From left to right: Drew Sidora, Keke Palmer and rapper Lil Mama - the actresses playing the music group TLC in the TV biopic "CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story"
The VH-1 TV Movie "CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story" about the 1990s Atlanta musical trio signed to LaFace Records, didn't match the pre-release hype leading to its showing last night. However, the movie was sad. The trailer for the movie did it no favors, as it was cheesy. The movie was not as cheesy as the trailer, but the actresses did not do a good job with the dance moves.
VH-1 spent a lot of money recreating the group's music videos, public appearances and interviews. This aspect of the movie was authentic. I still maintain the casting for the film was not right, as most of the actors and actresses, save for Drew Sidora as Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, do not resemble the individuals they portray.
Lionel Martin, TLC, L.A., Babyface and Pebbles on the video set of "Ain't Too Proud To Beg"
TLC's creator and former manager, Pebbles, threatened to sue if the movie defamed her, after group members Watkins and Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas took to the airwaves in a radio interview with Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club. The radio interview was far worse than the film, regarding claims about Pebbles.
Irrespective of that, Pebbles was not portrayed in a positive light in the movie as the person who "ripped off" TLC. The fact of the matter is they had a standard contract with Pebbles, but LaFace and Arista took the lion's share of the profits. So much so, TLC even acknowledged in the movie that after they pushed Pebbles out of the picture they were still having financial troubles (coincidentally, Pebbles gained 10,000 new followers on Twitter after the movie aired).
TLC, L.A. Reid and Pebbles
Several items were left out of this film, such as who truly became rich off TLC. It was hilarious, but bad when TLC went to the Clive Davis' office, the CEO of Arista, with a group of female thugs in tow, demanding money (they tried to pull a Suge Knight but it backfired - Knight famously went to Eazy-E and separately Vanilla Ice with thugs and threatened to beat them to a pulp over royalties and releasing artists).
Davis called security, tried to calm them down, then cut the group an itty bitty check that left them disappointed. Arista made several hundred million dollars off TLC. The next in line for the most profits was LaFace (L.A. Reid and Babyface). Then Pebbles, whose cut pales in comparison to what the labels received.
TLC's look for their debut CD
This is where the TLC money went. Pebbles was right, she was the "fall guy" in this scandal, but she never should have went to LaFace with TLC and followed her original plan of going straight to MCA Records with the group, the label that released her CDs for years.
In the film Pebbles referred to Chilli as "loose" which looked out of place as they conveniently left out the background information on what she stated this. Chilli was accused of having sex with Pebbles' husband, which is how she got and remained in the group in the first place. They prettied that up for television. Chilli is also known for having sex with a number of industry men. That was conveniently left out of the film.
TLC
L.A. Reid was made out to be a levelheaded angel in this flick when he is know for getting into contentious arguments with people. He's also known for ripping off partner Babyface (which was left out of the movie) as well as TLC (also left out of the film) as he had a hand in the making of the movie.
My mom and I met one of L.A.'s relatives in Atlanta about 10-years ago while on vacation. His relative is a decent person of integrity, who is very nice. L.A.'s relative is the cousin of one of my longtime friends in Miami, who worked at EMI Records for years and she introduced us to her.
L.A. and Babyface
L.A.'s relative expressed her disappointment at the demise of his marriage to Pebbles stating, "He kept cheating on her with different women" (typical industry man). One of the women is Chilli, as later supported by a radio interview that aired in Atlanta several years ago.
In the movie L.A. even referred to Chilli as "the pretty one representing R&B" which drew a displeased look from his wife Pebbles. Chilli and L.A. need to drop the innocent act. It was a terrible betrayal. L.A. who remarried after divorcing Pebbles, still is not faithful in marriage or money matters.
TLC
Music producer Dallas Austin was also portrayed in a very negative light in the film, but he's always been known as a ladies man. In the 1990s, the guy had a list of chicks he wanted to have sex with and was going down the list. He's promiscuous just like Chilli. They are alike in that respect.
Why was Chilli surprised at Austin's conduct when she's the same way. If you're making a biopic, keep it real, even if it makes you look bad. However, only one was made out to be the hero and the other the sexual villain for the film. Austin took the brunt of it and Chilli was wrongly made out to be so innocent.
Pebbles and Chilli in 2011 after they had become friends again (at least, so Pebbles thought)
The late Left Eye was a member of the Hollywood "Illuminati" and like many of the members of the sect she died early in life. Left Eye espoused their unscientific, illogical astrological beliefs about what dates projects can be released or life events must occur, as it had to line up with the stars. This is all superstitious rubbish (as seen in the TLC movie during the scene featuring Left Eye crying in the bathroom).
Left Eye (center) emphasizing her left eye in a manner that represents the "Illuminati" Eye of Horus, the Satanic Hollywood cult, who believes in the occult and human sacrifices
She took the nickname Left Eye after the Eye of Horus, underlining and emphasizing it with a black line in tribute to the "Illuminati" cult. IN many photos she would cover one eye, another practice of the "Illuminati" cult. They also made her very crazy (hence being the "Crazy" in "CrazySexyCool") much like members of the cult now, such as Britney Spears, Amanda Bynes, Lindsay Lohan, Rihanna, Mischa Barton, Demi Lovato, among others (Hollywood Cult Before And After Photos).
The mere fact Left Eye burned down boyfriend Andre Rison's house is indicative of the mental illness she suffered from like other "Illuminati" members. In fact, Amanda Bynes was committed to a psych ward after she tried to set someone's driveway on fire. It's a trademark of schizophrenics.
TLC today
Left Eye's death was eerie as just weeks prior to her passing, she hit and killed a young boy in Honduras in a car accident. Years prior it was reported she caused the death of an infant in Atlanta, Georgia. Left eye jumped out of a moving car on a hill without putting the break on, leaving a mother and infant, who were passengers, to jump out of the vehicle, which killed the child.
The incident marked two tragic child deaths in car related incidents involving Left Eye. It's ironic that Left Eye's wild and erratic driving ended up causing her own death, when she swerved a SUV loaded with people off the road, hitting her head and dying from the injury while in Honduras.
Lisa Lopes and Tionne Watkins (left and center) were originally apart of a group called 2nd Nature with Crystal (right) who was kicked out in favor of Chilli, when L.A. Reid decided she must go
Side Bar: this movie mentioned an Aisha spotting Dalvin from Jodeci cheating on Tionne Watkins. For the record, that had nothing to do with me. The only time I ever saw Tionne and Dalvin was in a mall in Miami. They looked me in the face and I didn't say a word. Other than that, I don't know either one of them.
