Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes
Lisa Nicole Lopes was born on May 27, 1971 (Gemini) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she grew up to become a talented rapper and creative writer. She was always active in school plays, performances and had many talents other than singing such as writing, sewing and dancing as well. When she became noticed as the hyper little rapper "Left-Eye", in 1991, she became the "L" of TLC and Chilli describes her rapping by saying, "she can rap her butt off"! In interviews she'd often be asked how the name "Left-Eye" came about and she simply states "Cuz the eye is right". In the first TLC video "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg" she wore a condom over her left-eye, symbolizing safe sex, which made a huge variety of parents react in different ways. "Man, we had all kinds of conflicting fan mails and letters, some just dogging out our music, and on the same token you have parents talking about, 'I love your music, you wear condoms on your clothes, I can now talk about my children, and it's out in the open."
She was always an active entertainer, "To me, it's like my job. I kept myself around entertainers. If I wasn't in the show, I was making clothes for the show. If it wasn't a spot for me to dance--I would do anything --and that was my love. Ever since I was little I kept myself in it. That's what all my thoughts were--I'm going to be an entertainer. It just happened that way. I took chances." Left-Eye believes in being herself at all times, "All I can do is be me, do what I believe in, and be myself, and I suggest everyone do the same thing. Do what makes you feel comfortable, do what makes you happy, and that is a role model in itself." "My love is music. More than I would like to be on the stage, I would love to be responsible for the music that's on the radio. You know, the songs people love, I would like to have something to do with that." After the release of the first TLC album Left-Eye went through a lot of troubles she, at first, decided not to comment on. In 1994 she plead guilty for burning down the million dollar mansion of her current boyfriend Andre Rison and went through the a lot of debts and years of custody. Later in 1998 she was interviewed by XXL magazine and Sister 2 Sister and explained all about her troubles and why she burned down the house, explaining she was drunk and suffering through a troubled relationship with Andre Rison."I've been through a lot of experiences. The way that I chose to deal with things has to do with my parents and how I was raised. But, in any situation, I am very adaptable. I see things for what they are. I know that there are people who are going through worse." Being known as the "rapper" she contradicts being one, "I do not consider myself a rapper, I rather consider myself a singer. I was modeling, dancing. I play the piano. I was sewing outfits for people. I was always involved in something. Rapping was an outlet. It was a way to step out to do other things. I write, I do screen play writing. If you were to come to my house, you'd be amazed, I do so many things in a day, there's not a lot of time for perfection. I'm running all over the place. If I had a lot of money, I would invest in a multimedia company, and get somebody to work on all these ideas." Lisa's proven she is a very strong person, "I didn't struggle this far to have people tear me down.. I finally started looking at myself like I'm worth something, and it's because I've accomplished everything people told me I wouldn't." The past two years have been very busy for Lopes. Her hosting on MTV's "The Cut" brought her face back to the TV screens again, and on each show you see her originality because she'll wear things you wouldn't normally see on people out on the street, even on models. She is a very lively, positive character, and is the perfect host for a show like "The Cut". Lisa has also been on Method Man's latest release "Tical 2000" on a song called "Cradle Rock". Left-Eye's a woman of many talents and she'll always be a strong supporter of her group members of TLC. Look out for an upcoming solo release from her sometime late this year. She will surprise us, again and again.
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