Source: Zachary Mazur / Getty
In case you hadn’t noticed, TLC doesn’t have a history of biting their tongues or staying silent about issues that affect their business. We saw it when they talked about the fact that they weren’t being compensated properly at the Grammys. We saw it when they called the names and spilled the tea in their biopic. And now, in a recent interview with Hollywood Unlocked, T-Boz kept it real about how the industry treated them after Left Eye passed.
And she was very specific.
See what she had to say during this portion of the interview, below.
“Honestly, when Lisa died, the whole industry turned on us. Ev-er-y-body. They was like, ‘It’s over for them. They’re never going to do it again.’ And I kept saying, ‘Nah bruh that still doesn’t hinder my talent and my passion to sing and dance.’ It’s in my soul. So I was just like, you just have to find that one person to say yes and find your new normal. We all know it’s never going to be the same again but you find your new normal and you keep going. And that is what Lisa would want us to do and I have kids to feed. It’s TLC forever, whether she’s physically here or not.
If you’re wondering what T-Boz meant by everybody, she wasn’t shy about calling the names.
Everybody L.A. Reid. I’ll call em all out. I don’t care. L.A. All the big execs who we put on the map, made them all kind of millions. It was like, ‘Umph.’ *Imitates turning her back on the camera* Then the artists. I remember the one who said yes was VH1 Superbowl Blitz. That concert was the most stressful, hectic concert but it ended up being the greatest.
Like, our sound guy, his stomach exploded. He was in the ER. Nelly was supposed to open, he was on a plane. As soon as we land and we have a police escort, he’s like, ‘I got to get my hair cut.’ Laughs.
And Dougie Fresh came through and Misty Copeland. I was like maybe God wanted it this way so we can still prove to people that we don’t need anybody else to rock a show.
Drake he pulled out. We had just did his OVO Fest. He was like, ‘I don’t know…I’m working on my performance.’ T.I….everybody.
And I don’t blame them. Sometimes you wonder if it was like you’re worried that you’re going to look sucker-free Sunday standing next to us because it may be over or you don’t want to be a part of that.
But it’s all good because it turned out, exactly the way it was supposed to be.
I love Dougie Fresh for this. His mom was sick. He spent the night in the hospital and came straight to open up the show with us on “Ain’t To Proud to Beg.”
Then I did a beautiful solo light on Misty Copeland and she did a beautiful dance to “Waterfalls” through her ballet act.
But that was one of the best concerts. And we got the highest ratings and that’s what put us on the map. And everybody and their mama started calling us to perform again.”
Fans being rude or disrespectful about Lisa Lopez’s death.
“What I think is disrespectful is the fans—I hate when people ask me—because my birthday is on April 26. She died on the 25th. CNN put it out around 4 AM in the morning. So every birthday I get, ‘Happy Birthday and girl, I’m so sorry.’ I can’t even open the door, the Instacart lady was like, ‘I know what today is.’ I’m like damn h*e, I was having a good day until now. You just gon remind me…
I hate when people ask me, ‘What are you going to do today?’ Do you celebrate when somebody dies? The worst day of my life? No. You don’t have a cake or a party. So don’t act like I’m not human. I bleed the same way you do. I don’t like that. That’s disrespectful.”
You can watch T-Boz’s full interview with Hollywood Unlocked in the video below.
