Member Since: 9/12/2012
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2 New TLC Songs + Epic / LaFace Records
Quote:
Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and a team of producers are huddled behind a sprawling control console, bobbing their heads as they listen to a bass-heavy track off TLC’s first album in more than 10 years.
After the music played out, Watkins received notes on which harmonies needed another take. But it could wait. She shuffled down the hall to check on Rozanda “Chili” Thomas’ progress on “Pretty Little Scar,” a song Watkins penned for the mark left behind after a 2006 operation to remove a brain tumor.
Their yet-to-be-titled album is more than a decade in the making, and things are down to the wire: the two have to deliver new material to the label before an evening deadline.
Back at the recording studio, Watkins is discussing the new material and what could work as a potential first single. She was partial to a particular track, but a producer was lobbying for another that could hit multiple radio formats. “We had to beg L.A. [Reid] to do a video for ‘Waterfalls,’” she argues. “That was our version of going alternative.”
After another check on Thomas, Watkins slid into a dimly lit booth to take a stab at another song -- an angsty, guitar-driven pop-rock ballad called “Breaking Bad.”
“If I die before I wake, at least I know I lived for something,” she sang. “If this breath is the last I take, I don’t want it to be for nothing.”
A source close to the group said L.A. Reid had a problem with his possible portrayal in the film and that the issue is “compounded” by Perri Reid’s depiction.
“You’re always going to disagree about something. It’s a damn record label and he was running it. Of course you’re going to have ups and downs. And just like anybody else, we cuss him out when need be,” Watkins offered. “But it feels natural, like home. It’s a new day and time. We’re putting LaFace back on the map -- again.”
The new album is as much about securing TLC's legacy as it is about stepping into what Watkins calls their "transitional period."
Their longtime manager, Bill Diggins, was on the verge of launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund the project before L.A. Reid stepped in to do the new deal.
“Everybody knows the stakes are high,” Diggins said. “We all have a lot to lose on this. If we can’t do excellent, let’s not do it. We’re not gonna settle for mediocrity. You give me one hit with TLC and it’s all over.”
Interest is certainly there, and the hip-hop world in particular has already embraced the group's return.
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WHY?