Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes Remembered — 7 Years Later

I found this online. Apparently, this individual, calling herself soykitty, makes little dolls like this. This seems to be the only one named after a real person. Does look like her and I thought it was cute. Check out her other dolls@www.flickr.com/photos/soykitty.

Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes (May 27, 1971 — April 25, 2002).

It’s been 7 years since Ms. Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was taken from us.  TLC and the world have never quite been the same since.  In January of this year her family in conjunction with Mass Appeal Entertainment released her first (and, hopefully, not only) posthumous solo release, Eye Legacy. 

It’s somewhat a reworking of Supernova (her first true solo release that was only released overseas in 2001) with some songs from thoses sessions and from FanMail as well that were not released. 

In anticipation of that release I interviewed her brother, Ron Lopes, in a popolio podcast.  I also dedicated a MY TOP 10 to her videos counting down to the release date of Eye Legacy on January 27, 2009.

Let’s remember Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, her exploits (both solo and with TLC), and never forget.  Here’s to the dynamic and outspoken personality, the great music left behind, and a legacy that was cut way, way too short.  LEFT EYE FOREVER!!!

Check out the popolio podcast with Ron Lopes here and
the MY TOP 10 here… intro, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, and outro.

 

MY TOP 10: Left Eye Videos — 1. Panther Soundtrack “Freedom”

1. Various Artists including Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes
“Freedom (Theme from Panther)”
From Panther:  The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Released:  1995

If you listened to my podcast interview with Ron Lopes, brother of the late, great Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, you know I asked him what his favorite all-time Left Eye rap was.  Well, he didn’t just give me one; he gave me a few.  This was one of them.  And his mention of “Freedom” tickled me in a way the others didn’t. 

Originally written and performed by Joi for her debut album, The Pendulum Vibe, someone had the genius idea to include it on this soundtrack and make it an ensemble piece.  It’s a great song and I think it still stands the test of time.  Really an anthemic song.  I know I called “No Scrubs” anthemic, but this is a truly anthemic song.  “No Scrubs” is fun, but “Freedom” is anthemic in a whole ‘nother way.  I think it speaks for itself.

I think this is a nice song to end the countdown with (though I’ll post my OUTRODUCTION tomorrow) especially in the wake of our new president’s inauguration last week and our continued celebration of MLK’s legacy. 

I wish everyone freedom.  Freedom of expression.  Freedom to love whom you want to love.  Freedom to love them how you want to love them.   Freedom to learn, explore, and grow.  And, mostly, freedom to be yourself  fearlessly, fiercely, and unabashedly without fear of judgement, rejection, or regret, which is how I think Lisa lived.

I remember I posted a poem I wrote on a TLC fansite message board once.  Lisa opined on it right away.  She had nice things to say.  I’ll never forget that.

By th way – you get the rap version and the original R&B version as a BONUS! (T-Boz and Chilli representin’, too!)

And, yes, she kilt it.

 

Letter from the Editor

Monday, January 19, 2009
4:55 PM

Well, it’s the beginning of 2009 and MLK Day.  In terms of popolio and music what does that mean?

I don’t consider popolio a social, political, or news blog, but without the activists and freedom fighters (and I’m addressing them with a very broad brushstroke here) I wouldn’t be able to express myself here.  I will make inferences or social commentary when I feel it necessary, but it will be very light.  My focus is music entertainment.  If it’s relevant to popolio as I’ve stated in the past, I will address it.  We did with the tragedies involving DJ AM, Travis Barker, and Jennifer Hudson last year.  And, I’ll reiterate that, I don’t want to be a gossip blog.  There are enough of those out there.  I don’t want to regurgitate and recycle the same pieces that are seen out there over and over.

The other part of this is that I know music is powerful and I know it can cause people to be politicized and organized.  MLK’s and President Obama’s speeches are not quite music, but they work in the same way.  Words can inspire and words set to music can light fires that can burn out quickly or indefinitely.

What do I want for popolio in 2009?  I want to light a fire that burns brighter and brighter for a long time.  I want to grow it.  I want to make it bigger and better.  What does that mean?  That means more features, more content, and better content.  That means me trying to step up my game to bring you a better quality blog overall.  I want to be unique, entertaining, and quality.  Hopefully, I can achieve this in 2009.

We’ve successfully operated on the two levels that I want to continue to operate on.  Mainstream and Local.  Established and Up-and-Coming.  popolio is up-and-coming; independent; underground.  It doesn’t mean popolio can’t be established, collaborative, and mainstream, too.

This month I posted a popolio podcast interview on which I spoke with Ron Lopes, brother of the late, great Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes about her forthcoming posthumous release, Eye Legacy.  Thanks again to Mass Appeal Entertainment and Ron Lopes for participating in the interview.  I’m also in the middle of a MY TOP 10: Left Eye Videos, counting down to the release date of Eye Legacy on January 27, 2009.  So, in a certain way, it’s Left Eye Month at popolio.  I am a self-proclaimed die-hard TLC fan, so TLC and Left Eye Forever!

Co-editor, JW Richard, presented a nice MY TOP 10 Countdown of his own.  He counted down his Top Hot Tracks from 2008 on his Last.fm account.  He’s more of an audio guy whereas I think I’m more of a video guy, so he made it an audio countdown.  It was a nice change of pace from my countdowns.  We got to experience someone else’s taste and that’s always nice.

2 pop quizzes this month as usual.  First off, earlier in the month we featured the pop/club stylings of Brian Kent and coming up this week is homohop pioneer, Tim’m West’s pop quiz.  I can’t wait for that one.  Now, I love our pop quizzes.  I’d like to get some feedback from you all on them.  I think it’s one of, if not the, best feature we offer at popolio.  I’d like to hear from you all.  Maybe I’ll do a survey.  I don’t know.

I’ve actively started to get out there into the Austin music scene more this month to meet and feature some local artists.  I plan to do more of that.  Just one foray into the wild urban jungles of The Live Music Capital of the World and I was turned onto artists such as Vitera, Jeder, and The Executive Life.  I plan to go to more shows, take pictures, and post those.  I also want to hear about any upcoming shows you all are excited about.  I’ll post them. Give me at least one week out, though.  I think that gives people enough time to dig for pennies if they want to go to a certain show.

Well, here’s to a progressive, productive, and impressive 2009 for popolio.

5:40PM

Cheers,
Freddie Rodriguez aka freddie beat
popolio creator/editor

 

MY TOP 10: Left Eye Videos — INTRODUCTION

1971-2002

Introduction

Since TLC is my favorite group of all-time and the late, great  Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes’ new CD, Eye Legacy, is coming out this month I wanted to do a MY TOP 10 Countdown in commemoration and celebration of that.  This is in addition to the popolio podcast interview I already got to do with her brother, Ron Lopes, regarding this project.  Check it here.

My initial thought was that everyone knows the TLC videos, so let me do the TOP 10 Videos where other artists featured her.  The issue with that is that there are enough songs out there where she collaborated with other artists, but there are not enough videos.  This, for me, is first and foremost, a video countdown.  Though, J. Dub definitely made it his own and made it an audio countdown.  His numerical images made me jealous.  Very creative and visually alluring and appealing.  See what I mean by checking out his countdown here.

So, this is what I’m going to do, I’m going to make it 2 countdowns in 1.  I’ll alternate between the top TLC videos featuring Left Eye and the top videos by other artists featuring Left Eye.  So, it’s like 2 MY TOP 5s, but rolled into one MY TOP 10 Countdown.

You’ll know most if not all the work.  The fun may come in the order, though, I may be obvious, because most of us will agree on the great TLC/Left Eye videos.  The greatest fun will just be strolling down memory lane and reminiscing in anticipation of the new Left Eye album.  The conclusion of this countdown will coincide with the release of Eye Legacy on January 27, 2009.  This one goes out to Left Eye and my fellow TLC/Left Eye fans. 

Enjoy!

Enthusiastically,

freddie beat
popolio editor

 

popolio podcast: Interview about Left Eye Legacy [with Lisa Lopes' brother, Ron Lopes]

Freddie speaks with Ron Lopes, the brother of the late, great firecracker of his all-time favorite group, TLC, about Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes and her upcoming posthumous release, Eye Legacy.

They touch on past controversies,  the Lauren Lazin-directed documentary, The Last Days of Left Eye, and the Lisa Lopes Foundation.

Included in the show is the first single “Let’s Just Do It” featuring TLC and Missy Elliott.

Find out more about the January 27, 2009 release at the official site and MySpace Page.

Learn about the Lisa Lopes Foundation.