Inside TLC's Game-Changing Album 'CrazySexyCool'

Band: TLC
Album: CrazySexyCool
Label: LaFace Records/BMG
Release Date: 15 November 1994 (North American release)

2o years ago, American girl group TLC created a complete game-changer with their second album CrazySexyCool.

On the record, the Atlanta-formed trio of Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins, Lisa ‘Left-Eye’ Lopes and Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas continued what they had started on 1992’s Ooooooohhh… On The TLC Tip — girl-power anthems, with strong, unique messages, and a cool, funky, real and at times, humourous vibe. But everything on CrazySexyCool was heightened: the production, style, creativity, message, sex appeal. The album was built around the concept that Lopes was the ‘Crazy’, Thomas the ‘Sexy’ and Watkins the ‘Cool’, but that there was a hint of all three traits in each of the ladies.

It moved away from the new jack swing, hip hop-oriented style of their debut and embraced R&B and pop further than the group had before, moving with the tone of music at that time. New jack swing, in particular, really began to disappear from the airwaves around ’94, as slickly-produced R&B from newbies like Aaliyah, Brandy and Usher emerged and older-hats like Jodeci and R.Kelly welcomed the new trend. Even hip hop, while still gangsta and hardcore thanks to 2Pac, N.W.A and the like, started to further embrace its softer side, as rappers (most notably Snoop Dogg and Notorious B.I.G.) incorporated more R&B vocalists on their tracks.

"I wasn’t down with cheating on your man, you know, for me, it’s be faithful. Trust me, I fought against that single coming out." - Lisa 'Left-Eye' Lopes

CrazySexyCool made huge leaps for women in music, especially for African-American artists and smashed records in the US and across the world. CrazySexyCool was the first album by a female group to be certified diamond (10 million units sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America. To date, only the Dixie Chicks have done the same. It has sold over 23 million copies internationally and is the second highest-selling album worldwide by a girl group behind the Spice Girls and 1996’s Spice. The album was nominated for six Grammy Awards (two of which it won) as well as multiple American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards and Soul Train Music Awards.

Given the behind-the-scenes dramas that were affecting the ladies during the making and immediate aftermath of CrazySexyCool, its success and legacy is even more impressive. Rapper Lopes made headlines during the album’s production after she burnt down her then-boyfriend, NFL star Andre Rison’s mansion during a domestic dispute. Lopes avoided jail time, but spent several months in a special substance abuse program and had to venture back and forth from rehab to the studio to make her contributions to the album.

The ladies’ had also recently split with former manager Perri ‘Pebbles’ Reid. Though TLC would soon be dealing directly with Reid again not long after the release of CrazySexyCool — they filed for bankruptcy midway through 1995, claiming she had mismanaged their funds and that their label LaFace owed them a significant amount of money.

The album was led by single, Creep, which went on to become TLC’s first Billboard number one. The track, produced and written by frequent TLC collaborator Dallas Austin, told the tale of cheating from the perspective of a woman who does the dirty on her man as a direct retaliation to his infidelities.

Interestingly, Lopes was not a fan of the message in the song. “I was totally, 100% against Creep,” Lopes said in an interview for Vh1.

“I wasn’t down with cheating on your man, you know, for me, it’s be faithful. Trust me, I fought against that single coming out. You know, I was like if a girl is gonna catch her man cheating, this was my thing, instead of telling her to cheat back, why don’t we tell her [to] just leave.”

It went on to win TLC their first Grammy award in ‘96 for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and is undoubtedly one of the group’s signature songs.

Two other singles to fall off CrazySexyCool were Red Light Special and Diggin’ On You, both produced and written by R&B slow-jam king Babyface, who had also worked with TLC on their debut album. Both tracks, in particular, Red Light Special took the maturity and sex appeal of Creep and turned up the heat. Lyrics like “I’ll let you touch it if you’d like to go down/I’ll let you go further if you take the southern route” were risqué but it’s wasn’t like fans weren’t used to that from TLC. There was, however, something a lot more serious about the suggestion on Red Light Special than say the tongue-in-cheek of ’92 single Ain’t Too Proud To Beg. Like a lot of the album, Red Light Special and Diggin’ On You followed the winning formula of Watkins leading on the verse and Thomas, who was referred to as the “straight R&B” of the group, taking over the reigns at the bridge and adlibbing towards the end. Watkins’ raspy, low vocal, which music producer Jermaine ‘JD’ Dupri encouraged her to embrace, really came into its own on TLC’s second album.

The slow jams on CrazySexyCool continued through the sultry Let’s Do It Again (also produced by Babyface) and the Thomas-led night-cap Take Our Time, which was another one of Austin’s tracks. But the ladies proved that they didn’t need to spell out sex in order to be sexy. This was evident on the Prince cover If I Was Your Girlfriend. The enticing, pounding opening beat motions into the lyrical heartache and yearning of the song. Add Watkins’ rarely before heard falsetto and it made for a slinky, sweet combination.

CrazySexyCool also showed that making a statement was still as important as ever to TLC, even if the condom-laced overalls of ’92 were gone. As a young kid the lyrics and socially conscious messages of single Waterfalls (it addressed drug dealing, safe sex, promiscuity and HIV/AIDS) were a practically lost on me, but there was no denying how catchy and simplistic it was in its arrangement. The track was and still is a perfect pop song – it tells a story, builds and offers a contrast to the conflict it faces. One of the only two tracks off the album to be produced by Atlanta-based hip hop production trio Organized Noise, it also featured a little known singer by the name of Cee-Lo Green on backing vocals. The song also embraced the ever-growing trend of that time to combine rap with smooth R&B and melodic vocals, further pushing that style into the mainstream.

One of Waterfalls’ main topics, HIV/Aids, was still quite taboo in the early ‘90s and to have the subject of it feature in a commercial, radio-friendly hit was practically unheard of at the time. “We used to have so many [HIV] patients come up [to us] and say thanks for being our voice and getting the message out there to let people know how easily this is contracted,” Watkins said about the song in a 2013 interview.

The song spent seven weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and is the group’s biggest selling single to date.