The world was devastated to hear of Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes's death back in April 2002. As her family, friends, and fans grieved her tragic loss and more revelations about the car crash that took her life were revealed, the industry bigwigs wondered what was next for the rapper's girl group, TLC. Remaining members T-Boz and Chilli have continued to tour, make appearances, and perform live, but T-Boz recently shared that immediately following Left Eye's death, she felt as if many in the industry abandoned TLC.
“Honestly, when Lisa died, the whole industry turned on us. Everybody. 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,” T-Boz said. "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, so why would I stop? It’s TLC forever, whether she’s physically here or not.”
When asked who those people were, T-Boz didn't mind naming names. “Everybody. L.A. Reid. I’ll call ’em all out, I don’t care. L.A. Everybody. All the big [executives], we put LaFace on the map, made them all kind of millions,” she said. T-Boz recalled a time when TLC, sans Lisa, performed for the VH1 Super Bowl Blitz and Nelly allegedly dipped at the last minute, pulling out as their opener. He reportedly said he had to get his haircut instead.
"Drake, he pulled out. We had just did his OVO Fest," added T-Boz. "He was like, ‘I don’t know, I’m working on my performance'... T.I. Everybody." Because the future of TLC was uncertain after Left Eye's untimely death, T-Boz didn't know whether or not her fellow artists distanced themselves so they wouldn't be associated with an act that was coming to an end.
“But it’s all good because it turned out exactly the way it was supposed to be.” Watch T-Boz on Hollywood Unlocked below.