TLC’s T-Boz & Chill Discuss the Group’s Legacy, Left Eye and Cardi B’s Homage in New Interview
April 25 is the 16th anniversary of the death of TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez. The bittersweet moment in R&B history brings tributes from everyone in R&B and hip-hop including surviving members T-Boz and Chilli. Recently the group sat down fro an interview with Beats1 to discuss everything from the group's legacy to Cardi B.'s homage to the group especially during this year's Coachella.
On Cardi B. Paying Them Homage
T-Boz: "I know she wore my outfits at the Grammys and she wore Lisa's hair. It was our whole Grammys-TLC feel when we were on stage, and she said Left Eye on one song, and paid homage to TLC on another song — our “Creep” song and then our name, too. She did it twice and she also paid us love on our page. So a lot of love — it was awesome."
On TLC’s Legacy
T-Boz: "It's really an honor. You never think people are going to be — like, you always wish that, you want that. We would always say, 'we want to be trendsetters. We want little girls to dress like us.' But when you actually see them do it for Halloween, and have birthday parties, and generations — the grandma, the mom, and the daughter — all at the concerts. It’s really amazing. We're blessed to be 25 years in, and people are still doing it."
Chilli: "We are really blessed. And like she said, as an artist when you’re new coming out, your dream is to be able to have that type of effect — a positive one — on everybody, and to have that longevity. You don’t know if that's going to be your story, so time tells that, and it has. It’s been 20 plus years, and even Bruno Mars, for that matter — the video that he had featuring Cardi B — it was almost like our “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” video, and he had on a TLC t-shirt! It's amazing and it's a blessing for us to see that. It makes us feel really good and lets us know, OK we did it right. We're still doing it, so yes, it is awesome."
On The Anniversary of Left Eye’s Passing
Chilli: "First of all, when you think of the word anniversary — I mean, I know that it's a date that something took place. But when you think about that, you think of happy times. When people celebrate the anniversary of a wedding, or a marriage, or a relationship of any kind, and it seems like to me it's all something cheerful, and there's nothing cheerful to me about her passing. I mean nothing. We don't go out of our way to do anything like that. I mean, when her birthday comes around, yes, we talk about that, but not the death."
T-Boz: "But we celebrate it all year round. I mean really because we always incorporate her in everything we do. We always keep her memory alive. We showcase the great things, like why people loved her. So yeah, like when anybody else's mom or sister dies, I don't know a lot of people who celebrate cake or anything."
On Keeping Lisa’s Legacy Alive
T-Boz: "That's kind of a whole TLC movement thing, because that's why we still kept going, to keep this thing going and to keep her memory alive. We incorporate her in every show, and that’s kind of like what we do — so people won’t forget. We've said TLC is forever and it’s still T-L-C, you know what I mean? She hasn't been replaced and will never be replaced, ever. TLC and Left Eye go hand in hand. We've got to keep this thing going until the wheels fall off, so they won't forget."