Artwork for podcast Queue Points
TLC: Legacy, Money and Music Industry Lessons
Episode 21616th March 2026 • Queue Points • Queue Points LLC
00:00:00 00:32:20

Share Episode

Shownotes

Sir Daniel and Jay Ray sit down to talk TLC, starting with the 34th anniversary of Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip and how "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg" hit screens in 1992. They walk through the group's formation, cultural contest of the time, Pebbles' role in the group, LaFace's early days, and the business layers that left TLC broke despite massive sales.

Topics Discussed

  1. Dallas Austin's wall-of-sound production, Left Eye's mic check, Chili's hook, heavy sampling, and how it mixed rap, R&B, and visuals like big hats and condom glasses.
  2. "Creep" video evolution, shedding the kid image in "Hat 2 da Back," growing into their sound while staying authentic.
  3. Production deals: Why TLC sold millions but stayed broke?
  4. Her features (Not Tonight remix), Supernova project, shepherding rap group Illegal and R&B group Blaque; T-Boz and Chili continue to honor her.

Links to Content Related To This Episode For Research and Context

  • Lil' Kim ft. Missy Elliott, Da Brat, Left Eye, Angie Martinez - Not Tonight (Ladies Night Remix) - Left Eye's verse on this iconic remix is praised by Sir Daniel as one of the best features of her career. The video also features T-Boz and Chilli cameos, making it a double TLC moment.​
  • Donell Jones - U Know What's Up (Official Video) - Sir Daniel calls out Left Eye's verse on this track as a mandatory DJs-must-play cut, calling it "curtains" if you don't play her version. A testament to Left Eye's standalone legacy beyond TLC.​
  • Left Eye Explains How TLC Sold Millions and Still Went Broke - Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes' famous breakdown of TLC's finances — the "get your calculators out" moment Sir Daniel says belongs in every accounting and capitalism curriculum. A primary visual document for the episode's money and margins theme.
  • Pebbles, Salt-N-Pepa - Backyard (Official Music Video) - Sir Daniel recounts spotting a pre-TLC T-Boz and Left Eye in this Pebbles video with stripped-back looks and no Chilli yet, illustrating how Pebbles used her position to develop the group before their official debut.​
  • TLC - Diggin' On You (Official HD Video) - The concert-style video Jay Ray references when noting the gap between TLC's global reach — thousands of fans in stadiums — and the modest checks they actually took home.​
  • TLC - Waterfalls (Official HD Video) - TLC's signature hit, featuring Left Eye's defining rap verse. Referenced throughout the episode as a cultural landmark of the CrazySexyCool era and one of the album's most fully collaborative tracks.​
  • TLC - Hat 2 da Back (Official Video) - The "Hat 2 Da Back" video is cited by Sir Daniel as a key turning point in their visual evolution discussed in the episode.​
  • TLC - Creep (Official HD Video) - The official music video for "Creep," a CrazySexyCool cornerstone the hosts discuss as representing TLC's matured image and sound — a Grammy-winning track that marked a major reinvention of the group's identity.
  • TLC - Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg (Official Video) - The debut TLC video on the LaFace/Arista label that Sir Daniel recalls watching on American Music Makers and being immediately struck by the group's color, energy, and mixed-shade representation. Central to the episode's opening discussion.​

Chapter Markers

00:00 Intro Theme

00:16 Setting the Stage: TLC Arrives

04:59 "Ooooooohhh… On the TLC Tip" & LaFace 1.0

09:20 1992 Girl Groups and Atlanta Bubbling Up

14:26 From Colorful Kids to Grown Women (CrazySexyCool Era)

15:56 How Production Deals Work (Money & Margins 101)

19:56 Lessons on Contracts and Exploitation

23:26 Honoring the Memory of Left Eye

30:26 Thank You & How To Support the Show

32:00 Outro Theme

Support Queue Points By Becoming An Insider: https://link.queuepoints.com/membership

#TLC #QueuePoints #BlackMusicHistory #CrazySexyCool #LaFaceRecords #LeftEye #90sR&B #AtlantaMusic #GirlGroups #MusicBusiness

Transcripts

Sir Daniel:

Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.

Sir Daniel:

I am DJ Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray:

And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government as Johnnie Ray III.

Jay Ray:

Iii.

Jay Ray:

And Sir Daniel, we are about to give it up to one of the

Jay Ray:

biggest girl groups of all time.

Sir Daniel:

That's right.

Sir Daniel:

Earlier this month we celebrated the.

Sir Daniel:

34th anniversary of, Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip came out in 1992, March of 1992.

Sir Daniel:

And Jay Ray, I can, I can tell you, I can vividly remember how I was shifted

Sir Daniel:

when I, I'm trying to remember if it was.

Sir Daniel:

BET.

Sir Daniel:

I really believe it was American music makers hosted by Arnell Starr.

Sir Daniel:

God rest his soul here in Atlanta.

Sir Daniel:

And I just be, remember seeing the Ain't Too Proud to Beg video and

Sir Daniel:

just being completely struck by how vibrant and colorful and animated

Sir Daniel:

these three young ladies were because you couldn't, you can tell they were

Sir Daniel:

grown, but you didn't know how grown.

Sir Daniel:

And they, first of all, they looked, they represented almost every shade

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

of black girl that there was.

Sir Daniel:

They looked different, but they definitely melded together to form

Sir Daniel:

this super group that we know as TLC.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

Um, TLC showing up on the T on the screen.

Jay Ray:

So first and foremost, I think.

Jay Ray:

Th it's important to recognize that at that time in 1992, there was kind

Jay Ray:

of not, there was nothing else that sounded like what they were doing.

Jay Ray:

So what Dallas Austin had done is kind of almost created a wall of sounds.

Jay Ray:

So you have all of these things happen.

Jay Ray:

As musically, but then you have this little voice that is cutting through

Jay Ray:

on top of all of that in left eye.

Jay Ray:

Yo mic check 1, 2, 1, 2, you know that's coming in over this

Jay Ray:

and you're like, is going on?

Jay Ray:

And then you have left eye kind of introducing the group to us

Sir Daniel:

Yep.

Jay Ray:

of ways.

Jay Ray:

And then you get TBOs who sounds like nothing I'd ever heard before.

Jay Ray:

And then by the time you get to the hook and you hear chili, you are like, wait.

Jay Ray:

So we got like a r and b girly and we got like this funk deep voice thing

Jay Ray:

happening and we got this like rapper girl and they got condoms on like

Jay Ray:

their glasses and doing a lot, and it was like beautiful and inspirational.

Sir Daniel:

So just, but you described, just reminded me of Spencer G. Remember

Sir Daniel:

Spencer Gifts back in the nineties?

Jay Ray:

It

Sir Daniel:

It was like

Jay Ray:

on

Sir Daniel:

on the television screen, it was like big floppy

Sir Daniel:

hats, big oversized, um, glasses.

Sir Daniel:

It was all the hi jinks that, um, young people like at my age, I was

Sir Daniel:

what, 16 when that came out and.

Sir Daniel:

It caught my attention because it had all of those hijinks in it, but at

Sir Daniel:

the same time, 1992, you know, I'm listening to a lot of underground rap

Sir Daniel:

on the, the local, uh, underground hip hop radio stations here in Atlanta.

Sir Daniel:

And here, these three girls come because at this moment, uh, we've got our.

Sir Daniel:

Our staple, um, women groups, you know, salt and pepper is

Sir Daniel:

doing their thing at this point.

Sir Daniel:

They,

Jay Ray:

out.

Sir Daniel:

they, they've crossed over, um, you've got your Queen Latifah's

Sir Daniel:

lights, your monies, all kind of in their lane doing their thing.

Sir Daniel:

But these guys, you're like, wait a minute, are they a rap group?

Sir Daniel:

Are they a singing group?

Sir Daniel:

You know, what is this?

Sir Daniel:

And we were Babyface and la and Babyface decided to give us, give it to us all.

Sir Daniel:

But what I found so interesting was their backstory and finding out that they were,

Sir Daniel:

well, one by one they were discovered.

Sir Daniel:

You know, crystal Jones, who was, um, the actual originator of the group was

Sir Daniel:

holding auditions to create a girl group.

Sir Daniel:

And, you know, um.

Sir Daniel:

Teon and Lisa were selected to be in this group, and the legends have it that around

Sir Daniel:

people knew Teon because she worked at, you know, the salon as a shampoo girl.

Sir Daniel:

And it reminds me of that time in Atlanta history where you

Sir Daniel:

were only separated by a person.

Sir Daniel:

They say six degrees,

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

People were a lot more accessible back then

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

this hair salon saw the likes of all the real,

Sir Daniel:

the real Housewives of Atlanta.

Sir Daniel:

Before there were real Housewives of Atlanta women that had money, black

Sir Daniel:

women that had money and means and were, you know, getting their hair done.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

so, which one of them was Pebbles?

Sir Daniel:

And we gotta give it up to Sister Perry, you know, for having.

Jay Ray:

her.

Sir Daniel:

You know, for having the insight and seeing something

Sir Daniel:

in these young ladies and putting them together, and it really did

Sir Daniel:

change the trajectory of how people.

Sir Daniel:

Put together groups, the, the incorporating, because by this time, Mary

Sir Daniel:

j Blige was already Mary j Blige, but she was, she was a solo, but she had, she

Sir Daniel:

had married, you know, hip hop and R and BTLC came along and did the same thing

Sir Daniel:

and took it to another level and, um.

Sir Daniel:

For a group.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

So I think that needs to be mentioned as well.

Sir Daniel:

And the debut album still knocks to this day.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Sir Daniel:

What I, what's super interesting about the album and

Sir Daniel:

what I always notice is it's, there's a gang of samples, Jay Ray.

Jay Ray:

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sir Daniel:

Every song has like, um, a mountain of samples.

Sir Daniel:

And God, I don't know how they got any money back on it after all those samples,

Sir Daniel:

but it created a groundwork for them.

Sir Daniel:

You had, it created a launching pad for, uh, Dallas, Austin.

Sir Daniel:

Of course, the relationship with Jermaine dup Dupre, who we know what

Sir Daniel:

Jermaine Dupree, his legacy is now.

Sir Daniel:

And of course LA and face and uh, Darrell.

Jay Ray:

Oh,

Sir Daniel:

What is

Jay Ray:

Simmons.

Sir Daniel:

Darryl Simmons?

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

album cemented them even further and had rappers and

Sir Daniel:

singers alike kind of wanted to work with all of these producers.

Sir Daniel:

So, and we have TLC to thank for that.

Jay Ray:

Yeah, and it's so interesting that you mention that, and this at, at

Jay Ray:

the time, LaFace was still a, a new label.

Jay Ray:

So by the

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip comes out, we are in year two of kind of.

Jay Ray:

LaFace.

Jay Ray:

so this is still LaFace 1.0,

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

included, and we talked about this.

Jay Ray:

So y'all go and definitely check out our show that we did about pink,

Sir Daniel:

Right.

Jay Ray:

about some of the artists that you don't think about that

Jay Ray:

were signed to LaFace Records.

Jay Ray:

And we talked about LaFace 2.0 a lot in there, but you had groups like.

Jay Ray:

Jermaine Jackson was on the face at the beginning.

Jay Ray:

You have

Sir Daniel:

Still wild,

Jay Ray:

you have these and, and TLC right?

Jay Ray:

That

Sir Daniel:

right?

Jay Ray:

up and Tony Braxton is, is, is coming.

Jay Ray:

You know what I mean?

Jay Ray:

So.

Jay Ray:

This label in Atlanta is now redefining, uh, what's possible for, uh, hip hop, the

Jay Ray:

sound of hip hop and what you can kind of do with it, as well as for girl groups.

Jay Ray:

Now, I am curious, sir Daniel, 'cause we were having the conversation

Jay Ray:

and I had forgotten about this, but you were like, oh, after.

Jay Ray:

uh, ain't too proud to beg comes out.

Jay Ray:

You also remember that I've seen those girls before.

Sir Daniel:

Right.

Sir Daniel:

So that's the funny thing about the music game.

Sir Daniel:

The music business aspect, and we mentioned Pebbles, um, taking.

Sir Daniel:

On Tebo and Left Eye because at this point, uh, crystal Jones left the group.

Sir Daniel:

She, she was no longer a part of the group, but PE Pebbles still wanted

Sir Daniel:

to do something with these two girls.

Sir Daniel:

And back then, if you were under the wing of a prof, uh, a professional singer,

Sir Daniel:

RB artist, who was already doing videos and whatnot, they took you everywhere

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Sir Daniel:

put, and they put you in the videos.

Sir Daniel:

And I remember seeing.

Sir Daniel:

TBOs and left eye in Pebbles backyard video featuring salt and pepper.

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Sir Daniel:

And you can see they weren't, um, TBOs.

Sir Daniel:

They, they didn't have the, um, all of the ooh and the T-L-C-T-L-C

Sir Daniel:

tip garb that they had on.

Sir Daniel:

They were very stripped back.

Sir Daniel:

Um, you know, uh, ponytails.

Sir Daniel:

The whole nine.

Sir Daniel:

So it was like, oh, wait a minute.

Sir Daniel:

There they go.

Sir Daniel:

And at that point there was no Chile, 'cause Chile hadn't been found yet.

Sir Daniel:

And so I just remember seeing that.

Sir Daniel:

And another thing, Jay Ray, uh, did you know that a certain group, girl

Sir Daniel:

group out of New York that was dropping maybe a month or so after this, um,

Sir Daniel:

Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip album was going to name themselves TLC.

Jay Ray:

Ooh.

Sir Daniel:

That would be Taj.

Jay Ray:

Ah,

Sir Daniel:

And Coco.

Sir Daniel:

Famously they tell the story about the fact that they almost were named TLC,

Sir Daniel:

but then of course, you know, or on the TLC, um, tip drops and word get

Sir Daniel:

back, gets back and they're like, oh, okay, we gotta go in another direction.

Sir Daniel:

Which is fine, which we're glad happened because we like,

Sir Daniel:

we like SWV for them anyway,

Jay Ray:

Yeah,

Sir Daniel:

they.

Sir Daniel:

And it's like, so we have, and think about it.

Sir Daniel:

We were so, we were so lucky in 1992.

Sir Daniel:

19, y'all don't understand how blessed we were musically in 1992 to have all of

Sir Daniel:

this stuff coming at one time, music wise.

Sir Daniel:

And being in Atlanta, if you were in Atlanta at that moment,

Sir Daniel:

it was like, you could feel it.

Sir Daniel:

It was palpable.

Sir Daniel:

The bubbling of something new happening here in this city, music wise.

Jay Ray:

yeah.

Jay Ray:

Um, I remember.

Jay Ray:

Actually it was, it was, well this is a connection to TLC too.

Jay Ray:

It was definitely all the organized noise production.

Jay Ray:

And I think I've talked about this on the show before that attracted me to like,

Jay Ray:

what is this place that I must go to?

Jay Ray:

And I remember when I first got to Atlanta in, uh, 1997 was the

Jay Ray:

first time I came to the city.

Jay Ray:

um.

Jay Ray:

Uh, my friend, uh, Mitchell's sister who was living there at the time,

Jay Ray:

uh, she's still there, actually.

Jay Ray:

She was driving us around, but playing local radio.

Jay Ray:

And I was literally listening like, who's that?

Jay Ray:

And she's like, oh, that's witch doctor.

Jay Ray:

Who's that?

Jay Ray:

That's like so and so, and it was like, what?

Jay Ray:

What is all of this sound?

Jay Ray:

TLC helped to bring all of us from all over the place and be like, I

Jay Ray:

want to go to Atlanta because this is able to happen in this spot.

Jay Ray:

Um, and I and I, as we celebrate TLC, I think not only do they do all of these

Jay Ray:

important things musically because we get, uh, their, their, uh, classic

Jay Ray:

three, uh, with Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip and crazy, sexy cool and, and

Jay Ray:

fan mail become like these, these forks in the road about what people can do.

Jay Ray:

They also become poster children for, um, here is how the music industry

Jay Ray:

takes advantage of their artists.

Sir Daniel:

Oh, yes.

Jay Ray:

here is how, uh, you can take control of the narrative and take

Jay Ray:

control of your money, quite frankly.

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

and I think that's important.

Jay Ray:

So I do want to talk about that in a second.

Jay Ray:

But we can't not talk about, um, album one.

Jay Ray:

We are, it's, it's colorful.

Jay Ray:

Everything is color and, and, and, and, and all of this.

Jay Ray:

And then we get album two and creep shows up and you're like, wait, okay.

Jay Ray:

All right.

Jay Ray:

This is sexy and beautiful.

Jay Ray:

Which of course is not the original video.

Jay Ray:

The original video

Sir Daniel:

Oh my God, I can't believe, I can't remember.

Sir Daniel:

When you showed it to me, I was like, what is this?

Jay Ray:

is this, honey?

Jay Ray:

It was given very,

Sir Daniel:

I was like, oh, somebody took a camcorder and,

Sir Daniel:

and recorded this, but, okay.

Sir Daniel:

Go ahead.

Sir Daniel:

I'm sorry.

Jay Ray:

ahead.

Jay Ray:

But I, I want to honor the fact that these women.

Jay Ray:

Even though they still had the same three components, were able

Jay Ray:

to shift and, and, and mature.

Jay Ray:

The mature.

Jay Ray:

I'm

Sir Daniel:

Yes.

Jay Ray:

y'all, the sound in a way that still felt authentic to them and still

Jay Ray:

took us in a new musical direction.

Jay Ray:

Uh, 'cause crazy, sexy, cool, of course, sends them outta here as far as success.

Sir Daniel:

Yeah, I think they're a testament to.

Sir Daniel:

Growth and redefining yourself as an artist,

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

as it as your life parallels your artistry.

Sir Daniel:

You know, like I said, when they first came out, they were grown,

Sir Daniel:

but they didn't look grown, grown, you know what I'm saying?

Sir Daniel:

They, it, I felt like they might've been, I could've seen them in high school along

Sir Daniel:

with me, which is, which a lot of people take to, um, used to their advantage.

Sir Daniel:

In entertainment because you always want to appear younger than you really are.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

'cause we're obsessed with youth.

Sir Daniel:

But anyway, um, what Crazy, sexy, cool allowed them to do to

Sir Daniel:

your point was to tap into their womanhood and show you Oh yes.

Sir Daniel:

Um, there's actually women underneath these baggy clothes.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

'cause we saw a peak of that in the, um, hat to the back video.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

Where they, where they actually take off their

Sir Daniel:

baggy clothes and people see, oh, they're, they, they're bodied

Sir Daniel:

underneath these, these big clothes.

Sir Daniel:

They're chiseled,

Jay Ray:

Right.

Sir Daniel:

know, uh, flat stomachs.

Sir Daniel:

They look, they're womanly.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

I'm pretty certain that as, um.

Sir Daniel:

Because they were women, they were individuals, very powerful

Sir Daniel:

individuals felt like, you know what?

Sir Daniel:

I'm ready to shed this.

Sir Daniel:

Let's do something new.

Sir Daniel:

And it worked to their advantage.

Sir Daniel:

Uh, fearlessness is a lesson that you learn from crazy, sexy, cool.

Sir Daniel:

Because from what we got.

Sir Daniel:

In that first album, we weren't expecting this.

Sir Daniel:

You couldn't have told me that they would've gone in this

Sir Daniel:

direction for the second album.

Sir Daniel:

And it worked to their, to their benefit.

Sir Daniel:

And I think that's a lesson, a lesson that TLC has taught is

Sir Daniel:

teaching, uh, artists to this day

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

growth and not being afraid to grow

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

and change.

Jay Ray:

the, I absolutely agree.

Jay Ray:

And I think the other lesson, and this is for new artist 'cause it

Jay Ray:

still happens today, sir Daniel.

Jay Ray:

And that's mind blowing to me.

Jay Ray:

I get it.

Jay Ray:

And I don't get it.

Sir Daniel:

Mm.

Jay Ray:

you must.

Jay Ray:

Read them contracts, or if you don't understand legalese, you

Jay Ray:

need to get somebody to sit with these contracts and read them.

Jay Ray:

So is absolutely a product of, uh, the old music industry.

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

uh, here's a quick, a quick lesson.

Jay Ray:

I'm about to sound like left eye for a second.

Jay Ray:

The quick lesson is that this oftentimes.

Jay Ray:

New artists would get signed to a production deal.

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

So you would basically, if you were like talented and you wanted to like

Jay Ray:

get put on in the music industry, some producer locally would find you, right,

Jay Ray:

and be like, I'm going to work with you, so I am going to sign you to a production

Jay Ray:

deal, so that then I could make songs for you and I could do all the things.

Jay Ray:

But also oftentimes what it gave them the ability to do was to shop you.

Sir Daniel:

Right.

Jay Ray:

Two record labels.

Jay Ray:

Right?

Jay Ray:

So you would, they would do the demo, they would do all this stuff, and then

Jay Ray:

they would take you, they would take it out and they would, they would get

Jay Ray:

you, would get the group signed, but the group themselves weren't signed.

Jay Ray:

The production company was signed.

Jay Ray:

You were signed to the production company.

Jay Ray:

So you've already now added a layer.

Sir Daniel:

Right.

Jay Ray:

Um, so in TLC's case, of course, they were signed to

Jay Ray:

Pepitone, which was Pebbles, uh, management company and her production

Jay Ray:

company, Pepitone Signs with LaFace.

Jay Ray:

LaFace is signed to Arista.

Jay Ray:

You see how this thing trickles down and I'm sure there's like A BMG at

Jay Ray:

the very top, like so there's lots of layers between where the money

Jay Ray:

is coming in and T-L-C-T-L-C is

Sir Daniel:

Yeah, it's like a flow chart.

Sir Daniel:

It's like a flow chart.

Sir Daniel:

Literally a flow chart.

Sir Daniel:

And I think the best way to describe it is that record labels are pretty much banks.

Jay Ray:

yeah.

Sir Daniel:

They're pretty much banks, and they, um, and they, what

Sir Daniel:

they do is they give out loans.

Sir Daniel:

They give out loans to.

Sir Daniel:

Like, to your point, to production companies and the production

Sir Daniel:

company is like, Hey, this is an asset that I have, like you would

Sir Daniel:

do if you're applying for a loan.

Sir Daniel:

This is what I have.

Sir Daniel:

This is an asset that I have that I think can, um, reproduce or grow the

Sir Daniel:

money that you're going to give me.

Sir Daniel:

So give me a chance here and I'll make this happen for you.

Sir Daniel:

Uh, if you give us this amount of money

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Sir Daniel:

and.

Sir Daniel:

But then, but what does the record label want?

Sir Daniel:

The bank wants full control over everything.

Sir Daniel:

They wanna recoup, which is the most important word in

Sir Daniel:

in music industry history.

Sir Daniel:

They wanna recoup everything that they've invested

Jay Ray:

Plus.

Sir Daniel:

that production company, into those artists.

Sir Daniel:

Every single thing.

Sir Daniel:

It's like going to the hospital.

Sir Daniel:

If they give you a Tylenol, best believe there's gonna be a $500

Sir Daniel:

Tylenol on on that invoice when you are billed at the end of your stay.

Jay Ray:

Ooh.

Sir Daniel:

And so.

Sir Daniel:

I, you know, like you said, I think that video of Lisa left eye breaking down.

Sir Daniel:

Do you wanna know how we became the number one selling group in the world and

Sir Daniel:

still and still remain, you know, broke.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

how we do it.

Sir Daniel:

Get your calculators out.

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Sir Daniel:

If you, if you are a professor or, uh, an, uh, an accounting

Sir Daniel:

professor, it doesn't necessarily have to be music, um, business oriented.

Sir Daniel:

If you are an accounting professor, anyone that teaches about money and, uh, and

Sir Daniel:

the flow of money, uh, with respect to.

Sir Daniel:

Just, um, capitalism in general, that is the perfect example

Sir Daniel:

that you can give and make it a, make it a part of your syllabus.

Sir Daniel:

I'm telling you right now, get that clip and have it ready to

Sir Daniel:

roll in your classroom because it's still powerful to this day.

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Sir Daniel:

It's, it mimics what's happening to us right now

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

in this world

Jay Ray:

Yeah,

Sir Daniel:

we're trying to figure out.

Sir Daniel:

Why we have to pay $5 for a carton of eggs.

Jay Ray:

exactly.

Sir Daniel:

I see.

Sir Daniel:

What.

Jay Ray:

Egg.

Jay Ray:

Exactly.

Jay Ray:

No, and I, so I, I think we examine the career of TLC, so

Jay Ray:

they're not only these, um.

Jay Ray:

group that helped to, to, uh, expand the way, particularly black music and

Jay Ray:

the pop charts interacted at the time.

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jay Ray:

They become this like really big group, the biggest girl group of all time, right?

Jay Ray:

And, and, and the sound.

Jay Ray:

But they also become, uh, uh, uh.

Jay Ray:

A teacher of the business of music, because you do, us as the listeners

Jay Ray:

do have to sit with how do these women that just sold all of these

Jay Ray:

records that are literally playing out stadiums all over the world.

Jay Ray:

You look at the digging on You video and I, that was, I think, the concert

Jay Ray:

video and there's like thousands upon thousands of people that they are playing

Jay Ray:

to you're like, oh my God, they are huge.

Jay Ray:

They must be rich.

Jay Ray:

They were not rich.

Jay Ray:

Apparently it was $50,000 checks for each of them or something crazy.

Jay Ray:

It was not a lot of money for what they were doing, you know,

Sir Daniel:

Correct.

Jay Ray:

and for, for, for black folks in music at the time.

Jay Ray:

So they're not only, uh, important for the, the, the impact on

Jay Ray:

music, but the impact on music business and how artists treated.

Sir Daniel:

Are treated and also how they're perceived.

Sir Daniel:

Because what also happened is that.

Sir Daniel:

Then the individuals became, I don't wanna say they, they weren't parodies,

Sir Daniel:

but the mythology behind each.

Sir Daniel:

Each one of them had some type of looming, um.

Sir Daniel:

Aspect of their personal lives that became bigger than the actual music.

Sir Daniel:

Like of course we are well familiar with, um, how Lisa's

Sir Daniel:

life played out in front of us

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

from the, the Andre Rising incident to the

Sir Daniel:

way that she left the world.

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Sir Daniel:

You know, there's that.

Sir Daniel:

Then of course we have Teon who is experiencing.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

Major, major, um, medical conditions, uh, unbeknownst

Sir Daniel:

to us, but then has to come out because it's literally killing her.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

And then of course, we have Chili's personal life,

Sir Daniel:

which becomes fodder for everybody, every and every, everyone

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Sir Daniel:

in the music industry, in music industry, journalism.

Sir Daniel:

So not only are they a textbook lesson of.

Sir Daniel:

Uh, the, the business of music, but al also how the world wants their

Sir Daniel:

pound of flesh from you as well when it comes to your personal life and how

Sir Daniel:

your life doesn't, is no longer yours.

Jay Ray:

Hmm.

Sir Daniel:

Um, now I will give them, I, I want to say this, I want

Sir Daniel:

them to have this credit as well.

Sir Daniel:

Those three women.

Sir Daniel:

Kind of took things, took matters into their own hands, which is

Sir Daniel:

a lot of time, which is what artists sometimes have to do.

Sir Daniel:

And you hear about old school artists taking to street methods

Sir Daniel:

to get some respect as well.

Sir Daniel:

I think we've all heard of the stories of them pulling guns on Diddy

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

him captive in a, in a office space because he was,

Sir Daniel:

you know, doing what did does.

Sir Daniel:

And as far as being a. A predator light person in this, in this story

Sir Daniel:

of how the music industry works.

Sir Daniel:

And they, it is, you know, because they figured out quickly, okay, we've been

Sir Daniel:

taken advantage of and they're gonna keep taking advantage of us unless

Sir Daniel:

we do something that lets them know that we are not to be played with.

Sir Daniel:

Now granted, they could have gotten locked up.

Jay Ray:

They could have gotten locked up, but they didn't,

Sir Daniel:

They did not.

Jay Ray:

locked

Sir Daniel:

But the point got across like, you know, we got these

Sir Daniel:

three eighties, what you gonna do?

Sir Daniel:

We need this.

Sir Daniel:

We need to be released from this now.

Sir Daniel:

And you know, those are things that you are not expected of women.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

that's how during this international women's history month,

Sir Daniel:

that's how women have to make history is sometimes they literally have to

Sir Daniel:

pull out the hammer on you and say, nah.

Sir Daniel:

Just, nah,

Sir Daniel:

we're not doing this today.

Jay Ray:

Um, I want to.

Jay Ray:

For us to spend,

Jay Ray:

spend some time honoring, um, Lisa for a second, and honoring to your point, the

Jay Ray:

fact that these women continued, that Teon and, and Chile Lee continued and,

Jay Ray:

and wanted to make sure that they, they continued to honor the memory of Lisa.

Jay Ray:

So starting with Lisa, first and foremost.

Jay Ray:

Who has such a, who not only of course, is a fascinating figure,

Jay Ray:

but also moved in the music industry in this really interesting way.

Jay Ray:

So there's, there was almost the, the solo left eye record that was

Jay Ray:

supposed to come from death row.

Jay Ray:

There was like that whole thing.

Jay Ray:

There was of course Chile.

Jay Ray:

I'm sorry, left eye.

Jay Ray:

Uh uh, um.

Jay Ray:

Being the conduit for like other groups.

Jay Ray:

So we have the rap group quo, uh, left

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

played a part there.

Jay Ray:

We

Sir Daniel:

Illegal.

Jay Ray:

we have illegal, and all of these groups, oh, it was illegal, not quo.

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

but we have all of these groups that left eye is kind of like

Jay Ray:

molding and helping to shepherd through.

Jay Ray:

The industry in a lot of ways, but it's really behind the scenes.

Jay Ray:

Like you don't know necessarily that she's doing it, but she's playing like this

Jay Ray:

role of like, Hey, here's what I know.

Jay Ray:

You are dope.

Jay Ray:

Here's how we can make this thing happen.

Jay Ray:

Um, I wanna honor.

Jay Ray:

That beauty about her creativity.

Jay Ray:

Her creativity was not just rapping and doing all of this other stuff.

Jay Ray:

She wanted to create art in any way that it showed up.

Jay Ray:

And what's interesting, I think about the music industry post, uh, left Eye's

Jay Ray:

Passing, is we realized the impact that she played how black women were creating.

Jay Ray:

her death, like we can definitely say, nah, this woman

Jay Ray:

was like a special creation.

Jay Ray:

Um, and she gave permission for women to show up in these different ways.

Jay Ray:

So I just want to honor that for a second.

Sir Daniel:

Yeah, she reminds me of like a Shakespearean character from, um, what is

Sir Daniel:

the, the Em, the EM character, the fairy light character in Midsummer Night's Dream

Sir Daniel:

that narrates the Midsummer Night's Dream.

Sir Daniel:

But she's everywhere

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

She's got a little, she's got, she's a little mischievous, but like

Sir Daniel:

you said, she's always ta She's talented.

Sir Daniel:

And creative.

Sir Daniel:

Yes.

Sir Daniel:

She brought those, um, those groups to the forefront.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

let's not forget about her features.

Sir Daniel:

You know, the features are crazy.

Sir Daniel:

The that to this day, and my DJs know this, if you play Donald Jones.

Sir Daniel:

You know what's up and you

Jay Ray:

better

Sir Daniel:

play the left eye version.

Sir Daniel:

It's curtains for you.

Sir Daniel:

It's clipped for you if you don't play that version.

Sir Daniel:

Um, every party I'm about to go, um, spin at a party.

Sir Daniel:

I'm probably gonna play, um, the Not Tonight remix from Lil Kim that's got

Sir Daniel:

a fantastic verse from left eye on it and the list goes on and she's just.

Sir Daniel:

Just, I mean, she truly was, like you said, art embodied and wanted to manifest

Sir Daniel:

that while she was here on this earth.

Sir Daniel:

Remember the, don't forget the supernova,

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

um, uh, project that only came out overseas.

Sir Daniel:

You can get that some places.

Sir Daniel:

It's really, I think I have one of the 12 inches here.

Jay Ray:

I have, I have, I have,

Sir Daniel:

You have super.

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

It is one of those things that like if you have it, you have it.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

And yeah, we don't know.

Sir Daniel:

We, wow.

Sir Daniel:

Her full potential was unrecognized or well, not fully realized, I would say.

Sir Daniel:

And then I think you also see how important she was to the group

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

the fact that the industry was like, okay, you've

Sir Daniel:

had enough time to grieve.

Sir Daniel:

We need to move on.

Jay Ray:

is

Sir Daniel:

But, which is crazy, but creatively.

Sir Daniel:

They, Tio, um, Teon and Shirley will tell you to this day, those things didn't

Sir Daniel:

take off those projects, didn't do what they were supposed to do because the main

Sir Daniel:

spice, the main ingredient to what we.

Sir Daniel:

What we are that made us is no longer here.

Sir Daniel:

J it reminds me of that first time that they made an appearance after, um,

Sir Daniel:

Lisa's passing at that MTV award show and they literally couldn't say anything

Sir Daniel:

because that was the first time they came out on stage together as a duo.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

And it, they were visibly shaken because it was, it, it was

Sir Daniel:

like, oh my God, it's only two of us.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

Imagine looking to your left or your right, hope, you know,

Sir Daniel:

thinking you're going to see your sister

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

they're not there.

Sir Daniel:

And they've been, they were, they had been through it.

Sir Daniel:

Um, by then they had all had their own personal beefs with each other

Sir Daniel:

and, but still that's a relationship.

Sir Daniel:

Family is family.

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

is family.

Jay Ray:

And I think that's the big thing is despite the fact that basically Left Eye

Jay Ray:

called them all out, we gonna all do solo projects and we go see who wins the thing.

Jay Ray:

'cause you know how Left Eye did her

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

Very competitive spirit.

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jay Ray:

That was messy.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jay Ray:

These women were in a weird spot.

Jay Ray:

And at the same time, that was their sister, like

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

it's in the name,

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

you know what I mean?

Jay Ray:

There is no TLC without the three of them.

Jay Ray:

And so what I, I wanna give, uh, uh, TBAs and Chile credit for, there's always.

Jay Ray:

the spirit of Lisa Left Eye Lopez is always in everything that they do.

Jay Ray:

So whenever they hit the stage, whenever they are somewhere, that

Jay Ray:

spirit of Lisa is always part of the, the product because it is who TLC is.

Jay Ray:

And, um.

Jay Ray:

The industry will say a lot of stuff, um, about, you know, uh,

Jay Ray:

impact post, uh, Lisa's passing.

Jay Ray:

And I think what's most important is one, these women had already made history.

Jay Ray:

You can't take that away from them.

Sir Daniel:

Can write there.

Sir Daniel:

Nope.

Jay Ray:

can't underwrite it.

Jay Ray:

It already happened and we in 2026 are sitting here still honoring that impact.

Jay Ray:

And there's gonna be little girls that see that ain't too proud to beg video in 2027.

Jay Ray:

They're, they're six and this comes on their screen.

Jay Ray:

They are literally going to do the same thing that we did in

Jay Ray:

1992 when we saw it because.

Jay Ray:

That is still groundbreaking.

Jay Ray:

There's nobody that looks like TLC today and there won't.

Jay Ray:

You just can't recreate that.

Jay Ray:

That was magic.

Sir Daniel:

You cannot.

Sir Daniel:

I think we did a good job honoring them.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

Thank y'all so much for of course, hanging out with us, uh, as we honor TLC.

Jay Ray:

It's Women's History Month.

Jay Ray:

Y'all know how we do, we give it up for women 365 around here.

Jay Ray:

We're just, you know, doing some special stuff for this particular month.

Jay Ray:

But, uh, what you can do to support Queue Points wherever you are listening,

Jay Ray:

wherever you are watching subscribe.

Jay Ray:

Um, that is amazing.

Jay Ray:

Uh, share the show.

Jay Ray:

With your friends, family, and colleagues.

Jay Ray:

If you were into this, let us know.

Jay Ray:

Let us know what your memories of TLC are.

Jay Ray:

When did you, what do you remember experiencing when you first saw them?

Jay Ray:

Drop a comment or hit us up in the, uh, hit us up on the dms.

Jay Ray:

Uh, become a member.

Jay Ray:

Queue Points does, uh, not happen Without the support of all of y'all, you could

Jay Ray:

become a member of Queue Points and that gives you access to watch all of

Jay Ray:

our live replays that gives you some additional content, um, that you can

Jay Ray:

check out for us and it really does support the work that we're doing.

Jay Ray:

So if you're into it, become a member, um, and we would appreciate it.

Jay Ray:

Shop our store@store.queuepoints.com.

Jay Ray:

Check us out on Substack and, um.

Jay Ray:

Listen, we appreciate y'all.

Jay Ray:

We love y'all.

Sir Daniel:

We absolutely do.

Sir Daniel:

What do I say?

Sir Daniel:

Every week in this life, you have a choice.

Sir Daniel:

You can either pick up the needle or let the record play.

Sir Daniel:

I am DJ Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray:

And my name is Jay Ray.

Jay Ray:

All peace.

Sir Daniel:

And this has been Queue Points podcast, dropping

Sir Daniel:

the needle on black music history.

Sir Daniel:

We will see you on the next go round and that's, ooh, on the Queue Points pie tip.

Jay Ray:

I love that you did that.

Jay Ray:

Peace, y'all.

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube