Surviving members T-Boz and Chilli say they were blocked from using Left Eye's original rap in the remake.
- Jun 29, 2013
AceShowbiz - In light of not so positive reactions towards their remake of their career-defining hit "Waterfalls", the remaining members of the ground-breaking '90s R'n'B/hip-hop girl trio TLC, Tionne Watkins a.k.a. T-Boz and Rozonda Thomas a.k.a. Chilli have come out with an explanation as to why third member, the late Lisa Lopes a.k.a. Left Eye's rap verse in the original was not thrown in the track and instead commissioned Japanese pop star Namie Amuro to complete the trio on the new version.
According to Watkins and Thomas, they were blocked from using Lopes' rap, claiming the group did not own the master recording rights to it and their request to gain the rights have been consequently denied. "We were forced to use a creative way to honor Lisa's memory and celebrate this milestone with the fans," Thomas said.
That "creative way" was to replace Left Eye's part with the J-Pop artist's verse to come up with the new track. Prior to the remake's release, they even reached out to Left Eye's brother Ron Lopes. "We have and always will protect our sister's legacy as TLC consists of the three of us collectively ... there will never be a replacement for Lisa or any members in TLC," they added.
The new "Waterfalls" track was said to have irked the Lopes family not for the apparent replacement, but rather for not being properly informed, and learning only about the whole thing through a fan who posted it online.
