ON THE LIFE AND LOSS OF LISA "LEFT EYE" LOPES/N.I.N.A.

Death has a profound way of compelling us to reflect upon life. Such reflections evoke memories... I recall being an Atlanta, Georgia radio DJ when TLC hit the music scene. Les Chanteuses Africaines, is my favorite FM creation. It celebrates the musical and literary voices of Black women. I remember upsetting local fans by initially refusing to feature TLC songs in my rotation. I simply was not a fan of their debut work. I felt that their music and image were too juvenile for the sophisticated and eclectic mix of my specialty music show. I regarded their first CD as "bubble gum" and jokingly referred to them as "Three Little Children".

I quickly repented publicly for my sins when TLC released their second CD "CrazySexyCool". I immediately adored that CD and the maturity of their revamped images. T-Boz's sultry voice was sexy, jazzy, and fresh. I began to refer to them as "Three Lovely Chanteuses". I was hooked on TLC belatedly, but I am hooked eternally.

When I heard the news of Lisa Lope's tragic death, I felt a recurring sense of guilt and regret about my delayed fondness for TLC's magic. Ironically, I had just referred to Lisa in a recent column [See R. KELLY: BUMPING & GRINDING ON BABIES herein]. I spoke only of her youthfulness then. I speak about her entire persona now...

I admired Lisa primarily for her strength. Like Tupac, she was always real. Her flagrant rebel spirit and tangible personal power were never tamed or tainted by the superficiality or phoniness of fame. Lisa candidly spoke her mind about her troubled childhood, her family, her anger, her feuds, and even her love life. She always spoke genuinely from her heart, without censor and without apology. This is what made her human. Celebrity has a peculiar way of dehumanizing most persons. The celebrities who defy that cookie-cutterish marketing and dare to remain sincerely emotional and shamelessly imperfect are the ones we adore most.

I remember the night Lisa allegedly torched the home she shared with Andre Rison. I was also an Atlanta talk radio host then. My show Outlook features radical talk for revolutionary intellectuals. It aired daily from 1-4 p.m. That day after the fire, I upset callers by banning any discussion of Lisa and Andre's headline brawl. It was a legendary act. To date, it is the only discussion that I have ever banned from any of my raw rebel radio broadcasts. I never felt that Lisa deserved to be solely scapegoated for the escalation of that incident. Atlanta's media grapevines buzzed with rumors about pending foreclosures on that property etc... I believe that Andre was Lisa's soulmate. But, I knew Andre was no angel.

At that time, I was silently enduring an extremely abusive relationship of my own. I had a deep empathy for Lisa and Andre. I was fortunate and grateful that my own feuds were not local headline news at that time. I could not see Lisa as simple fodder for my broadcast that day. That incident made her a kindred warrior spirit. I could not conduct a chat fest on someone who seemed so similarly human. Lisa's humanity always surpassed her celebrity. That made her feel like family. Generally, Lisa was regarded as a baby sister, a daughter, a cousin, or a home girl to every one of her fans. Sometimes wild, but always beloved. And, I just couldn't put family business in the street, over the airwaves that day...

I remember the duct tape over Lisa's mouth in the video for TLC's song "Creepin". Lisa admitted that she hated the lyrics in that song which celebrates cheating on a lover. That tape was a typically stylish and rebellious act of protest. Lisa seemed to revere monogamy as I do [See MONOGAMY BLUES herein]. No matter how painful or volatile the relationship or how fiery the lovers' quarrels. When you truly love someone, raging emotional fires always seem worth walking through, even when you exit with nothing more than severe burns, that leave permanent scars.

Most people, especially celebrities, seem so easily satiated by money and fame. Lisa never seemed typically lulled into that false sense of apolitical contentment that seduces and silences most persons. She always seemed to be visibly searching for so much more than money and worship. And, she seemed to have recently found it in a new spirituality. Lisa had begun to visibly glow. Eyes are the windows to the soul. Lisa's eyes recently began to look very different, deeper, calmer, and happier. Her spiritual maturity had begun to manifest itself physically. Lately, the light that had always shone from her, seemed to shine brighter, each time I heard her speak or saw her photograph.

These shockingly final images of Lisa are as haunting as Aliyah's final video for her song "Rock the Boat". At the close of that video, Aliyah ascends towards a bright light, as she exits a pool of water. It is prophetic visual imagery that seems to capture her actual transition from earth. Lisa's spirit seemed to transcend earth just as visibly, in her eyes, voice, and visage. Lisa seemed to peacefully progress to another place, even beyond Honduras, long before the sudden and violent death of her physical body.

I will remember Lisa as a rebel, a womanist, an artist, a rapper, and a real sista. She was a princess who became a queen. She was an adoptive mother and a chef. She was the genius behind TLC. Her composition "Waterfalls" proved that Lisa was also a poet.

It is so tragic to deal with so much loss at once. The ache of Aliyah's death has not yet dulled, and now the pain of losing Lisa aches anew...I hope that Lisa's family investigates her death as quickly and diligently as Aliyah's family has done. If my relative died in such a remote place, I would have to know every single detail of every single facet of her life in the months before this fatal accident. I would be driven to ask and answer questions like: Did Lisa have any enemies? Had Lisa become personally or professionally involved with any dangerous or evil persons? How/why was Lisa the only person wounded in this accident? Was this accident fate or orchestrated by foes?...I live in a world where real enemies are a constant threat and conspiracies are a constant reality...

I pray that there was no foul play in Lisa's death. I know that we all have birth dates and death dates that are destined. I know that Lisa's body died while housing an evolved spirit. I know that her spirit lives eternally. Lisa will shine forever in a superior place that is worthy of her unique and unforgettable light...

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