​Album Review & Fan Commentary By Eddie J., Contributing Writer
 
The conception and execution of TLC's new self-titled album has brought some uncomfortable realities to light.
 
I should preface this review and commentary by saying that I'm probably one of the biggest TLC fans alive. I know all of the songs (including unreleased cuts and demos even TLC forgot they recorded), have heard every interview, watched every performance, and can point out every inaccuracy in their now 4-year-old VH1 biopic. So, be aware that my assessments aren't coming from a shallow,  "casual-listener" angle. Now that's been said...
 

​Part One: The Review
Likes: Way Back, Joy Ride
Dislikes: Scandalous, Aye Muthafu*ka, It's Sunny, Haters
Overall: Undeserving of being self-titled, TLC falls flat and short of expectations. A sea of mediocrity with a few gems here and there.
 
Let's just get it out of the way: God, the universe, the spirit of Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, or any other energy did TLC a solid by "inspiring" Jay-Z to drop his newest album on the same day as theirs. Their self-titled release went quietly into the night like Sam Fisher. It crept just beneath the gaze of black Twitter, which swarmed with celebratory, tea-sipping tweets about the lyrical content of Jay-Z's 4:44. This spared TLC the dragging that otherwise would have been inevitable, because this is arguably the worst album they've ever done. The 17-track deluxe LP is a product of a Kickstarter fundraiser, so for all intents and purposes, hardly anyone knows it exists yet. What little fandom I have left within me is relieved. After the initial high-hopes and fan support, followed by social media flubs, drama, and general public dissent regarding TLC's integrity, the quality of this project (or lack thereof) is an added insult.
 
In fate's irony, Left Eye was destined to represent the middle acronym of the group's name, as she was their creative nucleus. Want to know what happens to a cell when you remove its nucleus? Listen to TLC. Aside from 2 or 3 tracks, the album is a smorgasbord of uninspired nonevents. Its dated ditties are comprised of monotonous and lifeless music, with aimless and cliché, if not corny, lyrics. "We don't need scrubs chasing waterfalls" is one of the first "catchy," nonsensical hooks you'll hear in the opening "No Introduction," setting the lyrical tone for the rest of the record. The highlights were "Joy Ride" and the lead single, "Way Back." "Joy Ride" is an amazing, 'soul-meets-jazz' pop song with funk icing. It's a sound that's different, yet, just familiar enough for T-Boz and Chilli to bring it to life. A domineering bass holds a bright brass section, thumping electric guitars and syncopated piano chords in place, while T-Boz and Chilli's stacked harmonies fill every crevice of the lyrics. It's only the second song in their entire discography where just T-Boz and Chilli did all of the background vocals, so it is clear the intent was to make a personal connection, and it worked. Still, it can only be appreciated outside the context of its tumultuous, poorly crafted surroundings. Hearing it as the  intended conclusion will leave a sour aftertaste and an overwhelming bitter-sweetness that the "Ride" is definitely over for one of the most iconic girl-groups in history. "Way Back" is a mid-tempo ode to 1990's west-coast hip-hop. It suits the ladies' voices well, and it has enough synth bass and percussive knocks to feel fresh, rather than dated. It's what you would expect from TLC, but just a tad safer in subject-matter to be construed as the lead single. It's melodic structure and "feel good" chord progression makes it a standout. It's biggest fault, however, is Snoop Dogg's featured verse. He talked about nothing for over a minute: he likes weed and women, is looking for one or both, and is on a song with TLC. If alive, I know Left Eye would have given a hot 16 bars--or even a warm 8 bar--that would've been exponentially more intriguing. Also, why couldn't the one guest spot on the record be for a female rapper? Given the platform TLC established, you'd think it would be, but I digress. 

By @EddieJSays, Contributing Writer

On October 21st, VH1 finally premiered the highly publicized and anticipated TLC biopic “CrazySexyCool: A TLC Story.” Being one of the biggest fans of the group there is, I was SO excited to hear about it. I know just about everything there is to know about each TLC member and their personal struggles, so the idea of seeing it play out in cinematic format had me on the edge of my seat…at least initially. 

There was much promise upon the beginning of the film, leading right before Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes got discovered, signed and moved through the process of finding a new member (which ended up being Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas; more on that in a moment) and recording their 1st album. The 150 minute (including commercials) movie was great for those who didn’t know TLC’s back story and it gave a little insight on the climate of the music industry at that time. The performances from lead actresses Drew Sidora (T-Boz), Lil’ Mama (Left-Eye) and Keke Palmer (Chilli) were surprisingly good (with Lil’ Mama shining through as the best actress of the film), in addition to Rochelle Aytes, who portrayed the group’s 1st manager, Perri “Pebbles” Reid.

The movie was a great summary of the ladies’ perils and triumphs as one the best-selling female groups of all time, however, my qualm as a fan was the fact it was just that—a summary. Its brevity of their most successful album eras (i.e. “Crazy.Sexy.Cool” and “FanMail”) and over-magnification of somewhat interesting, yet trivial conflicts made the movie come off as a dramatized, cliff-notes version of “Behind the Music” (TLC’s “Behind the Music” debatably did more in 1 hour than this film did in 2 and 1/2 ). It ultimately left certain facts seem more elusive and not clarified, than express the whole truth for what it was.

Firstly, the movie was extremely biased. In Left-Eye’s absence, T-Boz and Chilli were the ones who constructed and pitched the TLC story to VH1 script-writers, and that, ironically, was probably more of a minus than a plus because aspects of their background were told from a limited perspective and presented as truth without further explanation. For example, the firing of Crystal Jones (the original “C” in TLC) was attributed in the film to her inability to sing/perform in front of L.A. Reid and Pebbles during an audition. However, according to Jones, the reality was since she was the original lead of the group (she called auditions to form a group to begin with), Pebbles privately presented her with the contract first and when Jones insisted on showing the contract to her mother for further review, Pebbles later encouraged T-Boz and Left-Eye to oust her. To put it in perspective, if Jones was such a poor performer, how did she get the chance to exclusively audition for her own group before introducing the group to Arista Records/Pebbletone? How did the group record demos under the name of 2nd Nature with producers like Jermaine Dupri if she was so terrible? Maybe T-Boz got the impression that Jones’ singing was to blame because that’s what she was told or maybe there was an instance where Jones bombed a performance. Jones’ story wasn’t the only one that fell prey to the limited perspective.