Crazysexycool - TLC (CD 1994)

You know, I'm tempted to lower my rating of TLC's "Crazysexycool" simply by virtue of the fact that the legacy the group has left is something of a fallacy. I'll backtrack for a second: before there was Destiny's Child, before there were Spice Girls, there was T-Boz, Left Eye and Chilli, three girls who sang and rapped about the virtues of everything from safe sex to female independence. See, the thing is...uh...most of those songs were written by guys. Despite being discovered and managed by B-level R&B singer Pebbles, most of the heavy lifting was done by Pebbles' ex-husband, L.A. Reid, his partner Babyface, and producer Dallas Austin. The only real female creative force on the TLC team was mercurial, hot-tempered rapper Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes. Not only was Lopes one of the creative masterminds behind the group, she was an underrated MC. Without Lopes' rhymes, which could jump from lighthearted to tightly wound in a heartbeat, TLC would be just another prefabricated girl group.

It's hard to argue with the statistical success of "Crazysexycool". Released at the tail end of 1994, the album won a pair of Grammy Awards, spawned four top five singles (including two #1's), and although it's not a rap album per se, is the biggest selling hip-hop derived album of all time, certified 10X Platinum. The album has held up well over the years, although it's hard not to get the "overrated" taste out of your mouth after repeated listens.

There was definitely a sense of TLC's image being toned down with this, their second release. The girls slammed on the scene as a female answer to the sexually provocative Bell Biv DeVoe, with a mix of singing and rapping that was as loud and colorful as their fashion sense. Baggy, day-glo colored clothes, funky hats, and the infamous condom over Left Eye's, uh...left eye had become trademarks in the wake of their 1992 debut album. Two years later, much of that had vanished (perhaps they were a little shocked when BBD belly-flopped with their follow up?). There was significantly less Left Eye (meaning, obviously, less of a hip-hop element) on this album than on the previous one, and the production (from an all star cast) is much cleaner and poppier. Right down to the revealing designer clothes they were now wearing, this was a somewhat different TLC.

Vocally, let's just say that the girls weren't En Vogue (check out T-Boz veering way off-key several times during "Creep"). However, the girls made up in vocal chemistry what they lacked in skill. T-Boz's scratchy rasp was the perfect complement to Chilli's breathy, girlish singing style. Add in Left Eye's nasal, free associative asides, and the result was a winner, even if you occasionally winced at the bad notes that were prominent throughout the album.

Stylistically, "Crazysexycool" lived up to it's title, boasting an eclectic group of sounds that cut across several musical genres. The most out-there cuts are the best ones. "Waterfalls" is a hit now best known for it's VMA-sweeping video clip, but the song's cautionary message holds up well even without the visual effect. Over a slow-cooked Southern groove that sounds like it could have been made twenty years before (heavy on the wah-wah guitar), the girls soberly sing about two doomed characters (a kid destined to a life of crime, another who unfortunately ends up a victim of AIDS), while Left Eye closes the song with a stunning rap that sounds like a prayer to save her own doomed soul:

"I seen a rainbow yesterday, but too many storms
Have come and gone, leaving a trace of not one God-given ray/Is it because my life is ten shades of grey?
I pray all ten fade away, seldom praise Him for the sunny days"

After all this time, it's still a deeply affecting track, but it's topped by the album closer, "Sumthin' Wicked This Way Comes". "Crazysexycool" was released in the thick of the "grunge" era, and the sludgy guitars and slow-as-molasses pace of this song had to be inspired by that particular musical movement. Left Eye's rap (this time, delivered in a spoken-word cadence) is solid, but she's trumped by a red-hot opening verse from OutKast's Andre 3000. His 16 bars touch on everything from ghetto life to selling out, even throwing in a sideways jab at the King of Pop ("...like that sellout/Not calling no names but really who's bad?"). It's a dark, somewhat unsettling end to the album.

In between, there's plenty to like. The bouncy "Kick Your Game" has the girls hilariously fending off pickup lines, while "Switch" finds Lopes breezily replacing a no-good man with the chant "Erase/Replace/Embrace/New Face". Over a sample of Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff", getting dumped never sounded so good-or so funny. While the insistent "Case Of The Fake People" could be considered a sequel to their first album's "What About Your Friends", the message (which is fairly self-explanatory) is still timely. This song actually has a bit more sting than "Friends" likely due to the fact that there were likely many fake friends coming out of the woodwork after their initial success.

Two years before, it would have been hard to picture TLC recording slow jams in typical R&B fashion. They give it the old college try on this album, but those songs end up being the most flavor-deficient on the album. "Diggin' On You" and "Let's Do It Again" are fairly anonymous Babyface compositions, and aside from a bit of heavy breathing on the latter track, both fall flat. "Red Light Special" is somewhat more successful, thanks to the titular offer, a metaphor I still haven't figured out, and a sexy guitar solo. The album's biggest trainwreck, however, is a Puff Daddy-produced remake of Prince's "If I Was Your Girlfriend". While this wasn't their first attempt at redoing a Prince classic (they successfully remade The Time's "Get It Up" in between their first two albums), this time they should have left well enough alone. Not only is their rendition both vocally and musically flaccid, the mind-f*ck of the original version was that Prince (a guy) was singing (in a bizarre, gender-ambiguous voice) about what things would be like if he were his girlfriend's female best friend. TLC turns it into a completely anonymous, somewhat sappy love song. It definitely should go down in history as one of the most ill-advised cover versions ever recorded.

As with most R&B and hip-hop albums made during this period, "Crazysexycool" is interlude-heavy. Contrary to most R&B and hip-hop albums made during this period, the interludes here are actually enjoyable. They range from a breezy rap from A Tribe Called Quest's Phife Dawg (reprising his verse from Tribe's "Oh My God") to a screaming, testifying contest featuring Left Eye and a typically animated Busta Rhymes, to some silly bathroom humor from Chilli. They're fun and charming and manage to stop just short of becoming annoying.

"Crazysexycool"'s status as a classic is a little wobbly, especially in light of other R&B albums that came out during the same period (like Mary J. Blige's "My Life", which was released a week before it), but it's still a good album, and by FAR TLC's best. Smoothing down their hip-hop influence while still retaining a youthful vibe (and being a little experimental at the same time)m this is the rare hip-hop/R&B album that should appeal equally to fans of both genres.

"Crazysexycool" by TLC
Released 1994 on LaFace/Arista Records
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars