been about 17.

Jamie: When she gave that party for Un, right?

Kyle: Yeah.

Jamie: Why was she giving a party for Un?

Kyle: Well, she was going with Un too at one point.

Jamie: Why do you think that Lisa would get intimate with all these guys? Was there a reason?

Kyle: Well, Lisa really liked big guys.

Jamie: But Tupac wasn't big.

Kyle: He wasn't, but when Lisa was in Philly running around with drug dealers in her teens she was going with one of the main guys named Motown. He was a big ni##a. I'm a big ni##a like that, and she always said, "I want a big ni##a like Uncle Kyle." She was attracted to big

Guys. Whenever Lisa was involved with a man, he was privy to all of her money. The man would handle all of her businesses and she would move in with them and they could do any and everything they wanted to do. Shawn was the exception. I introduced her to Shawn. He was one of my models. Out of the blue, we were going to London to do some promotions for a song she did with Mel C from the Spice Girls. She said, "Ask Shawn if he wants to go." They hooked up and Shawn would not take advantage of her.

Jamie: Lisa didn't even know that I knew about the whole situation.

Kyle: In fact, I asked her, why don’t you tell Jamie from Sister 2 Sister. Because whenever there was something, she would say, “Well, let’s contact Jamie.” But then every time I would ask her about that, she was going to tell you and she pulled out. Same thing with the fire: she said she was going to tell you, then she pulled out. But then I understand that she finally did tell you. But the world just didn't know what really actually happened and she said that she was going to save it for an autobiography. Even the situation with TLC, she didn't care whether or not people

thought she was the villain in the situation when in actuality they all had their own sh@# that they did. Lisa never wanted to offend them. Lisa's real quest was to not let the label take advantage of them and that's what she would press to the girls. But they would look at it like, "Ah, Lisa's trying to be difficult." But she was like, "Look, we sold this many albums and we ain't got no money! That's what Lisa would do. 

Jamie: In the end did they make up with Pebbles?

Kyle: Lisa never really had no problems so much with Pebbles. It was Chilli. Tionne really didn't have [any problems with Pebbles]. She's still in contact with Pebbles. Lisa was like, "Well, Pebbles did what she had to do." She didn't like the fact that Pebbles was that controlling and she had control over everything that they did and she owned them, owned the name; everything. That's where she felt that Pebbles was completely unreasonable.

Jamie: Is T'Melle going to have have surgery in Honduras or are they going to bring

her back? [T'Melle's legs were twisted backwards in the car accident that killed Lisa.]

Kyle: She's had surgery already. And that's what I'm very nervous about. My wife just told me that she just spoke to Bill Diggins and that he's sending a jet to get the girls and to bring them back over tomorrow. My worry is that the medical system there is so [poor]. They didn’t even have drugs, painkillers for Raina. Raina was like in pain and they couldn't even give her painkillers.

Jamie: Well how did they give surgery to this girl?

Kyle: I guess they gave her something. But T' Mele is talking because I spoke to her the other day. The things that I don't know they can make it clear.

Jamie: And this Dr. Sebi was really good for Lisa?

Kyle: Lisa loved Dr. Sebi. Lisa later found out some sh@# about Dr.Sebi. Dr.Sebi's knowledge of herbs and the holistic process is astounding. I believe he does know. I have tried the herbs and it's done a wonderful job with me Lisa lived by them. But he had like a hundred wives. Every time I was there I saw a new wife. His son had gotten locked up and there was some other stuff that Lisa had found out about him. But I remember her just telling me about some of the sh@#. And he wanted her to buy property and she did buy property behind his land, I think 100 acres or more.

Jamie: Did he get that money?

Kyle: I believe the government there had gotten the money. They owned that property.

Jamie: Wasn't she building a home down there?

Kyle: She hadn't started. She had visualized it but there were no blueprints.

Jamie: How'd the government feel about her being there? It's so dangerous down there. I mean America doesn't even want their people traveling there.

Kyle: I guess I was naive, too, because I went and I really enjoyed it. She wouldn't blend in because their culture..Lisa would dress like a little boy sometimes. They looked down on her because of the way that she dressed and because of the tattoos. I can see them pointing -

those who didn't know who she was. But then at one point there were a large number of people that would recognize her and say, "Oh my goodness, it's LeftEye!" and start tripping.

Jamie: How did she get all the money to do all the things that she was doing?

Kyle: Well, you know she got the advances from TLC. Lisa [also] had made other monies from "The Cut," from the song that she did with Donell Jones, from the song she did, "And Your" with Mel C, which was a number one song for weeks after weeks after weeks, to other deals that she did. Even through some of the deals that we did, we didn't make a lot of money, we did something with the clothing line. But we were selling that mostly in Europe. Almost every award show that she did, those are my clothes. When she did the "Soul Train Awards," those are

mine.

Jamie: But you did it for all three of the girls, right?

Kyle: I did some of the stuff. I collaborated with Julie Mujueries for TLC stuff because Julie is actually the stylist for TLC.

Jamie: It's interesting that Lisa never had any children.

Kyle: Lisa wanted children. She always talked about a household of children and she really wanted things to work out with her and Andre. And then with Shawn, they talked about her

having children. They had really hit it off.

Jamie: Now what did N.I.N.A. mean?

Kyle: "New Identity None Applicable”.

Jamie: When she was in the halfway house, did you visit her a lot?

Kyle: No, I was here. We would talk on the phone. There was one time that I visited her, but she would call me and talk to me.

Jamie: She thought that was a good time for her, actually.

Kyle: It was a relief time for her. I think it was a breather time. And Lisa, I think that's why she enjoyed Honduras, because there were times that she could actually just exhale from the situation. And she was holding a lot of grief, a lot of people's problems, just so many things.

Jamie: She was a receptacle. I think she was like an angel. She was really a receptacle for so many and they knew that. They would come around her because she was so open to them. When was she going to come back?

Kyle: They were coming back, in fact, on Monday. [Lisa's body came back that Monday.]

Jamie: I had been trying to reach her and talk to her for about a year or so, and she wouldn't do anything.

Kyle: In the last year, Lisa changed her disposition. She just became harder with dealing with people. She became more introverted, I remember the time we were shooting, I think Honey magazine, or one of the last shoots we did, and she was just so...I mean she was always quiet, but with me she would always talk, say something, She was just so introverted. After that, she went on the fast. I was like Lisa, come on. You know I'd take her measurements every week. Every couple of days they would change, get smaller and smaller, and we would have to take it in, take it in. She was on this holistic fast leading up to the album release. Then they had put off the album release and then she had gotten this whole thing that her father had talked to her and said that the date that he died that [she was gonna release it]. So she was gonna fast for the amount of days, which I think were like 36 days. I can't remember, but during that time we did so many shoots. I remember on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" while she was on there she wanted just very casual clothes. We had pulled some stuff, which is how she really dresses, and she was just so extremely quiet. I remember Tyrese wanting to talk to her and she just didn't want to talk.

Jamie: Why did she go on there? 

Kyle: They had a celebrity "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" and she was one of the guests. She did well. She didn't "win" win, but she won something for her charities.

Jamie: What do you think is going to happen with the record? And how come she wasn't recording with the girls? How come she was down there and they were here in the studio? 

Kyle: Well they were kinda on a break because Tionne was so sick. That's why she took this time to go. I believe they had a tentative schedule for her to continue when she had gotten back, but she has recorded some music with TLC.

Jamie: She told me once that she didn't like her voice when she's rapping. 

Kyle: I know she had changed her tone. If you listen to Supernova she was a lot deeper with the tone.

Jamie: How is Wanda holding up? 

Kyle: Wanda is holding out pretty well because she also feels that Lisa knew that...

Jamie: ...she was going home. You know, with somebody that special, you can almost tell. It's the same thing with Tupac. I used to warn his people and say, "You're going to lose that child." I

remember someone telling me a story about when Tupac and Lisa were down at one of those spring flings and Tupac was trying to put her out of the car and she was trying to stay in the car and he was treating her so badly. The person who told me that was just so surprised. It was like Lisa needed something; like she was looking for something all the time.

Kyle: Yeah and at that time also, she used to go with Wanya from Boyz II Men and he just couldn't understand. Wanya would cry to me about Lisa all the time. One, she was always after the guy that was on the edge and Wanya was just too nice for her. But I really miss Lisa. 

Jamie: How did you feel when you heard that she passed?

Kyle: I felt [like] a special place in my heart has been ripped out. I spent a lot of time with Lisa and she had a lot of memories of a lot of things and we always ended our call with "I love you." I'm so happy that I let her know and she let me know how much she loved me. I've got to go through a process of letting her go

Jamie: People came over here to comfort me. I was really surprised how many people knew that I loved her. I never knew how much that had come through in the writings.

Kyle: It definitely came through and she knew it in her heart. She knew who was on her side and who wasn't. There were others that I think Lisa knew, but just let them take advantage. For whatever reason, whatever purpose, she needed them to go as far as they could go and she would allow them to. Many times I would tell her about somebody, but she would say, "I know but that's their thing."

Jamie: That's why I was saying she was a those receptacle. There was a process that those people had to go through and she was the conduit for whatever they were here to do.

Kyle: One of the saddest the situation to me is the situation with Andre. They had planned on getting married and she waited on Andre. She was willing to open up her heart to him and I remember her talking about the wedding and what she wanted to wear and what she wanted me to design for her and Andre. I remember the first time; this was like the third or fourth time that they'd talked about marriage. The first time she was all excited. The second time she was excited. This time she just was like, "Yeah, well, whatever you think."

Jamie: How long ago was this?

Kyle: Last year, prior to Supernova coming out. The situation was messed up because Andre wouldn't leave her house. She was like, *I just need you to go." And he wouldn't go.

Jamie: Well, weren't they going to get married?

Kyle: They were going to get married prior to that situation. I'm talking about he went on the radio and leaked out the location and the whole bit and I don't think Andre had any intentions at all of marrying Lisa. And I believe that he missed out on an extremely wonderful person that really loved him; that through all the sh@# that he did, she was willing to stick it in.

Jamie: And people did not know that Lisa paid for that house, that she paid $800,000 or whatever she owed the insurance company, because she told me that Andre was supposed to pay her back but he never did.

Kyle: She paid for the house prior to the fire happening. She was paying the mortgage on the house anyway.

Jamie: But he had all his family living there. I know that was difficult for her.

Kyle; He had his family, his sister, his mother would cause sh@#, his sister would burn up her stuff, wet it up. It was always some drama and she always used to say he won't do nothing about it.

Jamie: How did her mother take all this?

Kyle: Wanda didn't like Andre, naturally. She would talk with her about it but Lisa had her own mind. What Lisa wanted to do she was going to do, no matter what.

Jamie: How did you like her on "The Cut"?

Kyle: l loved Lisa on "The Cut." She was just so much fun. Lisa never really wanted to do movies or anything. She wanted to do a sitcom. She had ideas for the sitcom sorta thing. Lisa was good at interacting with people. She was good at making you feel up, I mean if you went to a TLC concert, Lisa was the one that really hyped up the crowd. She was always full.of energy, running across the stage.

Jamie: I remember seeing her one time at one of those clubs on Sunset Blvd. I think it was before I ever interviewed TLC and she was in the corner and she looked like a six-year-old child drinking alcohol. She was just there staring at people.

Kyle: That's her favorite [pastime]. She would just stare at people; big-eyed, taking it all in. I would always ask Lisa, "What are you thinking?" I would tell her I want to get in your head. I want to know what you're thinking. And then she'd say, "Well, you know, I'm just looking at how people are interacting." She studied them; studied what they did, their reactions. And she would write from that. We were in Honduras about a year and a half ago doing a photo shoot with

Hype. He was the other man that she really wanted in her life. Hype doesn't know this, but she was really head-over-heels with Hype. She told me, "Yeah, that's my husband." They liked

the same things. I remember the first time meeting Hype. We went to Honduras to do this Photo shoot for this book, of which Lisa recently found a publisher for, 'cause Lisa was going to, in the next couple of months, pose for Playboy. We had an idea about her actually dressed as a fairy for Playboy. But the book, the [photos] that we did in Honduras with Hype, most of them were semi-nude - very artistic, body jewelry, just very artistic pieces that we shot on top of a

mountain that we climbed. It took half a day to climb this mountain. When we got on top of this mountain, it overlooked the whole country. Lisa had already climbed the mountain many times alone. It was just crazy. It was Lisa, her assistant Stephanie. Adrian Muhammad, who was also assisting Lisa at that time, Hype had two crewmembers, and I was wardrobe, and Gwynnis who does makeup.

In Honduras, Hype did a drawing with the sun and [Lisa] really adored it. I want to let Hype know how much she really loved him and that she was devastated [once when] she went to meet with Hype about doing the video and Stephanie told me that Hype was with this gorgeous girl. Lisa dresses down and Lisa just felt like an eel. She was like "Man, Hype was with this girl…” and talked about how she felt about Hype.

Jamie: But he didn't know, though?

Kyle: Well, she was trying to let him know. They had been together a number of times. He had visited her house and it just didn't work out

Jamie: You think she would've left Andre finally for him.

Kyle: Yeah, during that time.

Jamie: How long ago was this?

Kyle: It's been off and on for the past year and a half. The last person that she was with was Shawn. He came back to Philly about a month ago, before she went to Honduras, and she went out with Shawn and she said how much she really missed going out with Shawn, how much fun she had with him. And Shawn and I are very close friends and he's really going through...he's traumatically going through this.

Jamie: Has Andre called you?

Kyle: No, Andre hasn't called me and I'm very surprised. I thought I would've heard from Andre by now.