Superlatives
A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers.
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TLCsCrazySexyCoolturned 30 this year, andRozonda Chilli Thomashas no idea where the time has gone.
Thirty years just seems so ancient!
When people hear the music, theyre jamming to it as if it just came out.
TLC Thomas, Watkins, and the late Lisa Left Eye Lopes was always ahead of the curve.
I aint gonna lie, she says, were blessed to have such a great catalogue.
The cool one would be Creep, for sure.
And Id have to say the crazy one would be the interludes all of them.
I mean, those interludes were hilarious.
Especially the one with Busta Rhymes.
His voice is so funny.
We actually did have a song called CrazySexyCool that we never recorded for some strange reason.
It didnt sound like other stuff on the record.
It was different fromthe interludeon the album too.
But the name of this song was also CrazySexyCool.
Ill have to try and find it to see if we can do anything with it.
Most misunderstood song
Many people didnt get Waterfalls until the video came out.
Radio did not get it at all.
They kept playing Creep and Red Light Special.
Had it not been for the video, that song would not be the jam that it is today.
Its crazy to think that now, right?
But thats what artists have to understand: A video is so important because it paints a picture.
That video brought those lyrics to life.
People started to understand the meaning of the song.
They started to think about unprotected sex and everything that can come with that.
Sharpest Left Eye verse
Hat 2 da Back and our Christmas song Sleigh Ride.
Oh my gosh, I love her rap on Sleigh Ride.
Her tone, its just so good.
But Hat 2 da Back, I just love the way she breaks it all down.
Shes talking about this guy and how he wants her to dress differently.
The reason why is because we have a system.
We harmonize a lot together, thats kind of our thing.
Weirdest place youve heard Waterfalls
That movieThe Other Guys.
Michael Keatons character keeps quoting lyrics from TLC songs.
I was at the theater just chilling, excited to watch the movie.
Im not expecting anything.
I mean, why would I expect that?
And then he said, I dont want no scrubs and creep.
When he said, I aint too proud to beg, I was shocked.
But you get letters from other guys too.
Its one thing to have a crush, but it can be like an obsession.
Those can be a little scary.
But, for the most part, our fans are really great and so thoughtful especially in Japan.
They think of everything there.
They give us stuff, they give our kids stuff, and its all just really, really beautiful.
But the best gift?
It almost looks like a CD with a picture of him.
You have to put batteries in it, and it sits on this little stand.
I literally have it in my office.
I love that gift.
Most underrated music video
I know a lot of people like Creep.
Every Halloween, people still wear those silk pajamas.
But we were still TLC, you know what Im saying?
We werent all of a sudden wearing some fitted negligee or something.
The pajamas were still baggy.
But you know what?
I wish we had that record.
But if it wasnt meant to be yours, it wasnt meant to be.
The right artists got to those.
She was so pregnant and so beautiful.
I just loved watching her do anything.
Im just hanging all over her in the video, hugging her.
We were happy to be her backup dancers.
She felt that we three represented every woman.
We were ahead of our time with fashion.
Especially when we didFanMail.
I mean, Im seeing some of that right now.
Our fashion was as big as our sound because we took that as seriously as we took the music.
And we took our time with it.
It really is a lesson.
One dad got real creative; he had a Ken doll and a Barbie doll.
I thought that was the cutest thing.
When you hear things like that, its just amazing.
It lets you know, woo, yes, Lord, we did good and were doing good.
