Flashback: TLC’s Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes Brings ‘No Scrubs’ Rap to ‘Leno’
The outsized personality and acerbic wit of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes helped vault the sleek, forthright R&B trio TLC to the top of the pop charts in the Nineties. Lopes’ intricate, take-no-prisoners rhymes animated the group’s saucy breakthrough hit “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg” and gave a shot of optimism to the socially conscious “Waterfalls.”
in Honduras. She was 30. The year before, she had released her first solo album, Supernova, in Great Britain; the album, which included a collaboration with Lopes’ protégés Blaque and production by Salaam Remi and Rockwilder never came out in the U.S.
Archival footage shows how Lopes’ irrepressible spirit and no-nonsense rhymes balanced out the slinky vocals offered by her bandmates Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas and Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins. In this clip, taken from an April 1999 episode of The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, TLC perform “No Scrubs,” the kiss-off to moochers that was the lead single from their third album FanMail. Dressed in dark outfits that reflect turn-of-the-millennium fashion – crop tops, platform boots – the trio give the song a winning performance, with Lopes taking a spot on a podium to deliver her broadside against those…
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