Music
Energy never dies: We look at the legacy of Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes
The story of a true rap supernova.
In 2002, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes, the hip-hop innovator of TLC, began production on a documentary intended to chronicle her time spent in Honduras. Filmed from March 30, until her death on April 25, Lopes takes fans on an intimate journey of introspection while freely running naked through waterfalls as she began building a youth camp for children.
Accompanied by her team, sister Reigndrop Lopes, and Egypt, the R&B group she was mentoring at the time, they set out to the forest to film for 30 days. “That's the plan,” Lopes says prophetically. “I say that’s the plan because things always change.” Filming ended on day 27, after a tragic car accident that took Lopes’ life. In posthumously sutured tapes, the Lauren Lazin directed film, The Last Days Of Left Eye, ominously follows the final days of the effervescent star and her struggles with art, mortality and unrelenting dark premonitions.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of TLC’s FanMail, the final album released with Lopes. Today, she would be 48 years old.
From TLC’s beginnings in 1990, Lopes’ larger-than-life attitude propelled the group forward. Her instant chemistry with Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins was akin to a sisterly bond, the two egging each other on to create aesthetics that were sometimes strange, often new yet always exciting. A dancer for Damian Dame, Rozonda Thomas completed the trio after their previous third member and founder, Crystal Jones was booted out of the group. Lopes affectionately nicknamed Thomas ‘Chilli’, who would in earnest preserve the ‘C’ in TLC.
In 1992, their debut single, Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg, a refreshing amalgam of new jack swing and R&B punctuated sexual liberation with a smirk. Dominated by the playful exuberance of Lopes who dons cartoonish neon hats, billowing parachute pants and a pair of glasses, with one lens replaced by a condom, their introduction to the world was brash but exhilarating. Delivering lines about consensual and protected sex was a strong part of the TLC package – inspired by the AIDs crisis. Unabashed pleas for pleasure were made by the seductive T’Boz with her uniquely gravelly vocals, Chilli’s sweet lilt, and Lopes’ skittish yet sharp rhymes. “2 inches or a yard rock hard or if it's saggin',”, she quips, “I ain't 2 proud 2 beg (no).”
Lopes’ vivacity is immortalised in these early moments. Whether she was dancing in the background, folding laundry or delivering the poetic equivalent of “size doesn’t matter” her presence was mesmerising.
Record label executive, L.A. Reid, who worked closely with Left Eye with LaFace Records, sees the late rapper’s resemblance in some of today’s musicians, especially in Nicki Minaj. "I see a little Left Eye in there,” he mused to The Hollywood Reporter.
The legacy continues from generation to generation: It's there on Side To Side, Ariana Grande’s collaboration with Minaj who gesticulates their Soul-Cycle inspired message, and with Rihanna refusing to mince words on S&M.
Left Eye’s goofy light-heartedness co-existed alongside her raunchy rhymes and cybergoth fashion sensibilities. She was funny, but never veered into parody. Everything about Lopes was sincere, and her ability to embody contradictory traits came down to one thing — “I’m a Gemini,” she says smiling at the camera.
“She was determined to be something in life,” Atlanta Rapper, Jermaine Dupri told MTV in 2002. “She was a true rock star. She didn’t care about no press. She was the one that would curse on TV. She had tattoos. You could expect the unexpected. When you see Lisa, you could expect something from her. That’s the gift she carried.”
I don't care what happens or what people think about death, it doesn't matter.
Left Eye was the rock star of the band. In 1994, she dominated headlines, after burning down the Atlanta mansion belonging to NFL Pro-Bowler Andre Rison, her then-boyfriend. Reportedly fed up with months of adultery and emotional and physical abuse, the last straw for her was stumbling across 20 pairs of new sneakers the Atlanta Falcon’s star had splurged on, and not one of those boxes were for her. "I'd been drinking,” she revealed, “and there [was] no size 4. I just threw a pair of sneakers in the tub and lit them. I lit them on fire." Within minutes the house was engulfed in flames. Lopes was charged with first-degree arson and sentenced to live at a halfway house and five years probation, in addition to paying a $10,000 fine.
It wasn’t in Lopes’ nature to shy away from the heat. In November, Vibe Magazine released what would come to be one of their most successful issues, poking fun at the incident dressing TLC on the cover in firefighter gear. ‘TLC Fires It Up: Burning Up The Charts, Burning Down The House’, is splashed across an image of the three, with Lopes looking unbothered in a shiny, cherry coloured fireman’s helmet. In the interview, she spoke with a determination that wasn’t apologetic or sheepish, but rather vengeful. "The best way for me to get those people back is to succeed," she told Vibe. “I finally started looking at myself like I'm worth something, and it's because I've accomplished everything people told me I wouldn't. The best way for me to get people back is to come back out even harder.”
The ‘crazy’ in CrazySexyCool.
Their sophomore album, CrazySexyCool released in 1994, boasting hits like Waterfalls, Creep, and Red Light Special has since sold over 14 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling album by an American girl group. TLC drew attention with the fire but held it with, what remains to be one of the best R&B albums of all time.
Lopes’ verse on Waterfalls, inspired by a rainbow she saw in the sky on her way home from rehab is emblematic of her artistry; personal, confident and raw. “I seen a rainbow yesterday, but too many storms,” she ruminates. “Have come and gone, leaving a trace of not one God-given ray.”
Despite the unprecedented success of CrazySexyCool, things weren’t sitting right with Lopes. In May 1999, she followed up with journalist Anthony DeCurtis after he sat down with the trio for a feature with Vibe. “There’s something very important that I want you to put in the article,” Lopes told Curtis. ”It would mean something to me, so I was wondering if you could quote me on this one. Okay, here we go: I’ve graduated from this era. I cannot stand 100 percent behind this TLC project and the music that is supposed to represent me. This will be my last interview until I can speak freely about the truth and present myself on my solo project."
She opposed Creep, threatening to wear black tape against her mouth in the music video to protest the song. “I was totally against that song because I wasn't down with cheating on your man,” she laughed. “If a girl caught her man cheating - this was my thinking - instead of telling her to cheat back, why don't we just tell her to leave?!,” Lopes laughed.
All the members of TLC had a voice, but Lopes was compelled to use hers with purpose and without adhering to the industry’s rules. In 1997, while entering the VMAs, she exposed to MTV TLC’s internal issues with longtime producer Dallas Austin. "I'm just gonna be honest with everybody," Lopes smiles knowingly. "Dallas recorded some songs with TLC that we hadn't yet gone into record, but Dallas tried to charge us $4.2 million, so he might not be on the project. So, we been fighting with Dallas for about 10 months. We have not yet gone to the studio yet, and hey, don't get mad at me, I just have to tell it like it is... He came down but, he charged us more than Babyface!"
Famously breaking down how TLC had gone broke selling 10 million albums, Lopes was the group’s unofficial spokesperson, an unwavering leader whose vision, values and veracity made the group an empowered juggernaut.
The iconoclastic rapper was possessed by a thirst for the truth. This electrified TLC but also almost brought them to a breaking point.
FanMail, their fourth and final album with Lopes, scarcely featured the rapper. Largely replaced by a computer-generated android, Vick-E, whose ominous presence would become the most dated part of the record, Lopes’ absence is palpable. It would, however, come to be visually, the most characteristically Left Eye album of their discography. Slick tacky PVC wrapped their bodies in the penultimate ‘No Scrubs’ music video, and they danced inside a white-lit space-shuttle. The trio wore black platform heels, airy silver ensembles and seraphic hairstyles communicating an afro-futurism that unlike anyone that came before them.
While the music video would feature a later recorded verse by Lopes, today it sounds like a lost relic overshadowed by the ever celebrated chorus. Left Eye is cyber perfection, reveling in technological attachments the highly stylized video and its lasting legacy is reflected in today’s visuals. Their influence is seen today, from British designer, Nasir Mazhar’s PVC-heavy AW14 collection to the futuristic aesthetics of the Migos, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B collaboration, Motorsport.
Her solo work, which followed soon after the release of FanMail ranged from mentoring artists, Blaque; hosting MTV’s short-lived search for the next star, The Cut and feature verses including Spice Girl Melanie C's Never Be the Same Again, N*Sync’s Space Cowboy, and Keith Sweat’s How Do You Like It?.
Lopes dedicated her free time after the conclusion of the FanMail Tour to recording her debut solo album, Supernova. It set to detail the most tender parts of her life over 13 tracks, from her father’s death to her tumultuous relationship with Rison. Initially scheduled for release on a date to coincide with the 11th anniversary of her grandfather's death, Arista Records cancelled the American release.
Released in the UK, Block Party became a chart-topping 20 hit but performed dismally in the US. The goofy and upbeat hip-hop single, which NME imagined set in a “ghetto Sesame Street”, was reminiscent of TLC’s early work. It was colourful, joyous and otherworldly— all the things that Lopes embodied. Its poor reception in the US led to the cancellation of all forthcoming singles. “Jesus… I need a break,” Lopes exhales, in the more candid moments in The Last Days Of Left Eye.
"Energy never dies... it just transforms,” was Left Eye’s spiritual motto. Since her death in 2002, her inimitable mystique has endured taking on an immortal presence in pop culture. "There is a track called A New Star Is Born," Lopes told MTV in 2002, describing a forthcoming song on her solo album, Supernova. "It's saying that there is no such thing as death. I don't care what happens or what people think about death, it doesn't matter. We all share the same space." Just months after making these comments, the animated star tragically passed away.
Everything about Left Eye was larger than life and distinctly profound. Always dressing for excess, she braided her hair into colossal hoops that demanded attention and donned the wildest ensembles with all sincerity. She was the embodiment of CrazySexyCool, the futurism in FanMail and the excitement of ‘Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip’.
A supernova is “a star that suddenly increases greatly in brightness because of a catastrophic explosion that ejects most of its mass”. It can outshine entire galaxies, and radiate more energy than the sun ever can in one lifetime. Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes lives on in TLC. Everything that made her who she was, from the contradictions and controversy to championing the truth, continues to shine, radiating more energy than some stars ever will in one lifetime.
