CyberTLC Exclusive Interview With Crooked I – April 11, 2003
What did you think when you heard Left Eye was working with Tha Row considering she was more pop/mainstream? I was excited man because I respect her work, I respect her creativity and I figured she would bring something to the label, ya know what I’m sayin’? I was happy to hear that.
Did you think she was down to earth? Very down to earth. That really surprised me the first time I met her, how down to earth she was. TLC is one of the biggest female groups ever, right? To see somebody in our label and get to know her as a person and know that they are very down to earth. You can talk to them and they’ll listen to what you gotta say. That was real surprising especially in Hollywood. You know how Hollywood people can be. She was very down to earth.
How was NINA different than Left Eye? How different……I don’t think it was a character. You know how people have two or three sides to themselves. I think that the Death Row outlet let her express herself in a different way that she may not be able to express herself as Left Eye from TLC.
How many tracks did NINA record? Was she officially signed with Tha Row? Of course I’m not CEO of the label so I don’t know what the paperwork looked like but as far as her recording songs with Tha Row, she recorded a lot of songs. That’s how we do it at Tha Row, we just work. We don’t take time for granted. We get in there and we put in the work that we feel is gonna be necessary to make something the consumers wanna hear. We may record 50 songs just to make one album with 13-17 tracks on it. So yeah she recorded a lot of songs.
Have you heard anything about a NINA single or album? Yeah! We got a song that she recorded for the soundtrack we just did ‘Dysfunktional Family.’ That right there will be out April 22. Plus pretty soon we’re gonna put the [NINA] album out and we’re gonna give proceeds to her family and they’re gonna go to building a hospital in Honduras. I think they were trying to build one in Honduras.
How will Tha Row promote the NINA project with no videos or photos? We have photos. I think it’ll be promoted in the right way. Whatever makes her look how she’s supposed to. That’s what we wanna keep in mind. We wanna promote her the way she would want to be to our best capability.
Word has it Lisa and Suge were dating while she was at Tha Row. What did you think of the two of them together? I mean….I don’t know, ya know what I’m sayin’? To me it appeared to be the same relationship that’s with all the artists we have. That’s the reason why we come to Tha Row – because we can talk directly to the CEO, which is Suge, and if we’re in traffic we can hit him on his cell phone. There’s not many labels out there where you can talk to the CEO and owner of the label anytime of day, anytime you want to talk about things other than business. So that’s the relationship that all the artists have, and to me it was the same thing.
Did Lisa ever freestyle in the studio? How long did it take her to record tracks? It didn’t take long. She was very professional about her music. She’d come in there and light candles and knock it out real quick, no problem. No problem! It didn’t take long. We used to freestyle and rap back and forth all the time. You know how artists do. She definitely….you could tell that she has those [freestyle] capabilities just off of listening to the written. If the written is real sharp then you know they’re capable of freestyle. Believe that.
What do you think of Lisa as a lyricist? I thought she was hot. I always listened to everything. Matter of a fact the other day I was listening to the one she did with Donell Jones [“U Know What’s Up.”] I just really respected her lyrics man. If you hear what she had to say there were thoughts behind it. A lot of emcees these days don’t have a lot of thought behind what they’re doin’. Whatever’s goin’ on for the moment – that’s what they’re gonna rap about. It was a lot of thought behind the lyrics so that’s what made me really, really, really dig her style and her raps. Plus she can flow man! Her delivery was crazy! She had rhythm. Uncanny rhythm.
Did you prefer Left Eye’s style or NINA’s style as a lyricist? As far as lyrics go I appreciate both. Once again she’s a lyricist to me. Just because you like lyrics that don’t make you a lyricist in my opinion. If you’ve got passion and thought process behind your lyrics and you’re painting your picture in a way that’s artistic then you’re a lyricist to me. And she was that. I appreciated both of ’em. I didn’t prefer one over the other.
Did Lisa help any labelmates write tracks or did they help her? I don’t know if she helped write. I know I helped her write a few other times. Eastwood helped her. We all just help each other. That’s definitely one thing that we did. I know I helped her write a few songs. Like I said man it was a pleasure because you can take your ink pen and piece of paper elsewhere and just create. You have a lot of elbow room to create whenever Lisa was around.
Did she like you writing for her? If she didn’t want me to write, I wouldn’t ya know what I’m sayin’? [laughs] If she didn’t want it, guaranteed she would tell you “Hey, I don’t want you writin’ that for me or helpin’ me write.” She’s not gonna pull no punches. We’d collaborate and vibe and come up with somethin’ dope. That’s the bottom line, comin’ up with something dope.
Which other artists on Tha Row worked with NINA? Eastwood. Danny Boy. And Spyder.
Do you remember any song titles for the NINA project? Will they be released? Yeah we’re supposed to release ’em. Like I said we did that one and some of the remakes. We did one called “2 Street 4 TV.” Then we have one that’s untitled. I wanted to title it “Hot Grits.” Catchin’ your man cheatin’ on you and then she just throws the hot grits on him! Like the Al Green thing. We worked on a few things and some of them will be out. I have no idea when they’re gonna release them.
Did you work on any of the remixed Supernova songs Tha Row talked about doing? I did. I had the pleasure to get down with her on a couple of those. She had one called “Universal Quest” where it was talkin’ about religion. I got down on that one. Which I was happy to do because I’m one of those cats who study a lot of different religions and read a lot of ancient history so that was real fun for me. I also did another one, I can’t remember the title of it but….we did man. I think the people are gonna like it and appreciate it. I think all the fans are gonna really get into it and appreciate it. Like I said man it’s for a good cause – her family and the hospitals being built. That type of thing she was on.
What’s your favorite Left Eye or NINA track? My favorite Left Eye song was that Donell Jones one. She came on there spittin’! I really dug that one man. I play that one all the time. It’s like a cool song to get up and clean up your house to. [laughs]
Where were you heard Lisa had passed away? What went through your head? I was in Atlanta. I just landed. I went to my room, somebody called me and told me and it really, really, really disturbed me because what I wanted to do…..I was on a plane. I’m like “OK I’ma land in Atlanta….” And I didn’t know she was in Honduras, you know what I mean? I thought she was in Atlanta. So I was thinking to myself, “I’ve got this song that I’ve been workin’ on that I wanted her to work on with me and stuff.” So I’m just goin’ in my mind about the things I’m gonna do when I land, and that was definitely part of my schedule was like “Yo I gotta hook up with Lisa, so we can work on this song and all this.” And then when I landed and I went to the hotel room, before I could even get settled in somebody called my room and told me. It just disturbed me man. I just sat in the room for about 30 minutes with the TV and the radio off and I just sat there cuz I couldn’t believe it. I wanted it to be a wild rumor, but the person that told me was a real source so I was like “Wow.” It really affected me, man.
Did you make a negative remark about Lisa’s driving in a song? Nah. You know what that is. Chino XL, he raps. He made some kind of comment on a song that I was on. We didn’t record those things at the same time. After I heard his comment that I felt was negative – I addressed him and the producer of the track and told ’em that shit ain’t cool. I basically banged on the producer. If I would’ve known that he was gon’ get on the song and make some type of comment of that nature then I would’ve never been on the song. Ya feel me?
What was your fondest memory of her? My fondest memory is probably when she introduced me to Dr. Sebi. That’s the doctor that she was always talkin’ about. Me, her and him we just sat around and talked about different herbal teas and living holistic health and all that. That’s probably it right there because we just sat there for hours and hours talkin’ about that. I kept it with me, even after she passed away I still do the same things that we discussed that I would be doin’. She was concerned about the artists being healthy and eating right. So that’s probably it right there.
How do you remember Lisa? I’m gonna remember her forever. She brought something to the label that was needed as far as creativity on a different level.
When was the last time you saw Lisa and what were you doing. I’m sittin’ in this chair right now in this office. And she came by me in this exact chair that I’m sittin’ in and she told me we’re havin’ a get together. We’re gonna cook and have some fun. I’ll hit you and give you the information. And she walked down the hall. I think that’s the last time I seen her. And I’m sittin’ in this same chair. That’s spooky.
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