Six years our senior and fresh off the middle school bus, my best friend’s sister Ali was the unquestioned arbiter of cool. She taught me how to apply blush and how to dot my i’s with hearts. But most importantly, she taught me about TLC.
Ali pulled my friend and I into their living room that day, cassette in hand, and by the next afternoon I had convinced my mother to buy me my very own copy. Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip impacted me so deeply that I also acquired baggy denim overalls and brightly-hued bandanas.
Those interests have passed, but my love for the nasal, confident rhymes of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes haven’t. As I get older, the group’s socially conscious, feminist views resonate even more. With piano-laden bridges and frequent record scratching, the album’s production has a distinctly ‘90s sound. And an added bonus? I actually understand what “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg” means.
