Lisa Nicole Lopes (also known as "Left Eye") was born on May 27, 1971 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
She was highly thought of as a creative and spiritual rapper, singer, songwriter, friend, daughter, and sister. Her career began when she became a member of a female trio originally called Second Nature. The group eventually changed their name to TLC which represented the first initials of the three founding members, Tionne, Lisa, and Crystal. Crystal ended up not working out for the group, and singer Rozonda Thomas was brought in as the new third member. To maintain the theme of the band's name, Thomas took on the nickname "Chilli". Tionne ended up becoming T- boz, and Lisa renamed herself "Left Eye", after she was once told she had beautiful eyes,
" particularly the left eye."

TLC exploded onto the music scene in 1992 with the album 000000ohhh.... On the TLC Tip. The album sold a staggering 6 million copies worldwide and produced 3 hit singles. After a few years of touring and taking a small break, the group came back with their sophomore album, CrazySexy Cool. The project was met with critical acclaim and solidified TLC as one of the biggest female groups of all time. The album sold over 15 million copies worldwide, and was awarded with the 1996 Grammy for Best R&B album and today is considered by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the 500 greatest records of all time. TLC's third album, Fanmail was released in 1999 and was also a commercial success;

"Left Eye" was a featured rapper on several artists' records during her solo career, including Melanie C of the Spice Girls, Donell Jones, *NSYNC, and Toni Braxton. She spent much of her free time after the headlining tour of Fanmail recording her debut solo album, Supernova. The album was only released to limited territories outside the United States and is now highly sought after by hardcore TLC fans.

While working on songs for the fourth TLC album, 3D, Lisa began a spiritual retreat in Honduras, which was Lisa's "home away from home" where she went to get away from the chaos of the media and press.
Lisa wanted to film a documentary during this retreat so her fans could catch a glimpse into her life. With only a few days left of filming, Lisa was tragically killed in a car accident in La Ceiba, Honduras on April 25th, 2002. She was only 30 years old at the time of her death, one of a number of tragic young deaths in the entertainment industry that have taken great talents away from the world. Her funeral was held at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, May 2, where over 30,000 fans came from around the world came to say goodbye to the Hip-Hop and R&B icon. Engraved upon her white casket was her verse from "Waterfalls":
"Dreams are hopeless aspirations, in hopes of coming true, believe in yourself, the rest is

Basically, Anna Kendrick in Pitch Perfect 2
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De La Soul is back—but did they ever really leave? After delivering their seminal debut 3 Feet High and Rising in 1989 with the production genius of Prince Paul, the New York City-bred trio of Posdnuos (Pos), Dave and Maseo went on to further impact Hip Hop culture with five more groundbreaking albums: De La Soul Is Dead (1991), Buhloone Mindstate (1993), Stakes Is High (1996), Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000) and AOI: Bionix (2001). But once the digital age exploded in the late ‘90s, De La Soul’s celebrated catalog was unavailable to stream. As the decades passed, the tight-knit group forged ahead anyway—touring the world, connecting with their adoring fanbase and making music on their own terms. Following 2004’s The Grind Date, De La Soul took a hiatus from making albums, but joined The Gorillaz on the track “Feel Good Inc” which won them a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration.  In 2015, the group raised over $600,000 on Kickstarter from fans to independently release their album and the Anonymous Nobody, which was their first #1 on the Rap Albums chart, and was also nominated for a Best Rap Album Grammy.   

However, the demand for unreleased De La Soul music was palpable and the cry for access to the first six albums grew louder. Unfortunately, De La Soul was stuck riding a roller coaster of stalled negotiations, dashed hopes and dead-end conversations with their old label, and the group nearly gave up. 

"We have lived without the music up for long, these six albums haven’t been up—ever,” Pos says. “We got used to knowing they weren’t up.” In June of 2021, Tommy Boy Music was acquired by Reservoir, giving De La Soul’s catalog a new home.  In March of 2023, the six missing albums were finally available to stream.  But sadly, right before the catalog release, Dave, the beloved member of De La Soul, passed away. Though bittersweet, De La Soul preserves his legacy and the ongoing impact of their music. 

As iconic songs such as “The Magic Number”, found new life in the film Spiderman: No Way Home in 2021, De La Soul continues to resonate with a diverse population of people. 

As Pos notes, “We’ve noticed over the past several years of tour like, ‘Wow, there’s a father here with his child who also is here with their child. ‘We’re generational. To me, there’s nothing more gratifying than that. That means something. That’s telling about a group. What we were doing wasn’t just stuck to that time.”

“We really naturally been that group for everyone,” Pos says. “It was never about we’re just here for this community, that community, this set of people or these certain fans of Hip Hop culture. We see music as music. We’ve been very resilient, even being a group that didn’t have our music up [on streaming platforms]. We still had these beautiful opportunities through young people finding out about us through a commercial or Spider-Man. Now that it can all be there for people to gravitate to, I’m really happy about that.” 

De La Soul's impact on the musical landscape is immeasurable, with 3 Feet High and Rising widely regarded as one of the most influential albums of its era. Pioneering inventive sampling, playful lyrics, and eclectic beats, the album broke new ground and set a standard for creativity in the genre. Recognizing its cultural significance, the album was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.

Lance McLaughlin is following