The hardest part for me was the four days
That I didn't know exactly what was in my head.
I didn't know if it was cancerous.
I didn't know if I was going to die.
It's called an acoustic neuroma
And it went through my ear
And it was deep in my right cerebellum,
Sitting on my facial nerve, my balance nerve
And my hearing nerve, but that's everything I do.
That's my face, my singing, my hearing, my dancing.
I was like, "man."
I don't want to cry, but my first thought was my daughter.
♪♪
[ breathes deeply ]
I wanted to make it back just to be a mom.
So I didn't care about the business,
Honestly, 'cause that don't matter anyway
If I ain't here to do it.
We've lost one sister.
I just -- no,
I cannot lose another.
We have to grow old together and be real old... Mm-hmm.
...Biblical-times old, like, gray hair and everything.
You hear what I'm saying? [ speaks indistinctly ]
Yes. [ speaks indistinctly ] [ laughs ]
♪♪
[ chuckling ] oh, my god. I cannot believe this.
I used to live in this plaza, eat in this plaza.
They had a good barbecue-chicken spot there.
Where's your house?
It's going to be down here on the right,
Uh, um, right across from the school.
So this is the school. Okay, so this is the school.
So -- oh, my god. Wait. Oh, my goodness.
This was the house. It looks so little.
And I used to drop you off... Used to drop me off...
...And pick you up... ...Pick me up.
...Being the tlc chauffeur.
Yep.
Y'all should've paid me.
Y'all didn't even offer gas money.
Oh, my god. We didn't have any, or I would have.
I remember the first time
We ever heard ourselves on the radio.
Yeah.
So it was right here.
It must've -- it had to have been this.
It had to be here. It was right here.
And then you got out, and you started dancing.
Yep, and we was dancing all over here.
♪ check one, two, one, two ♪
♪ yo, if I need it in the morning ♪
♪ or the middle of the night ♪
♪ I ain't too proud to beg, no ♪
♪ if the lovin' is strong, and he got it goin' on and ♪
♪ I ain't too proud to beg, no ♪
♪ two inches or a yard rock hard or if it's saggin' ♪
♪ I ain't too proud to beg ♪
Get up on your feet. Tlc!
Man: The biggest-selling female group of all time.
I would like to think two very important people in my life.
Elliott: They are legends. They are icons.
They will go down in the history books of music.
[ speaks indistinctly ] hold it, hold it.
Questlove: You instantly knew these were nobody's
Puppets on a string.
My favorite group, ladies and gentlemen, tlc.
♪ a scrub is a guy that thinks he's fly ♪
♪ and is also known as a busta ♪
Whether it's destiny's child or even
With cardi b's "invasion of privacy,"
I see their influence in so many artists today.
Grohl: That's cultural longevity that connects
No matter when or where or who.
Their name will still be around for the generations after us.
♪ hangin' out the passenger side of his best friend's ride ♪
♪ trying to holla at me ♪
'cause I don't want no scrubs.
Man: And the winner is...
Man #2: "crazysexycool," the new album by tlc...
Valdés: They weren't just pop princesses.
The image and what they stood for was very real.
[ belches ] [ laughter ]
It was catchy. It was visual.
They had all the elements.
We are one short. We're missing the "l" in tlc.
T-boz and chilli were at odds with left eye.
Austin: Lisa was still like, "I'm in the group," "I'm out the group."
We just didn't know what was gonna happen, period.
Woman: Many controversies, financial and legal problems,
And infighting within the group.
When you start being successful
In the music industry,
[bleep] just starts magically being paid for.
♪ one, two, three, four, yo ♪ ♪ here we go again ♪
Man: With 33 million albums sold worldwide...
Woman: Tlc has ruled the music charts.
Three of the hottest women in hip-hop.
♪ here we go, here we go, here we go again ♪
[ crowd chanting, "tlc!" ]
Make some noise!
Watkins: Tlc is forever.
[ cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Jordan: In the late '80s,
The atlanta music scene was just about ready to explode.
It had all of the right pieces in place,
And somebody just needed to take that
And, like, put it all together.
Laface records became a mega hub for all of
The local talent there, like the motown of the south.
L.A. Reid and babyface always had their finger on the pulse
Of what the next thing was and had their ear to the ground.
By 1991, hip-hop was sort of entering this new phase
Where it was discovering its own powers.
The sound of the bomb squad throwing all these samples in,
Throwing everything in but the kitchen sink,
And creating a new soundscape.
♪ girl, I must ♪ ♪ warn you ♪
Bell biv devoe touched on it with the "poison" album.
♪ that girl is ♪ ♪ poison ♪
[ imitates beats ]
And it took a second for people
Even to get to the "poison" level,
But when they did, they were, like, obsessed with it.
Ian had a vision. He called it a female bbd.
He said, "I want to put together a female bbd.
Do you know anybody?
I immediately of tionne. She run with us.
She's so cool.
Watkins: I worked with rico with my first job
At a hair salon called lamonte's beauty supply.
Wade: She was new to the neighborhood. She had just moved to delowe.
So, really, she was the new girl, and she was edgy.
But he couldn't bring tionne to the audition.
She had to work. Yeah.
So what he did do was he brought lisa.
Hi, everybody. Hello, philadelphia.
How are you doing?
One thing I'd like to start off by saying is hold fast,
Hold on to your dreams.
A friend of mine, he asked me to come to atlanta
Because he had a singing group,
And he would like for me to be in the group.
When I got there, the group thing didn't work out,
So I asked around if anyone knew if there were any auditions
Or anyone who wanted to start a group.
Was there anything that I could do?
And rico wade, he was a dancer
For the guy that I went to atlanta with.
He said, "yeah, I know someone who's having auditions."
Her name was crystal.
So crystal came back and said,
"yo, you have to see this girl rap."
And she blew me away.
They already knew her, but she blew me away.
♪ glad to claim my name, and who's to blame for success ♪
♪ and if you're mentally correct ♪
♪ you get respect from the left ♪
♪ so I expect some more respect from every ho in return ♪
♪ even if you used a condom, it's still got burns ♪
Dupri: Lisa wrote her own raps and what she was writing
Was what she was feeling,
Whatever she was doing, she was doing it at [chuckles] --
At a level where you was going to pay attention to her.
♪ and since you know so much about me ♪
♪ won't you tell me what's next? ♪
♪ I hear my name comes out your mouth so much ♪
♪ it's better than sex ♪
At that point, I actually had three girls in the group,
But he was so... Adamant about tionne.
He was adamant about meeting tionne.
So crystal and enrico came over, and I sang,
And then I danced.
I saw immediately a star quality in her.
Kept lisa, kept tionne, and crystal.
We came up with the name 2nd nature.
Jordan: L.A. Reid and pebbles were married.
She was an artist and an executive
And was out searching for her own artists.
So she took my basic mold,
She put money on it, made them look like stars.
She became our manager, and she said
That the group should be called something else.
All you guys' initials are perfect.
Tionne, lisa, crystal -- tlc.
♪ see somebody standing in your own backyard ♪
The first time we actually saw tionne and lisa, for that fact,
Was in the "backyard" video,
But they had put crystal out of the group.
Lopes: Me, tionne, and crystal.
It was interesting.
Me and tionne, we wanted it. We were hungry.
We just didn't get that energy from crystal.
Watkins: So pebbles said to me and lisa,
"one person in the group could 'f' it up for the next one."
So we had to go and kick this girl out her own group.
Lopes: So the word was on the street.
Everyone knew that pebbles had a group.
There was two members, and she needed one more.
L.A. Reid called pebbles and said,
"I think you need to take a look at this girl."
She had on her sweats. She had on a baggy t-shirt
'cause she was just leaving rehearsal.
Right off the bat, we were feeling her vibe.
I remember lisa being very friendly.
She was so sweet, and tionne was not.
You know what I'm saying? Watkins: I was like, I don't know her.
She was all jolly and stuff, and I was like,
"girl, I don't know. You cute and all,
But I don't know you like that."
Thomas: [ laughs ]
She wasn't mean. She just wasn't friendly at all.
But I hugged her anyway. I didn't care.
Lopes: So when we met rozonda and we loved her,
We picked her that night, we named her that night.
Watkins: We were just, like, ecstatic.
Our dream is finally starting to come true.
Thomas: From the beginning,
I knew that it was something special
Between the three of us.
That's just what I truly felt in my heart.
Man: Yeah, there you go.
Ready? Two, three.
Holmes: ...With top-10 hits.
They've sold 85 million records worldwide.
They are one of the best-selling american groups of all time.
Whoo. And guess what. They're joining us here
To talk all about their national tour.
Please welcome the iconic members of tlc,
Rozonda "chilli" thomas and tionne "t-boz" watkins.
T-boz, tell me what it's been like.
It's been amazing. I'm not gonna lie.
It's been a lot of hard work.
This is the first time in our whole career
Where our rehearsals have been cut in half
Because of the pandemic.
Man: Let's go!
Man #2: Boom, boom.
Diggins: We're on the last day of rehearsal today.
Left, right, left.
Where are we on running time?
I'm never nervous, but there's been
An enormous amount of stress putting this tour together.
These girls -- taking a lot of risk.
Tionne, with an autoimmune disease -- her life.
Let's throw our masks on if we're not dancing, alright?
Thomas: But what breakdown am I doing?
[ speaks indistinctly ] you're going to stress me.
Every time we go out,
You have to prove yourself to an audience.
You have to be innovative. You have to be dynamic.
The level of intensity between tionne, chilli,
And myself gets very high because you can't disappoint.
Watkins: We're not rehearsing tomorrow?
I ain't never, never not known this much stuff.
I know. Yeah.
I've been with tlc for 25 years,
And every tour I've ever done
Is more important than the last one.
Now we're being considered for glastonbury.
It's the most difficult festival in the world
To get accepted, playing in front of millions of people.
This would be the biggest performance of their career.
Thank you. Ladies.
Thank you. What's playing here?
Are there new movies here or old ones?
I feel like I'm going to a high-school reunion.
Ooh. Ah, look at those beauties.
Take me back. Classic tionne -- never smiled.
And lisa and I, we were always cheesing,
Grilled cheesing. Why am I standing alone?
Do I look mean, though?
I'm pretty sure because you had a very intimidating look.
Oh, my god. You didn't intimidate me.
Yes, I did. No, you didn't.
If you had intimidated me,
I would not have hugged you the way that I did all the time.
So you just got used to it. Did I hug you back?
It didn't matter. She was like...
It was so weak, but I didn't care.
Oh, my gosh. I was like, "I'll break her."
[ chuckles ]
Lopes: Yo. What's happening?
Hey, hey. We in the house.
Oh, I remember this. Oh, man. "I'm the tiggity tiggity."
Now, are we looking at you? Woman: You can look right at me.
So if you could first, actually,
Introduce yourselves on camera.
I'm the t, tiggity, tiggity, t-boz.
I'm the liggy, liggy, left eye.
I'm the "c," chilli. Both: And it be the chills.
All: And that is, oh, on the tlc tip.
[ laughs ] yeah.
[ laughter ]
Woman: Thank you. You're welcome.
So how did you get your nicknames?
Well, t-boz stands for my first name, tionne,
And boz is slang for boss.
It means "tionne is the boss" -- t-boz.
And my name's left eye 'cause I is right.
[ laughter ] it's a tlc thing.
And my name is chilli because I have all the mucho sauce.
Austin: When we started work on the group,
Everybody was different.
Chilli was a girly girl at that point.
She wasn't trying to wear baggy clothes or none of that.
Tionne was like the guy of the girls.
And then left eye, you just got where all the quirkiness
Was going to come from.
But when they spent enough time around each other,
Then it started to rub off where everything was okay.
Nine hours? Nine hours?
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine?
Nine hours? Watkins: Yeah, girl.
It's going to be kind of impatienized.
Oh, that's what we used to -- yeah, we used to make up words.
Impatienize. Immobilize. Yeah. Yeah.
When I wake back up,
I'm going to be very immobilized. Watkins: Uh-huh.
When we get there... Yeah?
I'm going to be very
Ready-to-go- back-home-itized.
[ laughter ]
That's when I used to carry a camcorder
And a camera on my neck daily
When we were touring.
Here we are, chilling in the hallway,
Waiting to do this thing.
Chilli, how do you feel about the first day of tour?
We're at the venue. Girl, I'm ready to get the first two days over.
After that, it's going to be on. You know what I'm saying?
I was born in columbus, georgia.
I grew up there with my mom and my great-grandmother.
We called her big mama.
My mom moved to atlanta after she had me
To finish school and get a job.
So I was in columbus with big mama.
She planted some good seeds in me,
And I grew up seventh-day adventist
Because she was a seventh-day adventist.
A lot of my friends had mom and dad in the house,
And I had my mom and there was big mama.
And I didn't feel like I was missing anything.
When I was a kid, I used to love music.
Singing and dancing, I did that all of the time
In the neighborhood with my cousins.
We used to make up routines.
So I always imagined myself on stage.
Lopes: [ speaks indistinctly ]
Watkins: You don't know nothing about this.
[bleep]
Move over here 'cause of the light of the window.
Alright, check this out.
Now, we phat, we phat, we phat.
Right? Look in the mirror.
Look at me. I'm chilling. Right. Check this out.
We about to rock this [bleep]
We about to rock it? You know what I'm saying?
Damn. We about to...
When I was growing up in philadelphia,
My mother was a very, very strong person.
And my father was very strict.
There were a lot of rules.
My father was in the military. He was very dominant.
"what I say goes."
Don't even question him.
Don't say "why, daddy?" "because I said so."
So nothing really out of the ordinary happened.
But him and my mother
Didn't get into their little arguments and stuff,
And he'd get a little bit physical.
Everyone in my father's side of the family
Is musically inclined.
My mother's side of the family is more artistically inclined.
Those were some of the gifts that I received from my parents.
No. White music? You crazy?
Me, my sister, and my brother
Used to put together shows for my mother
While she was away at work.
[ girl laughs ]
And we'd say, "mom, mom, we got a show for you."
[ chuckles ] like that.
We did everything -- from acting to a dance step.
I don't know what was on our minds, but we liked to perform.
Yep.
You know, out here.
I was born at mercy hospital in des moines, iowa.
My mom was like the big kahuna in church.
She was in a singing group called the viguelles.
Being that I was under my mother,
Everybody expected me to sing,
But I would never practice in front of anyone.
And so when it came time for me to sing,
They were sitting there like,
"oh, god, what is tionne going to do?" and I was like,
♪ oh, sin now, you're gonna be sorry ♪
♪ you're gonna be so sorry ♪
♪♪
I spent the first seven years of my life in the hospitals.
The doctor diagnosed me with sickle cell disease.
He basically told me I would not live past 30 years old,
I would never have children,
And I would be disabled my whole entire life.
I would always say, like,
"mom, they're going to know me on billboards,
Magazines across the world."
And she was like, "okay, honey.
There's a couple of things that you may not be able to do
Like everyone else,
But if you take care of yourself and do the right things,
You can do anything that you put your mind to."
Okay, so this is me in the hospital,
And this is an ekg.
It keeps monitoring my heart on that monitor.
And that's my I.V. Fluids.
[ clears throat ]
That's what's going on now.
[ line ringing ]
Diggins: Hello? Thomas: Billy d.
Good morning. Have you talked to tionne this morning?
She called me yesterday, and she was like, "I'm just so sorry."
I said, "why are you sorry? You couldn't help this."
And she's all like, you know, "but I just -- you know,"
And I got her out of that real quick.
You know, she's going to be good, have a speedy recovery.
We've been dealing with this for 20 years.
Yep. Poor girl just has moments,
And then, you know, next week,
She'll be in rehearsal, dancing.
She's more than likely going to get out today or tomorrow
And be ready to go.
We have recordings and radio pick-up stuff, rehearsals,
And then these shows.
Ugh, man.
I'm going to be so stressed out.
We've got plenty of time to get this show together.
I'm confident with that.
Thomas: Man, this used to be my spot.
Watkins: Okay, so let me tell you something. Okay.
When I saw you, I came through that door
And you were standing over there.
'cause I used to float. I used to --
All of this used to be, like, perfume and makeup.
So I went to college at 18.
So I would come home on, like, you know,
Christmas break and stuff and would work here.
"hi, ma'am. How are you?" these were the days.
"what would you like today?"
And then that's when I figured out
That you could steal clothes and take them back for $50
And under and get cash. [ chuckles ]
When I got in trouble, we were downstairs.
They said I had too many returns, and I said, "you --"
I said, "I like to buy things and return.
You can't fault me for that."
[ laughs ]
I want to see if the office where they took me is there
'cause I would never forget.
I was scared as hell, girl. [ laughs ]
I was like, "oh, god."
Isn't that crazy that you were --
How old were you when this happened?
I was, like, about 16 or 17.
So I was working here.
That's when I saw you. I told you.
That's so crazy.
I wasn't lying. I'm telling you, I can't make that up.
My group member, future group member, was stealing.
Let's see if it was over here. I sure was.
[ laughs ] I sure was.
While I was earning a living. I earned money, too.
Don't leave me out in that area.
I was working, saving --
I was working, too. Saving my little coins.
I was working. This might've been the way.
Yes.
What in the world? This looks like a chicken coop.
What is this? Did they put you in here, ti-ti?
"I swear I won't steal it no more."
"ma'am, what is your mother's name..."
"let me out." "...And what's her number? No."
"I won't tell. I'll never tell."
"you're going to juvie." "for what? I bought those clothes"
"1,000 times. 1,000 times." "I bought those clothes. It doesn't matter.
And 1,000 times, I didn't want it."
"we don't show a record that you bought them.
We have record that you returned."
"it don't matter where my receipt is." "just let her stay in here."
"I bought it. I bought it somewhere else." "let her stay in here. Let her stay in here."
"none of your business where I bought it." thomas: [ laughs ]
"and I'm leaving. I'm going home."
Lock her up. [ both laugh ]
Ahhh. Oh, my god.
♪♪
Man: Dancers, are you good? Are you ready?
Alright, here we go. Jump, jump, jump.
Loosen it up, ladies.
Man #2: One, two, three, four.
♪ yo, mic check, one, two, one, two ♪
"ain't 2 proud." alright, here we go.
♪ we in the house ♪
♪ yeah, come on ♪
♪ 1992, tlc kickin' off in you mother [bleep] ♪
♪ so you best be duckin' fast ♪
♪ yo, t-boz, is ya bein' a boss? ♪
♪ chilli, what's up with that sauce? ♪
Diggins: The first time I ever saw tlc on tv,
They just jumped off the screen,
And I said, "wow. Who are these girls?"
♪ better get it while it's hot ♪
♪ ain't no better love than your own ♪
Valdés: Tlc really helped put atlanta on the map.
They just came out and exploded in such a way
That everyone had to pay attention.
"what's happening? What is this music?"
♪ yo, if I need it in the morning ♪
♪ or the middle of the night ♪
♪ I ain't too proud to beg, no ♪
Questlove: It's like throwing my dad's entire record collection
In a blender,
Just put on nine random songs at the same time,
And that was the feeling.
I think I had twentysomething samples in that song.
♪ join the paddy wagon 'cause I ain't too proud ♪
And it worked like gangbusters.
♪ I ain't too proud to beg, no ♪
Austin: The first album, me and lisa would start off the project.
It was, like, me and her in the studio.
All of us was always feeding off each other's energy.
We have our different sound.
Everyone has their own department.
She's the funk, okay? That's her department.
She goes straight-up funk. Miss funkiness.
I'm the rapper, you know, and chilli is straight r&b.
I grew up rapping... She's a true rapper.
...She grew up singing, and she grew up singing. I grew up singing.
So what does that say, america? This is a singing group,
Not a rap group. Yeah, not a rap group.
Austin: That was our process.
Chilli's going to sing high, left eye's going to rap,
T-boz is going to sing low.
♪ screamin' loud and holdin' sheets ♪
♪ scared that you'll be called a freak ♪
♪ gotta let it go while you can ♪
Valdés: Those lyrics, it was female empowerment.
Yeah, that's what all girls
Might have been thinking at the time,
But who was actually saying that out loud?
♪ two inches or a yard rock hard or if it's saggin' ♪
♪ I ain't too proud to beg, no ♪
[ cheers and applause ]
Campaign '92 has been called the year of the woman.
Jordan: It was supposed to be celebrated.
It was the year of the woman, but tlc got backlash
For the message that they were conveying.
Man: "ain't 2 proud 2 beg"
Is the first mega hit off the album,
But it caused a bit of controversy
For these lady rappers.
They wear condoms on their brightly colored baggy clothes,
And they look too young to be singing about sex.
Do they try to censor you sometimes
Because you don't look like
You should be singing the songs you sing?
There's a lot of double standards
In our lyrical content.
♪ yo, left eye, kick that ♪
Back then, things were a shock,
Like, especially for women to speak like that.
Guys would always talk like that,
But women? Oh, no.
♪ yeah, I like it when you ♪
♪ both sets of lips, ooh, on the tlc tip ♪
Man: What's with the condoms? This condom?
People look at a condom and say, "ew,"
And this little, bitty thing right here could save your life.
You had 30,000 people die of aids, that year,
Mostly black and latino people.
I mean, if you really think about it,
Aids and all that stuff, nobody really wants to hear about it,
Nobody wants to talk about it.
And it shouldn't be like that. They'd rather just keep quiet.
Now, I read that you all said something about how,
You know, this is the way you all feel,
How you want to dress, and you're really not into
That little, tight, short, kind of sexy thing... Watkins: Right.
Because women don't have to dress like that. They really don't.
We have a song called "hat 2 da back"... Uh-huh.
...And it describes our clothes, our style,
And, you know, just the way we are.
♪ hat to the back ♪
♪ I gotta kick my pants down real low ♪
♪ that's the kinda girl I am ♪
Valdés: They came out during a time
That women were such fans of hip-hop,
But we didn't necessarily see ourselves
Completely reflected in the music.
It wasn't the typical r&b, tight dresses, high heels.
It was none of that.
♪ bein' that I am the kinda girl that I am ♪
♪ tight jeans don't hit the same with one like me ♪
Bellamy: I mean, they were wearing clothes
That was three times bigger than their size.
Three little 5'2" girls. [ chuckles ]
I'm chilling here with tlc, yo.
What I thought was really unique about them
Was the color schemes.
Thomas: That's when lisa was spray-painting
All of our overalls and things like that.
She was definitely
One of the most creative people I've ever met.
Even the sound of her voice, how loud it was... Yeah.
...The tone of it, her rap style.
♪ every day, last week, and not a place to go ♪
♪ this nut still had me dressin' like a fashion show ♪
But I think because she's like that
And is, like, way over the top,
Her being with us, it's like we all balanced that together.
That is what made it so beautiful
With the three of us being together.
♪ here we go, here we go, here we go, here we go ♪
-They have everything.
They had the look and they had the sound
And they had the group and they had the songs.
Man: Their debut album has gone double platinum.
Woman: Are you guys going to go on tour soon?
Yeah, pebbles is working on that. Yeah, this summer, most likely.
I have my first group out now on laface records, tlc,
And I'm going to live through them.
Man: So they're, like, your children. Yes.
Oh [bleep]
I would say... Not children, for sure.
More like maybe you look at us
Like we're your little sisters or something.
I don't know.
I mean, if we're talking about back then,
That was in the beginning.
We felt everything was cool in the beginning.
One thing I remember about [chuckles] this room
That just came back to me,
This was the room I had to talk to pebbles in
To tell her that me and chilli was really dating.
And so, in this room, this is where she brought me in
And interrogated me at.
[ chuckles ] I was terrified.
Thomas: So pebbles found out about dallas and I,
And she was acting like I was being promiscuous.
I'm like, "I'm seeing dallas. That's it."
Alright, cool.
How did you get the name chilli?
But that's when... Mm.
Alright, so, yeah.
So I got pregnant when I was 20.
I didn't get much support at all from dallas,
And there was no way I was going to tell pebbles.
I'm like, "oh, my gosh, what am I going to do?"
Growing up, all I could think about is I want to sing
And I want to be a mom,
And I did not want to have an abortion at all.
Like, I'm like, "how can I figure out
How to keep the baby and still do this?"
I wanted both.
And we wear baggy clothes anyway, you know,
So I could just hide it, but it was tough.
I made the appointment to have that done.
So that was a horrible, horrible experience.
I'm crying. I'm not a mom.
I could've been a mom. You know what I mean?
And, oh, man, it was just really hard for me.
After that, I probably experienced
Some kind of breakdown.
I couldn't forgive myself.
I just felt this tremendous guilt from what I had done.
And that guilt not being properly dealt with
Is what made me latch on more to dallas.
[ indistinct shouting ]
On our first show ever in an arena,
They were going to "tlc! T--"
I said, "are they chanting our name?
Yo, they really rock with us."
[ cheers and applause ]
The first two, three shows, it was like,
"[gasps] what is this?"
It was scary.
Lopes: Even if I was scared,
I'd psych myself out to the point where it didn't matter.
'sup? 'sup?
Hello, d.C. Whoo!
[ camera shutter clicks ]
Ooh, that was an experience
Because tlc was not used to performing as a group.
We had known tionne for a while,
And she hadn't gotten sick around us.
It didn't seem that serious in the beginning.
It wasn't till maybe after the third or fourth time
That she got sick when me and chilli realized,
"wow, is she going to be okay?"
Man: Feeling good?
Watkins: I'm getting there. Getting there?
Okay. Good. Good. Yeah.
Almost back to 100.
Ooh. Almost. [ sighs ] almost, anyway.
You're walking pretty damn good
Compared to what you said you were doing.
No, I wasn't at first. It's just swollen here.
I think it's because I did that stem-cell thing.
It's supposed to help your torn meniscus,
But it aggravated it more.
We want to keep your leg straight. Straight.
♪ baby, baby, baby ♪
♪ I got so much love in me ♪
♪ baby, baby, baby ♪
♪ I got so much love in me ♪
Wait, no. She messed it up. Right. Goes left.
Look.
[ both vocalizing ]
Oh, lordy.
♪ 'cause if you're gonna get me off ♪
♪ you got to love me deep ♪
♪ that's actual and factual ♪
♪ you're the one I seem to run back to ♪
♪ just to get me off ♪
♪ you got to love me deep ♪
♪♪
You're moving your knees too much. You're moving your knees too much.
I ain't even do nothing.
Hey, look, you got a torn meniscus.
I want this knee to just stay this way.
You were doing like this and like that.
Oh, my god. Now you got to change legs.
Woman: One, two, three, four.
Watkins: Dr. Braunstein -- he ended up being my everything, child,
The person that saved my life.
He diagnosed me correctly.
Her problems, unlike a routine sickle cell patient,
Primarily involved her hips, her joints, her eyes.
Watkins: Sickle cell's very painful.
It feels like someone's stabbing you over and over again
In your joints with a butcher knife.
Sometimes you're in so much pain
You don't know who people are. You're delirious.
Soren: We spoke to t-boz, and she told us,
"when I'm touring, I get sick a lot
And have to go to the hospital."
"t-boz became a spokesperson
For the sickle cell disease association of america."
Watkins: I had mixed emotions about coming out with the truth
Because I never want nobody to pity me.
I wanted to just be treated normal
Like my mom always treated me.
[ cheers and applause ]
When I told people what I wanted to be or do,
They thought I was absolute crazy.
"you're going to do the very thing
That can hurt you or make you sick?"
I want you to sing along with me.
You're supposed to get rest. You get no rest.
You're supposed to eat right. You eat when you can.
♪ now you want my love ♪
The different climates -- that can cause a crisis.
I don't know how I do. Half of the things I do
Except for god has to be leading my life.
I don't think people understand
What you go through in the hospital
Because a lot of times people will be like,
"oh, you look tired." well, I am.
When I get sick, my face gets pale,
My lips get pink, and my circles get dark. Yeah.
But also in the hospital,
They give you a lot of I.V. Fluids with medication
That blow your veins and bloat you up a lot.
So sometimes, like, when people see me,
Yeah, I gained some weight, but sometimes, like, that puffy,
Sick look, feeling, like -- from the fluids.
Yeah, from fluids.
And so I'm sure you'll see
Some of that in this documentary.
But people don't know that part.
When you hit the stage, you know,
They just see t-boz singing and dancing her butt off.
You know, they don't know -- we did the prep ahead of time.
Exactly. And what has to -- and the vitamins.
Right. What has to happen after the show. Yeah.
Certain foods -- that helps with inflammation. Mm-hmm.
Having a masseuse. Lots of fluids. Your oxygen.
All that kind of stuff we didn't do back in the day.
So they'd be like, "t-boz ruined another tour,"
But we didn't know any better.
You know better, you do better. Yeah. Right.
Thomas: Once we were off tour,
We would each go back to our personal lives.
[ speaks indistinctly ]
That's when lisa, she and andre were together.
Look.
Jordan: Andre rison was the wide receiver
For the atlanta falcons,
And he was also mvp for numerous years.
He was quite the man around town.
Andre and left eye were atlanta royalty.
When I met andre, I was in the club.
Andre followed me around that club for the rest of the night.
It wasn't until maybe three or four times
That I had run into him that we just clicked.
He had this big, beautiful house, and it was empty.
And I was like, "why don't you have any furniture?"
"because I'm waiting for you to furnish it."
Andre used to tell me, "I love you," so much
That I never had a chance to say it first.
This is how I ended up living there,
Staying there, never leaving.
Woman: Show it to the camera.
But when I caught him messing around with this girl,
I was shaking.
And for the next two weeks, he was sending me messages,
Calling me every five minutes.
"I'm sorry."
So we went on a date.
By the end of the date, we were arguing.
Got out of his car, slammed the door,
Walked down the street to the supermarket.
Somebody sees us.
Man: Police say the star wide receiver
Got into a fight with his girlfriend,
Tlc performer lisa lopes,
When someone came to her aid inside a buckhead kroger store
Early this morning, rison went to his car,
Grabbed a 9mm gun, and fired one time in the air.
It was a misunderstanding.
Something happened between me and my companion,
And two people tried to get into it.
It was a matter of a situation where I thought
I might be hindered or might be harmed, and I protected myself.
Man: What prompted the fight?
What prompted the fight? None of your business.
Thomas: They had a toxic relationship.
It was always something going on.
Lopes: I went out.
I just wanted him to know what it felt like
To get home late.
You know, he's looking at me,
He walks by, he says a smart comment,
And I got real smart with him immediately.
Next thing you know, he pulled me in the bedroom,
And we were fighting.
When I looked in the mirror, hey, I was bruised up.
I might've got slapped a couple of times,
And I know my dress got ripped off of me.
My nails had been ripped from the sockets.
Fingers bleeding.
Rison: I didn't do anything wrong, and god is my witness.
The only thing I did that he might say that I did wrong --
And that was I slapped her after I had been hit
About 50 times to try to calm her down.
Man: Flames erupted yesterday morning at the $800,000 mansion
In the exclusive country club of the south in alpharetta.
They say lopes started the fire in an upstairs tub.
[ sighs ] when I first saw those images of the fire on the news,
It almost felt like a scene out of an action movie.
It looked insane.
Watkins: I felt so bad for her
'cause when I walked in the room,
I just remember the look on her face.
And she was -- her nails were popped off.
She was scratched up, bruised up, and bleeding.
And the whole world was looking at her like, "what did you do?"
You know what I mean?
And everybody didn't respond... Yeah.
...Like they should've when they came to see her.
Yeah.
Man: Andre rison's dream home
Has turned into a living nightmare.
Man #2: Lopes slapped and cursed rison.
She made several expletives,
Indicated that she couldn't take it anymore.
Man: This is not the first time lisa lopes has been in trouble
With the law over her boyfriend.
Valdés: News reports at the time were very much blaming lisa
As the crazy rapper who lit the house on fire.
None of those news reports took into consideration
That perhaps something else had happened before
To even be in this type of situation
Where something like that could happen.
Man: Lisa lopes was indicted by a federal grand jury
On October 26th.
She's free on bond as she awaits trial.
I'm over it to the point where, you know, I can function
And be happy every day and, you know,
Not let it get to me and bother me.
So, I mean, things happen,
But, you know, I got to put it behind me and keep on moving.
Thomas: The only advice that I could give is, "leave him."
I'm pretty sure I told her that.
"you can't ever talk to him again."
But she did.
Oh, my old boyfriend?
Ha! We never actually broke up.
Things happened, and things blew up,
But, you know, it's not what everybody thinks it is.
Thomas: When the heart is involved,
You can tell them until they're blue in the face.
They have to have the aha moment themselves.
Watkins: The thing that was so crazy about it was,
If one did something, all of us did something.
If she burnt the house, we all burnt the house.
And it's scary because there were people that said,
"your career is over."
Lines didn't want us to wear their clothes.
They turned on us like we all were the arsonists.
And we supported lisa and wasn't mad at her,
And we took the hit along with her.
Yep.
Tlc cover photo on the November issue of vibe magazine.
Seems the members had happily donned
Firemen's suits for the shoot
And then announced themselves surprised
When the accompanying headline
Alluded to burning down the house.
When the pictures from the photo shoot
Came into the office for that cover,
I remember being completely shocked.
I did not understand how anybody got them to wear those outfits.
No comment on all that from vibe,
Which reportedly had the best-selling issue
Of its brief life with the tlc cover.
[ laughter ]
We're at the photo shoot,
And you guys were getting your makeup done,
Something was going on. And I went to look at the,
You know, clothes or whatever, yeah. Outfits. "oh."
And, look, they had police uniforms,
Like, the whole thing, and the fire ones,
And I remember I grabbed -- I was like, "yo, look."
Remember that? I was like, "we got to wear these."
And maybe at the time I was kind of thinking,
But I really was not thinking-thinking, right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That was my fault. I mean, what I'm saying is --
You were too young to know this, but they set you up
By even having them in the room.
Of course they did. Of course they did. Yeah, they did.
Yeah, no, they threw out the bait, and we definitely took it.
But I have to say it's one of my favorite covers.
I mean, it's an amazing cover. [ laughs ]
It's an amazing cover.
"burning up the charts and burning down the house."
Valdés: The November '94 issue of tlc
Was the biggest-selling issue that year.
It blew everything out the water.
The best art is truthful art,
And it wasn't just lisa's truth.
It was tlc's truth.
It was this sort of cloud hanging over them,
And they were getting ready to release an album
That was either going to be a sophomore jinx
Or it was going to change the world.
The thing that was challenging about going in
After "ooooooohhh... On the tlc tip"
To "crazysexycool" was you have to figure out
Why they liked you in the first place.
How do I do that again as well as evolve and show growth?
Austin: Let's be taken more serious,
And part of that would be like to take some of the gimmick out,
Take some of the samples out.
So the song itself has to stand out and knock people's head off.
And I think "creep" just set the standard
For what the project should be like.
The last thing I did was put the horn sound in.
Yes. ♪ wah, wah-wah ♪
It's me again.
Thomas: It was just like, "oh, wait, what is this?"
And then when the beat drops.
♪ creep ♪
♪ oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, baby ♪
Austin: Okay, this is the next record.
This is what's going to grow them up.
But I think the first video was a little dark
And still kind of gimmicky.
Thomas: Yeah, it was a little rough patch there,
And then we shot it again.
Yes.
It's me again.
And I'm back.
Aha, whoo.
Austin: Oh, wow.
We didn't see them in that light.
Now they turned into sexy instead of fun.
♪ so I creep ♪
♪ yeah, just keep it on the down low ♪
♪ said nobody is supposed to know ♪
The only thing now is we got to get a place for lisa.
Lisa came to the studio. I ain't think of nothing.
She's like, "because it's called 'creep,'
If I write this rap, andre going to think that's what I'm doing."
Thomas: She was not feeling the lyrics
Because she and andre were together.
Woman: Tlc member lisa lopes voluntarily entered
An alcohol rehabilitation program.
I didn't consider myself an alcoholic.
The reason why I went through it is because my lawyer said,
"you're thinking is what got you into this mess,
And our thinking is what's going to get you out of it."
I stayed in there for 30 days.
Maybe around the third week, they let me out on a pass,
And it was because I had to record for the tlc album.
I missed the whole middle section.
So on the way, I was admiring the streets,
The buildings, the trees, the sky, and I looked up.
There was this rainbow.
♪ come on ♪
♪ I seen a rainbow yesterday ♪
♪ but too many storms have come and gone ♪
♪ leaving a trace of not one god-given ray ♪
♪ is it because my life is 10 shades of gray? ♪
♪ I pray all 10 fade away ♪
♪ seldom praise him for the sunny days ♪
I just started reflecting on my life
As if it was a storm.
♪ the many chances I blew to bring my life to anew ♪
Too many storms have come and gone,
And they don't even leave a trace of sunlight.
I wrote that song from my heart.
Y'all can, like, spread it out, you know,
And make it sound, like, fly and stuff like that.
Austin: And by the time we got to "waterfalls," forget about it.
We knew that now we proved the sophomore jinx --
We did even better than the first time by far.
Now the girls are considered real pop stars.
♪ don't go chasing waterfalls ♪
♪ please stick to the rivers ♪
♪ and the lakes that you're used to ♪
You know you have something special in the studio.
So when we finish waterfalls, we felt it was special.
♪ but I think you're moving too fast ♪
But radio wasn't playing it. They didn't understand it.
"don't go chasing waterfalls? What's this mean?"
So lisa, when she was doing
Some of her community service at laface records,
She asked about the budget for a "waterfalls" video.
Gray: You got to give me all of Thursday.
That's the day we're going to get our close-ups,
Our beauty shots.
Watkins: We actually pitched it to f. Gary gray...
But you are confined a little bit.
...And we told him exactly our vision.
See where the scuba guy is standing? Yes.
That's where you guys will be standing.
Man: Roll sound. Roll camera. Here we go.
♪♪
Watkins: Lisa came up with traveling through time.
Thomas: Tionne came up with the story lines.
I came up with the water images.
The video really brought the words to life
And it was almost like an aha moment.
Tlc also used that video session
To make public service announcements
That are aimed at promoting safe sex,
According to a new survey,
Aids is now the leading cause of death
Among young people in this country.
[ indistinct chanting ]
Watkins: We would hear from people who actually had hiv and aids,
How we've made a difference in their lives,
How we spoke up for them.
Together: We need action!
Bellamy: Tlc was always pushing a message under their music,
And you're like, "damn."
And you didn't feel like they was preaching.
You just learned it.
And the winner is...
♪ don't go chasing waterfalls ♪
Tlc, y'all. "waterfalls!"
Falls, falls, falls, falls, falls, falls, falls, falls!
♪ don't go chasing waterfalls ♪
♪ please stick to the rivers ♪
Lopes: So here's our list. Thank you, laface, arista.
All: All of our fans.
Mtv.
[ cheers and applause ]
And to the person who thinks
She deserves the most thanks anyway, pebbles.
[ laughter ]
Thank you.
I wonder if l.A. Was like, "what the...?"
[ laughter ] that's hilarious.
Was she gone by then? Yes.
That's what I thought. Yes, she was.
But she thanked her anyway.
But we were obviously being [bleep] right.
Like, we were like...
[ laughter ]
We fired pebbles after our first album.
And when she was gone, that's when we had
Our greatest successes.
But we had not renegotiated the contracts.
The deal that we signed with pebbles,
It was the type of deal that new artists get.
When you're young and you're hungry,
You want to get in this industry,
You sign immediately.
Woman: Everybody, look straight ahead.
Straight ahead, ladies.
[ camera shutters clicking, indistinct shouting ]
Man: Just won two grammys. What's up?
[ indistinct shouting ]
Thomas: We were frustrated. Here's all this success.
We know the album is doing phenomenal.
And what do we have to show for it? Nothing.
Woman: Career is not exactly what you would have wanted it to be.
What's not on it?
Step on up. I'll tell it.
We're not going to sugarcoat anything anymore.
We've been quiet long enough. Uh-oh.
We are the biggest-selling female group ever.
10 million albums worldwide.
We have worked very hard. Very hard.
We have been this business for five years... Five years.
...And we are broke as broke can be.
And you don't understand the stress that we're under.
Man: Hello? Lisa, can you come on up to the mic?
10 million albums. How can you be broke?
Lopes: Everyone, get ready to do your math.
Every time an album gets sold, tlc gets $0.56.
So 10 million records, $5.6 million.
So laface record had spent about $3 million
On the second album.
Now we have $2.6 million left
To split between the three of us.
You're in about the 47%, 48% tax bracket,
So that immediately gets deducted to $1.3 million.
Watkins: But when you factor in all the things
That we have to pay for, before you know it,
You're down to 50,000 a piece.
Bye, y'all.
[ applause ] woman: Congratulations.
At that time, we had nothing to lose, you know,
And so -- and we were sick of it
'cause everybody was just pointing the finger.
Thomas: We took control of our lives. Period.
We didn't have a manager, but we did not care.
Now we can really move forward.
We never had good business, unfortunately,
And that is one of the main things
That bill brought to the table.
Diggins: Hi. I have a quick question.
I'm just going through a timeline of everything.
I knew about their financial coming in.
I understood how much money the record company had made,
How much money the record company was charging them
For things that they probably shouldn't have charged them for,
And what their gross potential was.
I also knew that their structure was really bad
And that if they didn't have somebody that came in
And could build not only a financial structure
But operational structure,
They probably wouldn't get to this next level.
And I also knew, personally, that it would change my life.
Watkins: Bill. Bill. William. Billy diggins.
Billy d. Yep.
We got a billy d. We do have a billy d.
Our very own billy d. Suave. Yeah.
I remember when I was in the hotel room
And I first met him, 'cause he met us individually. Yep.
And I was like, "you sure you want to work with us?
'cause we're going to drive you crazy."
[ laughs ] and she was serious.
And then I, of course, fell in love.
And he was like, "yeah."
I'm like, "boy." she wasn't lying.
I felt something that I had never felt,
With any other artist that this was going to be
An incredible turning point in our lives.
When I signed them, l.A. Reid said to me,
"they're the closest that you'll ever get
To rock 'n' roll from hip-hop because they are rock 'n' roll."
And that created a lot of conflict.
Oh, my god, that looks so good. Smell it.
Come on over here. Do a little sniffy-sniff.
I don't put too much into, like, the future stuff
Because they said we were supposed to already
Have flying cars and stuff by now. Like...
Thomas: I don't want no flying car.
I'mma tell you that right now.
I beg to differ.
I don't know. Can you imagine?
Yes. I don't know.
That's all I can do is imagine.
Well, your name is tron, so...
Exactly. [ laughs ]
I want this back. You want that back?
Bring it back home. You heard it here.
I'm not playing. You heard it here. It's going to come.
Thomas: I got pregnant again with dallas
When we went back into the studio to record "fanmail."
This time I'm like, "mnh-mnh. Having it."
And when I held him in my arms,
It was just, like, the most beautiful feeling.
Once I became a mother, that was first.
And I'll be back, I was telling you, on the 30th,
For like two days and then -- August?
Yes. Okay.
And then I'm gone until it's -- the tour is over.
Over. Will you come back for, obviously, kiara's wedding?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Go to that.
The one thing that was important to me was, when tron grows up,
He will not be able to say to me or say to anyone,
"my mom wasn't there."
I always say this. I was like,
"I was meant to be in tlc and a mom."
How are you?
Once I had tron, it really put
The relationship I had with dallas in perspective.
Man: You want to do it later?
Chill, do you want to do it later?
It was clear that wasn't a functioning,
Healthy, loving relationship.
We weren't together anymore,
But we went on working with dallas.
That was -- that was tough.
But one of the hardest things during that time
Was what was happening in the group.
What's up? What's happening, going on
With you and tlc and the whole little nine, huh?
There's a lot of things happening.
I have left out productions, which is my own thing,
Which I have groups that are signed to sony... Ooh, word.
...Which will be coming out this year.
Tlc is in the studio. Will be out very soon.
Let me see. T-boz is acting. Chilli just had a baby.
So very, very busy. Busy women.
Everybody's busy, huh?
So -- but you're doing your thing, though.
That's what's most important. Always.
When I came into their life,
Left eye was much more difficult.
She didn't feel her voice was being heard
And wanted to express it.
Now, I heard that dallas austin, your producer,
You guys may not be working with him this time.
Is that still up in the air, or what's going on with that?
That is true. That is still up in the air, you know?
Thomas: Lisa and dallas really weren't getting along.
She got mad. "y'all don't respect my creative opinion."
And she came in and did a couple of songs,
But he didn't see her through the whole record.
Wherever she was creatively with her raps,
The things she wanted to talk about...
It just didn't match with what he was producing.
Thomas: Ultimately, it's our decision as a group.
Okay. This is the b-roll people.
[ speaks indistinctly ] oh, yeah. Okay.
There was internal conflict with left eye at that point.
I would describe lisa as an incredibly creative person.
What made tlc so great is you have three forces
That are equally talented, each in their own right.
Man: Who came up with the title "fanmail" for your new album?
Bam! Left eye. [ laughs ]
She comes up with all the titles for the albums.
Lopes: Usually I'm riding down the street,
Not even thinking about tlc... Man: And just boom.
And something just goes "fanmail," you know?
[ laughter ]
♪♪
Thomas: Hello? Hey.
I just heard the new intro for the first time.
I mean, it's got, like, the entire verse.
It doesn't need to be the whole rap.
It's just bits and pieces of it. You see what I'm saying?
To accent what's going on with the beat.
It's about the beat.
Okay.
Tell him he needs to step up his game.
Like, keep it like it was.
Come on. He's going downhill.
Unh-unh. Yeah. Unh, unh, unh.
Unh-unh. Y'all are doing it all wrong.
We need it immediately. Call me back.
I'll have my phone right next to me.
We'll just get this groove.
I'm taking a deep breath and I'm coming down,
So I'm gonna... [ exhales deeply ]
She's rolling her chest that way.
Yeah, that's it. Now y'all got it.
-Come on, y'all. -Right.
Quickly. So, basically, this song is for the ladies.
Just an extra reminder to stay away from a what?
All: Scrubs!
Watkins: And then that'll be your cue.
Uh-huh. Thomas: C'mon.
[ intro to "no scrubs" playing ]
♪ and is also known as a busta ♪
♪ always talkin' about what he wants ♪
♪ and just sits on his broke... ♪
♪ so, no, I don't want your number ♪
♪ no, I don't wanna give you mine ♪
♪ and, no, I don't wanna meet you nowhere ♪ [ man shouting indistinctly ]
♪ no, I don't want none of your time ♪
♪ and, no, I don't want no scrub ♪
♪ a scrub is a guy that can't get no love from me ♪
Hey! Lights in. Lights out. Lights out.
Thomas: "scrubs" was an automatic go with radio.
And then, when the video came out, it took off.
♪ hangin' out the passenger side of his best friend's ride ♪
♪ tryin' to holla at me ♪
Valdés: Me, as a woman, I had my life together.
I had a job. I'm going places.
And if you are gonna step to me,
Just make sure that you are on the same level.
There were some dudes who didn't even know they was a scrub,
Be like, "damn, I think I'm a scrub."
♪ of his best friend's ride ♪
"I might be scrubbing."
♪ if you don't have a car ♪
♪ and you're walkin' ♪
♪ oh, yes, son ♪
♪ I'm talkin' to you ♪
♪ if you live at home ♪
♪ with your mama ♪
We started some junk.
I'm telling you, we have --
We want guys -- almost like a-a war.
♪ I don't want no pigeons ♪
♪ them be them girls who gets no dubs from me ♪
Only the scrubs are upset.
♪ I don't want no ♪
♪ no scrub ♪
Richards: And the winner is tlc.
[ cheers and applause ] yeah.
♪ a scrub is a guy that can't get no love from me ♪
Once again, we want to thank the fans for embracing us.
We've been gone for such a long time.
We thank you. We appreciate this.
[ cheers and applause continue ]
♪♪
[ whirring ]
[ beep ] doctor: Alright.
And so, we're looking at your hip,
Your knee, and your foot today, all on the right side.
Mm-hmm. I have a torn meniscus, I know.
But two-and-a-half years ago or so,
I did the cortisone shots. Uh-huh.
That lasted me until now.
But when I had a crisis about a week and a half ago,
It just won't totally go away.
A sickle cell crisis?
Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
If the shot worked that well for you last time,
I would say we do that again.
And I have to dance in a show Saturday,
So can I get it once I'm done with this show?
Yeah. So, look at your schedule
And let us know when would be a good time,
And we can schedule you to come back and do the shot.
Okay.
[ machinery humming ]
Scoot to the right just a bit more.
♪♪
Whose house? All: Gab's house.
Whose house? Gab's house.
Eat gab's. [ laughs ]
Watkins: Can I have that one fry?
I'm a person who has a lot of dreams and aspirations.
Gab's, better known as good as burger.
We are a vegan burger joint.
[ laughter ] ay! Ay! Ay!
We are a black-owned family business.
♪♪
I've always wanted a restaurant.
And we are very successful.
[ indistinct conversation ]
♪♪
Come at it, girl.
Oh, na, na.
I like diy projects.
It's stress-relieving for me, too.
And, you know, with my sickle cell,
The number-one thing you're not supposed to be is stressed.
I need a pen.
[ mid-tempo r&b music playing ]
[ humming ]
♪♪
[ music stops ] hm.
So, everyone has a different way of working.
Like, sometimes I'll come up with a subject matter
Or song that I know I want to write about.
I'm good at telling stories,
And these songs are kind of like a soundtrack to my life.
[ intro to "unpretty" playing ]
♪♪
♪ I wish I could tie you up in my shoes ♪
♪ make you feel unpretty, too ♪
Reporter: We're on the set of the tlc video,
And with me are the girls.
Hello!
Hello. Hi.
Now, how did "unpretty" come to light?
Tionne gave birth to it.
[ chuckles ]
"unpretty" was my first song to write on.
I had just got out the hospital. [ coughs ]
I was poked and prodded on
From the iv, then the blood draws.
My boyfriend at the time, he didn't get it.
♪ be in the position to make me feel so ♪
♪ damn unpretty ♪
"unpretty" up for song of the year.
This song really spoke to teenage girls
Who just try so hard to fit in and don't.
Woman: Magazines are now replacing healthier models
With waifs, women with apparently no body fat.
And how is the skinny look affecting young girls?
Watkins: Society has a way of making people
Feel like they're not good enough to fit in.
Everyone, from women to men, at some point in time
In their life, has felt unpretty.
♪ I'll make you feel unpretty, too ♪
Valdés: For black and brown women to discuss these things
And feeling the pressure to look a certain way,
I think that song helped a lot of women
Recognize that their beauty really is about individuality,
And that's the power of music.
♪ oh, oh ♪
Man: The 1999 recipients
Of the aretha franklin award --
Tlc.
[ cheers and applause ]
Lopes: Before we leave this podium,
I would like to take the opportunity
To thank two very important people in my life.
And that is tionne and chilli.
[ laughter ]
Oh, this is the infamous hug. Uh-huh.
Oh, my god.
[ cheers and applause ]
I love this. I started crying.
Aah! You were a little softy.
Announcer: ...Sultry lady of soul...
I'm about to cry now!
[ both laugh ]
...Sisqó and natalie cole.
To see us together like that... Like that.
...Happy and loving each other, nobody's fussing or mad...
It symbolizes the good times, our fun times... When you get to see it, it's like, "[gasps] whoo."
...Our happy times. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Gonna mess up my lashes. [ laughs ]
Because neither one of us knew what she was gonna say.
Mnh-mnh. It was like,
"so, like, what is -- okay, who are
These two people she's about to say?" yeah.
And, like, "oh, my god!"
So, that was -- that was so special.
[ paparazzi clamoring, camera shutters clicking ]
Woman: How does it feel to have made such an awesome comeback?
It feels great. Feels good. Feels right.
Thomas: It was like a roller coaster,
Because "scrubs" was great, "unpretty" was great.
It was so much fun, and "here we go."
♪♪
Lopes: I can't stand 100% behind this tlc project
And the music that's supposed to represent me --
And the group.
Well, actually, I didn't express interest
In cutting out on the group.
I just said that I couldn't 100% stand behind this project.
And I still stand behind that statement.
This is my favorite album. My favorite album, too.
Yeah, by far.
My favorite album was "crazysexycool."
Daly: October 27th,
Tlc will kick off their first us headline tour.
Diggins: They had never toured on their own in an arena tour.
It was very tough, because the headlines weren't
Tlc going out on their first tour
As tlc splitting up.
We are one short. We're missing the "l" in tlc,
Left eye. She okay?
All I have to say is imodium a-d. Put it together.
[ laughter ]
Okay. I cannot believe you just said that.
By that time, things had really started to deteriorate
Between the girls and the relationships.
And I think some of the magic started to dissipate.
Man: Three, two, one.
Thank you. Whoo!
Watkins and thomas: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you! Thank you so much for watching.
Hope you enjoyed it, and see you next time.
Come back again. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And we'll be back. Right, right, right, right.
Don't be wack. That was wack.
Austin: She started feeling a little bit weighed down
By the niceness of tlc.
Some of the other stuff rappers were doing in general,
It started to make her feel like, "okay,
I'm not just a pop-y rapper.
I'm supposed to be a rapper."
[ lopes speaking indistinctly ]
Watkins: She was acting like she didn't know us.
How are we supposed to fight against the world
If we're fighting internally?
That didn't make sense to us.
[ cheers and applause ]
Now, I feel like there's a lot of love in this house tonight.
And I want y'all to know that it ain't nothing
But positive energy on this stage here tonight.
Hope y'all enjoyed the show,
And I need y'all to know that tlc is forever...
Baby, baby, baby.
♪♪
Reporter: What did it take to get you guys happy
With each other again?
We are sisters, you know,
And I don't care what happens between us.
We've been through too much stuff.
Thomas: It never changed our love for her,
Because you can never change that.
No matter what we went through, we never questioned the love.
Reporter: You came out last night and you said, "tlc forever."
Is that what you said when you hit the stage? Mm-hmm.
What did that mean to you? Well, you know what?
I have never, ever said
That I was leaving this group, you know?
So I just like to reiterate that sometimes
And let everyone know that, even if we do fight,
You know, even if we can't stand each other,
It's a good business move just to stay
In a group of anything, you know?
[ laughter ]
But, yeah, tlc forever.
Woman: I love you!
Diggins: Eventually, left eye turned around
On the January tour.
She really understood it,
And it was sold out everywhere.
It's a letter. Looky, looky here.
The fan mail, y'all.
We have a bag of fan mail
That just showed up on the stage.
T-shirts!
Diggins: It was great.
It was a really successful project.
And then it ended.
In January of 2000, that was the last tour
That the three of them did together.
♪♪
Tlc, one of the most successful pop acts
To ever file for bankruptcy,
Have been taking some time out of the limelight.
T-boz has gotten hitched and is having a baby girl.
Chilli told mtv news recently
That she's putting her solo plans on hold for a while
So she can concentrate on the next tlc project.
Lopes has almost completed her first solo album,
Which will dance its way into stores on August 16th.
♪ cherry, cherry ♪ sing it, girl.
♪ girl, you know you're fine ♪
"supernova,"
That is my debut album as a solo artist.
A supernova is a rare star
That increases up to a billion times its normal shine.
And it's pretty much saying that there's no such thing as death.
We can call it transforming, for better lack of words.
So, I'm on a 40-day fast.
I feel like I'm on a journey sometimes.
Don't really know quite where I'm headed.
[ airplane engine roaring ]
I hope that, you know, in a month,
We see some major changes,
Because that's what this trip is all about,
Coming here and getting this stuff on tape
So you can see what 30 days in the bush
Can do for you.
We begin tonight with tragic news of a life cut short.
Tlc band member lisa "left eye" lopes
Was killed last night in a car crash in central america.
It happened in honduras.
Authorities say she lost control of a rented suv she was driving.
They also say seven other people in the car were injured.
The women who considered lisa, quite simply, their sister,
T-boz and chilli from tlc,
And they join us on the phone right now.
Ladies... [ woman sobbing ]
...Please -- please accept our condolences.
And thank you for joining us.
Thomas: But, yeah, it's our sister.
We are sisters.
We've been together for over 10 years.
I can't imagine how hard it is for you guys
To not only be dealing with this,
But to call in and talk to us about it.
And we certainly appreciate it, and best of luck in the future,
Whatever happens, okay?
♪♪
At first, it didn't hit me because lisa,
She was always, you know, doing stuff --
Pranking or whatever.
You know, she's got... She had just did a prank.
Yeah, she was missing for however long,
But she really -- you know, she was okay.
And so I was hoping that that was one of those times.
One of her jokes. You know, and when bill was very serious
And I could hear his voice cracking and everything,
That's when I knew.
And, I mean, I just -- I just lost it.
I don't even...
Man, that hit like a brick. Yeah.
Like, when she called me... Yeah, 'cause I called you.
I was hysterical.
...And I couldn't make out anything she was saying,
But I heard "lisa," and my heart fell to my toes.
♪♪
Right before lisa passed,
I was in the hospital for four months,
Fighting for my life.
I almost passed away. [ clicks tongue ]
My organs were failing.
So I had a crazy time.
And that's the last time I saw lisa,
'cause she came to see me the day before
She went to honduras.
He won't even leave me.
That's my little friend.
♪♪
Valdés: Left eye's passing was a shock,
Especially for me personally,
Because I had spent time there
And I knew what this place meant to her.
So, everybody already knows what these are.
These are your living quarters. We call them huts.
Valdés: When we heard that left eye was working
On a solo album, "supernova,"
I wanted to interview her
And had learned about this healing center
That she had been going to.
It was really interesting seeing lisa in that environment.
I remember getting a peek at the room
That she was staying in.
She had decorated it.
There were, like, drawings on the walls.
I think the quiet helped her create
In a different kind of way.
Left eye felt like a supernova. She felt like a bright star.
Just was really the perfect name for what she was creating.
It was about death, and she didn't believe in it.
She believed death was transformation.
That gave me some peace,
In knowing that she died in her happy place.
[ indistinct conversations ]
♪♪
Reporter: Thousands of mourners are gathering
For the funeral of singer lisa "left eye" lopes.
Fans and friends and loved ones
Bid a final farewell to a pop princess.
Reporter #2: She would have turned 31 next month.
♪♪
Wow.
I remember sitting on the end seat,
And you were sitting next to me on the right.
Mm.
And all the fans, I remember, were up there.
Yeah.
When her mom first saw us, remember, she almost fainted
'cause she was so used to seeing us all three together.
Without lisa sitting in between us,
She kind of fell back, almost.
Thomas: Okay, I remember when we went to the wake,
'cause I didn't want to go. Me neither.
And lisa's mom was like, "you know, it's okay.
It's okay. Look at her."
And I was like, "oh, my gosh."
And, you know, I mean, it didn't look like her.
I mean, how could it? You know?
It didn't. There's no life.
'cause, to me, when I think of,
You know, last memories or whatever,
That's not what I want in my head. Yeah.
You know? 'cause, to me, I'm like,
"that's not my sister anymore." yeah, definitely.
One of the worst days of my life ever.
Mm-hmm.
♪♪
Obviously, that passing of our sister
Brought us closer together.
I know she understands what I'm feeling.
I understand what she's feeling.
♪♪
After she was gone, I felt that void, and my heart hurt.
We had connected and bonded so much on creativity.
It was just hard.
It took me years to...
Stop speaking her name in...
The present. Yeah.
I would always talk about her
As if she was still with us.
I just couldn't -- I couldn't accept that yet.
I wasn't ready. And it was --
Those were dark times for us.
Really dark.
I didn't speak about her in past tense.
I can't say I loved her. I still love her.
♪♪
T-boz and chilli, they are the remaining members
Of the grammy award-winning group tlc,
And they're preparing for a future
Without lisa "left eye" lopes.
She was killed in a car accident on April 25th in honduras.
Now, the group has been recording
And say that the new album will be released on time.
♪ feel so damn unpretty ♪
In the first part, the first line was good,
But "far" was flat in the second line.
Alright. Man: One more time. One more time, baby.
She's still getting the vibe of it.
Yeah. You know what I'm saying?
Sound good, though. Sound good.
It was just the second half?
You're keeping the whole first half?
Yeah, the whole first half was cool.
Okay. That's good.
I'm ready.
Watkins: After lisa passed, the record company said
They were going to put out a greatest hits
If we didn't finish.
So we kind of felt forced to go back into the studio.
Yeah, it's best to get the whole line.
Man: That's what I'm talking about,
We were given an ultimatum.
Yeah, it was, "either finish the album,
Or we're putting out a greatest hits."
And it wasn't time for a greatest hits. No.
But what do you say?
Like, "if you don't come out,
We're just gonna do whatever we want with your career."
That couldn't happen.
Then we made a decision to do the album,
And then I had to go right back into creating budgets
And, "what songs do we already have in the can?"
And, "how do we use left eye's vocals that we have?"
Lopes: ♪ what up, papi? You think you got game? ♪
Man: ♪ well, holla at me ♪ ♪ I know you're feelin' like ♪
Thomas: The producers went back
And listened to raps that she had,
And they chose the ones that would fit the record.
♪ fits and kicks, and you be hurtin' my ears ♪
Austin: After her passing,
It just kind of took a certain part of me out of it.
As much as we used to complain or bitch about
Her actions and not being there,
It was only because we wanted her to be there.
Watkins: She died the day before my birthday.
When you go to the grocery store,
You just see rows of magazines with your sister's face on it
With a birth and a death number.
Then, if you stand in the line
At, like, wendy's, mcdonalds, anywhere,
People were having conversations.
"did you hear that girl, left eye, died?
She got in a car crash."
I went to the movies.
Another conversation was happening.
So I was just like, "you know what?
I'm not gonna go out anymore."
I can tell you this -- there's no rule book on how to mourn.
Thomas: We had tunnel vision. "let's just finish it."
Following that was promotion, marketing, sales.
You know, where do we first announce,
And we decided that it would be mtv,
Where the girls would have their first public outing.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to bring you tlc.
Lopes: ♪ the many chances I blew ♪
♪ to bring my life to anew ♪
♪ clear blue and unconditional skies ♪
♪ have dried the tears from my eyes ♪
♪ no more lonely cries ♪
Diggins: It was tough. They didn't want to do it.
Watching them walk out alone was heartbreaking.
It was really sad to --
To just see that stage with the two of them.
[ cheers and applause ]
Watkins: Thank you.
I want to start off by saying god is good.
[ voice breaking ] that's the only reason
We're able to stand here tonight.
[ cheers and applause ]
[ voice breaking ] this is so hard
Because it's such a reality check,
Because it's only two of us up here.
And she's so missed.
But we want to thank everybody for your support
And being there for us.
We really thank you.
We love you guys. And we know that lisa's smiling,
And we just hope that she's proud of us right now.
Thank you.
[ cheers and applause ]
I probably pushed them a little more than I should have,
But I just felt they had to go out there
And show people "we're here, we're alive.
Don't forget us."
[ crowd cheering ]
It's time for the first tlc video in three years.
Right now, it's the world premiere of tlc "girl talk." uh-oh.
Check it out.
[ crowd cheering ]
♪♪
♪ the girls are talkin', the girls are talkin' ♪
♪ got y'all caught out there ♪
♪ why you thinkin' that it's all about ya? ♪
♪ forget she told me everything about ya ♪
♪ but the girls are talkin', the girls are talkin' ♪
Thomas: "3d" sold in the millions, I think,
But it was considered a failure for us.
If you even look at the cover,
To me, it just looks dark. Yeah, it is dark.
Like, and if we were in our right mind,
I don't think we even would have picked that picture.
But that picture even speaks to how we felt emotionally,
Because it felt normal.
But when you're in a dark place,
You look and think dark. Right.
For me,
I didn't even really think about it like
It was success or not a success.
Just mourning still.
But you would never know that we were struggling.
Tonight, we're very fortunate
To have our next performers share with us
Their very last performance.
[ intro to "no scrubs" playing ]
Come on, y'all! Man: I want y'all --
I want y'all to put an "l" up in the air for left eye.
Let's talk about no scrubs!
Put an "l" up in the air for left eye.
Okay.
Thomas: Our big performance,
First time without lisa, was z100.
♪ also known as a busta ♪
And it was like 60,000-plus people there.
So, yeah, I was a wreck.
♪ if you can't spacially expand my horizons ♪
♪ then that leaves you in the class with scrubs ♪
♪ never risin' ♪
Tionne and I said that
We weren't gonna look at the screens,
Because anytime lisa's parts came up,
We had the video going of her performing.
♪ to turn you out ♪
And the fans, they loved it.
But in order for us to get through the show without crying,
When I say we did not look up one time,
Not even like a...
[ chuckles ] no.
♪ ask chilli ♪
♪ could I? What? Not really ♪
♪ t-boz and all my señoritas are steppin' on your filas ♪
♪ but you don't hear me, though ♪
[ cheers and applause ]
[ crowd cheering ]
We see you're honoring a friend tonight, huh?
Oh, yeah. Sister, family.
[ chuckles ]
Watkins: I'm not really an emotional person, honestly.
[ chuckles dryly ]
But with that kind of stuff,
You're kind of forced to deal with your emotions.
Losing a group member, that's family.
We could relate because we had lost aaliyah.
Aaliyah was family to me.
And I've known tlc for a very, very long time.
So we're able to sit and just be there for each other.
It's like, what do we do next?
Being at an event like this without lisa,
Does it take getting used to?
Every day. Yeah. It's still...
Every single solitary day. ...Hard to believe,
I would think. Oh, yeah.
Thomas: I didn't want to deal with
Anybody asking me any questions.
I didn't want to hear, you know, "sorry."
You know, "my condolences."
I don't want to hear any of that stuff.
Grohl: When you go through tragedy,
Especially with someone you're in a band with,
Your first instinct is usually to back away,
Out of some sort of self defense.
You're kind of stuck at this crossroads.
What do you do? How do you continue
And pay tribute to the person you've lost?
How do you make decisions that you used to make
As three people, now as two?
[ paparazzi clamoring ]
Diggins: We need to start thinking,
What is the new reality for us?
♪♪
It was clear that the music industry
Had deemed tlc to be over.
Everybody was going their own directions
And taking a little break,
And we didn't know what was going to happen.
♪♪
The difference between bc and ac --
Watkins: Bc is before chase and chance,
And ac is after chase and chance.
Aww ♪ get 'em, chase, get 'em ♪
I was told that I would never have kids.
So, chase, she was my angel, like my miracle baby.
And then, chance is, like, a beautiful soul.
He just is.
Kids are so pure.
The first time you see your child's face,
I don't know, it's like the world becomes different.
I have somebody to go home for or live for,
To teach, somebody to guide, someone that looks up to me,
And I take care of.
My kids come first before this job,
Before anything.
I'm not one of those moms that's willing to miss
Anything in my kids' life.
I won't, 'cause I can't get that time back,
And I won't do that to my children.
All: Aww!
Watkins: You got a ball. Whoa. Whoa.
Thomas: Chase did some things to you.
She made you more sensitive and all that. [ watkins laughs ]
And I really appreciate that, you know?
And so... [ laughs ]
'cause all of our little hard work...
Yeah, yeah. ...Prior to...
I-I cracked her a little bit, you know,
But I just could only get so far.
But chase, like, you know, did it.
And chance brought it home.
I was really ready to retire and go act or do something else
Or just write songs for other artists.
But I wasn't -- I said, "lord, jesus, no."
I'll -- and she was praying.
Diggins: At that point, chilli was very clear,
But tionne didn't even know
If she wanted to continue on with tlc.
♪♪
Watkins: The year was 2007.
I kept having severe migraines, and I get a call from my doctor.
I said, "you're gonna tell me
I have a brain tumor or something."
And then he said, "yes."
♪♪
Like, what?
First, lisa dies,
I'm going through a divorce, and I have a brain tumor.
The hardest part for me was the four days
That I didn't know exactly what was in my head.
I didn't know if it was cancerous,
I didn't know if I was going to die.
That was a hard four days.
So I just sat there staring into space.
I don't want to cry, but my first thought was my daughter.
[ watkins laughs ]
♪♪
Right now.
[ exhales deeply ]
[ voice breaking ] I wanted to make it back just to be a mom.
So I didn't care about the business, honestly,
'cause that don't matter anyway if I ain't here to do it.
So my prayer was that I wouldn't be afraid,
And that I would get through it
To be there for my kid.
♪♪
My doctor said I have an acoustic neuroma.
It went through my ear canal and sat down in my right cerebellum,
Sitting on top of my facial nerve,
My hearing nerve, and my balance nerve.
He said, "in case something goes wrong
And I can't save either your hearing,
Your face, or your balance,
Give me the order that you want to save yourself."
This industry is about your face, your voice, your dancing.
That's my whole job.
So they took my balance.
I saved my face, for the most part,
And my hearing.
I only lost 3% at the time.
[ camera shutters clicking ]
That was one of the hardest things I've ever been through.
I just remember being depressed for some years.
I was just going through the motions.
[ paparazzi clamoring ]
And I felt like I was hideous-looking.
My face is partially paralyzed.
I smile from this side, if people notice,
Or I always cover my face sometimes.
That's because I still have paralysis.
Woman: That was silly.
-Thank you very much. -Thank you.
You're welcome.
I remember looking in the mirror one day,
And I started crying, and my mom said, "no."
She said, "look, this is just your journey back to normal.
This is not how you're going to stay.
This is not how you're going to be.
This is only your journey back to where you started from."
And I said, "yeah, okay."
So I look at it that way,
Then all I got to do is survive this and get through it,
And I could be cool.
Woman: Over here.
And then the fight kicks in [bleep] that I'm living,
I'm going to survive this,
I'm going to beat this, I am going to pray.
So what you got? How we going to do this?
It took me three-and-a-half to four years to heal
From the brain tumor completely.
I feel like I had to heal and I had to come back
And I had to be okay,
Because I had so many people to be okay for.
So me and chance are gonna fly,
See you not this week, but the next week.
Is that cool?
Rolison: I'm cool with you guys coming.
I miss you guys. I haven't seen you guys in a minute.
Yeah, I miss you, too.
Alright. I love you.
Love you, too.
Thomas: While tionne was going through physical therapy,
I was talking to bill all the time,
Just, you know, wondering, what are we going to do?
Even though our career was stagnant at the time,
I just never had that feeling that it was over.
♪♪
Tionne probably didn't know what she wanted to do.
Her main focus was getting better.
So, do we still do this and pursue the dream
Or do we get out?
♪♪
When you don't have the number-one record in the world anymore,
I don't care who you are,
Everybody kind of goes to sleep on you.
But bill never went to sleep on us, ever.
Come on!
She's looking.
Come here, chasey.
I can get it. Hold on, I got her.
Watkins: Our relationship evolved...
Give me my camcorder.
I know, I know.
...To family.
Chase? Chasey.
See uncle billy?
Hey! Look at the little face.
We arguably have the best manager in the world.
He believed in me
When I was like, "oh, no," you know?
And that's cool to have somebody in your corner
Who can see things in you when you can't.
Kind of helps you believe in yourself again.
That's how I knew that this wasn't over for me.
♪♪
The super bowl blitz, this was the pivotal moment
Because they hadn't performed in front of a live audience
In almost 10 years.
But I hear me out here.
I had to say to tionne and chilli,
"in everybody's eyes, your career is over."
Thomas: I was definitely wondering,
"is this gonna come together?"
It was really, really stressful,
Down to hours before the show.
Man: Are you ready for tlc? Everybody make some noise.
[ cheers and applause ]
[ intro to "ain't 2 proud 2 beg" playing ]
♪♪
[ speaking indistinctly ] for tlc.
Everybody scream!
Thomas: It all came together. It was great.
Watkins: It was an amazing feeling,
Because the business side of the industry,
They pretty much didn't believe in us anymore.
And I think that's where you have to remember
That you believe in yourself.
We knew we still had staying power.
We also knew that we could still sing and dance.
But you just have to find your new normal.
♪♪
I always kept saying it only takes one person to say yes.
And that was the super bowl blitz for us. Thomas: Yeah.
That was when we showed the world
That we were ready and we could still do this.
That's when all the promoters started calling again,
Like, "ohhh, so now you want us, huh?" right.
I'm bringing to the stage some of my favorite girl groups.
The best that's ever done it.
♪ the 23rd of loneliness ♪
♪ and we don't talk like we used to do ♪
One of the greatest groups of all time
That I grew up listening to.
♪ it seems pretty strange ♪
♪ but I ain't buggin' ♪
♪ 'cause I still feel the same ♪
Make some noise for the legendary tlc.
♪ I'll keep lovin' till the day he pushes me away ♪
♪ never go astray ♪
[ crowd chanting "tlc!" ]
♪♪
[ cheers and applause ]
Thomas: I love everything about performing.
I come to life in a different kind of way when we're on stage.
[ fireworks crackling ]
Especially next to her.
We've done so much together.
We've played shows all over the world --
South africa, paris, and sydney --
In front of 45,000 people.
Your key fans -- those real die-hard fans
That are super loyal --
They're with you.
[ crowd cheering ]
♪♪
Goodbye!
And... When we heard
Glastonbury wanted us to perform, man... It was over.
...I wanted to run up the street butt naked, child...
[ laughs ]
...Screaming in the streets.
I'mma shake it, girl! No, I'm just playing. I'm joking.
Thomas: Glastonbury is the biggest festival in the world.
It is huge, and it would be our biggest show yet.
[ crowd cheering ]
[ indistinct conversations ]
Reporter: Welcome to glastonbury.
The sun is shining. 200,000 people are coming here.
[ cheers and applause ]
Man: Yes, sir!
-What up? -Yeah!
Hi. How are you? Nice to see you.
Man: Alright, guys.
Father god, we'd like to thank you for life,
For our health, for strength.
We pray that you allow us to go out there and do what we do,
Father god, use the gifts that you have give us.
In jesus' name, we pray.
Amen.
All: Amen!
Tlc! Mtv! We tune in!
Whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo!
♪♪
♪ t, l, c ♪
♪ come on, t ♪
♪ let me hear you say ♪
[ muffled music playing ]
♪♪
♪ come on, make some noise for my ladies ♪
♪ give it up for chilli and t-boz ♪
♪ some t, some t ♪
♪ come on ♪
Make some noise!
[ cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Alright, y'all.
♪♪
We in the house. Yeah! Come on!
♪ 1992, tlc kickin' off in your motha... ♪
♪ I ain't 2 proud 2 beg ♪
Valdés: I wish people today could understand what it meant
To see a group like tlc.
They helped usher in
This sort of genre of female empowerment music.
'cause, glastonbury, we don't want no what? Watkins: What?
Crowd: Scrubs!
[ intro to "no scrubs" playing ] ♪ yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ mm-hmm ♪
Giving us permission to speak our mind
Actually changed the world.
♪♪
Watkins: Left eye's favorite song, so let's do this for lisa.
Thomas: I feel like the greatest reward,
It's when you don't have the number-one song anymore
And you're able to sell out your tours.
That means you have a great body of work
That can stand the test of time.
♪ a lonely mother gazing out of her window ♪
And time has told us that we did good.
[ laughs ]
We did alright.
Man: Turning it up again for lisa!
Left eye! Come on, y'all!
-Okay! -Okay!
There's two more! Ay!
Lopes: ♪ I seen a rainbow yesterday ♪
♪ but too many storms have come and gone ♪
Oh, we've been through bankruptcy.
We've been through houses burning down.
We've been through sickle cell. We've been through settlements.
Thomas: Babies... We've been through babies, birthdays, holidays.
...If I think about the rest. [ laughter ]
Watkins: One, two, three, four. One more time, y'all.
♪ don't go chasing waterfalls ♪ come on, y'all!
♪ please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to ♪
I♪ know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all ♪
♪ but I think you're ♪
♪ moving too fast ♪
Watkins: Three little black girls from the hood
To become the biggest and the best-selling girl group
Of all time in america and still hold that title?
We did that, and we still are holding the torch.
Man: Glastonbury, make some noise for tlc!
[ cheers and applause ]
Y'all make some noise for chilli!
Y'all make some noise for t-boz!
Make some noise for lisa "left eye" lopes!
[ "waterfalls" playing ]
Whoo!
♪♪
Woman: Whoo!
Here we go!
Whoo!
♪♪
I'm so proud of you guys!
-Thank you. -Oh, my god!
[ laughter ] you killed it.
There were like 40,000, 50,000 people trying
To rip walls down to get in 'cause they couldn't get in.
It was the most-viewed show ever in the history of this stage.
Wow. [ speaking indistinctly ]
Yeah. Congratulations.
Congratulations! [ laughter ]
Man: Y'all give it up for tlc!
Oh, yeah!
♪♪
[ cheers and applause ]
Now, honey, if lisa was still alive today... If lisa was still alive...
She would be the female kanye. That, I know. Yes, she would.
She didn't care what nobody thinks.
Nothing.
Like, that has to be a great feeling.
What's left? What you talking about?
After 30 years... 30 years!
...Of being together.
We still got a lot to do.
♪ I ain't 2 proud 2 beg ♪
♪ I ain't 2 proud 2 beg, y'all, no, I ain't 2 proud 2 beg ♪
♪ I ain't 2 proud, I ain't 2 proud 2 beg ♪
♪ I said I ain't 2 proud, I ain't 2 proud ♪
♪ I ain't 2 proud 2 beg ♪
♪ ain't 2 proud, I ain't 2 proud 2 beg ♪
♪ I ain't 2 proud 2 beg ♪
♪ y'all, I ain't 2 proud, I ain't 2 proud 2 beg ♪
-♪ I ain't 2 proud 2 beg ♪ -♪ I ain't 2 proud 2 beg ♪
♪ I ain't 2 proud, I ain't 2 proud 2 beg ♪
♪ I ain't 2 proud 2 beg ♪
♪ I ain't 2 proud ♪
♪ I ain't 2 proud 2 beg ♪
♪ I ain't 2, I ain't 2, I ain't 2 proud 2 beg ♪
♪ tlc isn't 2 proud 2 beg ♪
♪ I ain't 2 proud 2 beg, no ♪