Lisa Nicole Lopes (May 27, 1971 – April 25, 2002), better known by her stage name Left Eye, was an American rapper and singer. She was a member of the R&B girl group TLC, alongside Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas. Besides rapping and singing backing vocals on TLC recordings, Lopes was one of the creative forces behind the group, receiving more co-writing credits than the other members. She also designed the outfits and staging for the group and contributed to the group's image, album titles, artworks, and music videos. Through her work with TLC, Lopes won four Grammy Awards.
During her brief solo career, Lopes scored two US top 10 singles with "Not Tonight" and "U Know What's Up", as well as one UK number-one single with "Never Be the Same Again", the latter a collaboration with Melanie C of the British girl group Spice Girls. She also produced another girl group, Blaque, who scored a platinum album and two US top 10 hits. Lopes remains the only member of TLC to have released a solo album.
Lopes spent much of her free time after the conclusion of TLC's first headlining tour, the FanMail Tour, recording her debut solo album, Supernova. It includes a song titled "A New Star is Born", which is dedicated to her late father. Other tracks covered other personal issues, including her tumultuous relationship with Rison. Among the album's 13 tracks was also a posthumous duet with Tupac Shakur that was assembled from the large cache of unreleased recordings done prior to his murder in 1996.
After numerous talks with Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, Lopes severed her solo deal with Arista (despite remaining signed to the label as a member of TLC) and signed with Knight's Death Row Records in January 2002, intending to record a second solo album under the pseudonym "N.I.N.A." (New Identity Not Applicable).
On April 25, 2002, Lopes was killed in a car crash while on vacation and shooting a documentary about charity work in Honduras. The vehicle she was in swerved off the road. The documentary was released as The Last Days of Left Eye and aired on VH1 in May 2007.
The close friendship between Tupac Shakur and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes has been well-documented. The similarities between the two were undeniable: both were creative forces constantly in search of their spiritual purpose, yet had rebellious tendencies. The energy between the two was so dynamic that there was a love triangle of sorts that also involved Left Eye’s longtime partner, Andre Rison.
Karyn Parsons Rockwell (born October 8, 1966) is an American actress, author and comedian. She is best known for her role as Hilary Banks on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1990 to 1996. Parsons also starred in the 1995 film Major Payne opposite Damon Wayans, and in The Job (2001–2002) as Toni.
Parsons was born in Los Angeles, California. In an interview for Essence in 2008, she described her parentage as biracial. Her mother, Louise Parsons, is African American from Charleston, South Carolina and her father, Kenneth B. Parsons, is British American of English and Welsh descent and from Butte, Montana. She attended Santa Monica High School. Karyn had a good relationship with Tupac in the early 90's at the time when it wasn't known to the public.
Jewell Caples (June 12, 1968 – May 6, 2022), better known as Jewell was an American contemporary R&B singer best known for her work with Death Row Records in the early 1990s. She was called the "First Lady of Death Row Records. From 1992 to 1997, Jewell provided vocals on albums from various Death Row artists such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and 2Pac, in addition to motion picture soundtracks produced by the label. Her biggest solo success was her 1994 cover of Shirley Brown's song "Woman to Woman", which peaked at #72 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #16 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Jewell was among many artists who departed Death Row between 1998 and 1999 due to financial and legal issues involving CEO Suge Knight and her singing career wound down in the 2000s. In October 2011, she published the memoir My Blood My Sweat My Tears, in which she claimed that her past association with Knight prevented her from gaining another recording deal. An accompanying soundtrack to the book was released. Jewell had a solid friendship with Tupac and was featured on the song Thug Passion for the All Eyez on Me album.
Lashelle Danee is from the city of Compton, a comedian and relative of Suge Knight. She was a close friend of Jewell and Tupac Shakur. She made an appearance on his music video Pour Out A Little Liquor and according to her she was the one driving the yellow colored Chevy Impala in the music video To Live and Die in L.A.
Kidada Ann Jones (born March 22, 1974) is an American actress, model, and fashion designer. Jones works as a designer for The Walt Disney Company, where she has a line known as Kidada for Disney Couture. Jones is the daughter of record producer Quincy Jones and actress Peggy Lipton.
Jones was born in Los Angeles, California. She is Jewish on her mother's side, and African-American on her father's side. Lipton's parents were Harold Lipton, a corporate lawyer, and Rita Benson, an artist. Kidada Jones began working as a celebrity stylist for her father's publication Vibe magazine. She gained attention when she styled pop star Michael Jackson for the cover of Vibe in 1995. She was recruited by designer Tommy Hilfiger, who launched a successful ad campaign centered on Jones and a group of her friends (including Aaliyah, Tamia, Kate Hudson, Nicole Richie, and Oliver Hudson). She worked as his muse for eight years. Since 2005, Jones has been working with The Walt Disney Company, designing for Kidada for Disney Couture.
Jones dated rapper and actor LL Cool J from 1992 to 1994. In his autobiography, I Make My Own Rules, LL Cool J stated that he ended their relationship because they "didn't believe the same things."She praised a guru and statues, and I praise God," he said. Jones also dated rapper and actor Tupac Shakur in 1996. She was at their Las Vegas hotel room when he was shot on September 7, 1996 and she was at the hospital with Shakur when he ultimately died from his injuries six days later.
Kenya Ware is a film producer and costume designer. She did a interview for Rolling Out in 2016 and mentioned that she stayed in Atlanta for eight years but claims that she's an LA girl, bonafide 100%. I’m a Baldwin Hills girl; half and half LA. Kenya has a daughter with Daz Dillinger of Tha Dogg Pound who is first cousin to Snoop Dogg. She got her start shopping for Death Row Records on all of the artist videos. When Tupac arrived on Death Row Kenya and Daz threw a welcome home party. According to her, they recently recorded the song Got My Mind Made Up. Kenya over the years has done many interviews on the Art of Dialogue channel.
Mariah Carey born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Songbird Supreme" by Guinness World Records, she is noted for her songwriting, five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whistle register. An influential figure in popular music, Carey is credited with influencing vocal styles, merging hip-hop with pop through her collaborations and popularizing remixes. She has also been dubbed the "Queen of Christmas" for the enduring popularity of her holiday music, particularly the 1994 song "All I Want for Christmas Is You", which is the best-selling holiday song by a female artist.
Mariah Carey recalls a time when Tupac Mesmerized her at the 23rd Annual American Music Awards.
Women Relationships
Jasmine Guy (born March 10, 1962) is an American actress, director, singer and dancer. She is known for her role as Dina in the 1988 film School Daze and as Whitley Gilbert-Wayne on the NBC The Cosby Show spin-off A Different World, which originally ran from 1987 to 1993. Guy won four consecutive NAACP Image Awards from 1990 through 1993 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on the show. She played Roxy Harvey on Dead Like Me and as Sheila "Grams" Bennet on The Vampire Diaries. More recently, she played the role of Gemma, Richard Webber’s friend and potential love interest on Grey's Anatomy.
Jasmine had a close friendship with rapper Tupac Shakur. They had met during his guest appearance on the sitcom A Different World in 1993. Shakur recuperated at Guy's home after he was shot in 1994. Jasmine appeared in his music video "Temptations" and later wrote his mother's biography, Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary in 2004.
Keisha Morris, the ex-wife of Tupac Shakur, was born on the 10th of July 1974, in The Bronx neighborhood of New York. Keisha went to school until college and studied for a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice at John Jay College. She chose to study Criminal Justice probably because she wanted to help the most vulnerable in her community to know their rights and fight for justice. But unfortunately, there are no details about the origins she worked for after graduating college. Having been immersed in the entertainment field by her ex-husband, Keisha discovered that she could create an impact of her own. That is how she got involved in preserving the memory of Tupac by educating young people interested in becoming artists.
Keisha has tried to remain low-key after the death of Tupac, but some of her engagements have given her the public limelight she shies away from. Keisha was only 20 years old when she met Tupac for the first time. Their first encounter was at a nightclub in New York, where they exchanged contacts. After that, they started seeing each other, but their relationship was on and off for a while. Not long after meeting, Tupac was brought on trial for rape allegations. However, Tupac’s spouse stuck by his side throughout the high-profile trial and even after his conviction. Even though they married before his sentencing, their marriage lasted only ten months, after which it was annulled shortly after Tupac's release from prison.
Keisha once revealed that she remained with Tupac through his trial even after he warned her of the repercussions. Referring to Tupac, she said, He told me 'everything I touch, I damage, I don't want you to be involved in any of this. I don't want to hurt you One of the couple's biggest challenges was that Tupac wanted Keisha to visit him in prison every day, but she found it challenging. Tupac later said the marriage was doomed to fail because he had married Keisha for the wrong reasons. They, however, remained on good terms until the death of Tupac. After the death of Tupac, Keisha found herself trapped in the entertainment industry because she felt like it was her duty to continue Tupac's legacy. Keisha loves her privacy and rarely makes public appearances. It is believed that after the annulment of her marriage with Tupac, she never remarried. Instead, she has devoted her life to honoring Tupac's memory through her work of bringing awareness to and addressing race and inequality issues.
Madonna Louise Ciccone (born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Commonly referred to as the "Queen of Pop", Madonna is noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, and visual presentation. She has pushed the boundaries of artistic expression in mainstream music, while maintaining control over every aspect of her career.
Her works, which incorporate social, political, sexual, and religious themes, have generated both controversy and critical acclaim. A prominent cultural figure in the 20th and 21st centuries, Madonna remains one of the most "well-documented figures of the modern age", with a vast amount of scholarly reviews and literature works on her, as well as an academic sub discipline devoted to her named Madonna studies.
Madonna moved to New York City in 1978 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing as a drummer, guitarist, and vocalist in the rock bands Breakfast Club and Emmy, she rose to solo stardom with her debut studio album, Madonna (1983). She followed it with a series of successful albums, including all-time bestsellers Like a Virgin (1984), True Blue (1986) and The Immaculate Collection (1990) as well as Grammy Award winners Ray of Light (1998) and Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005). Madonna has amassed many number-one singles throughout her career.
Tupac and Madonna were introduced by Rosie Perez at the Soul Train Awards in 1993 and started seeing one another. Not a ton is known about their relationship but a letter written by Tupac while he was doing time in the Clinton Correctional Facility revealed why he broke things off with the Queen of Pop. A letter dated Jan. 15, 1995.
Tupac started off the note by stating that he waited a long time to contact her because he “was struggling to find all the answers” before explaining why he ended things.
“For you to be seen with a black man wouldn’t in any way jeopardize your career, if anything it would make you seem that much more open and exciting,” Tupac wrote. “But for me at least in my previous perception, I felt due to my ‘image’ I would be letting down half of the people who made me what I thought I was… It no longer matters how I’m perceived. Please understand my previous position as that of a young man with limited experience with an extremely famous sex symbol.”
He apologized to Madonna several times in the letter and told her that he was hurt by a comment she made about being with other rappers. He also asked for her friendship again and then said something that is eerie to read today writing, “I would like to further discuss this with you but some of it couldn’t wait. I felt compelled to tell you… just in case anything happened to me.”
Mary Jane Blige (born January 11, 1971) is a singer, songwriter, rapper, and actress. Often referred to as the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, four American Music Awards, and ten Billboard Music Awards. She has been nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and two Academy Awards, including one for her supporting role in the film Mudbound (2017) and another for its original song "Mighty River", becoming the first person nominated for acting and songwriting in the same year.
Her career began in 1988 when she was signed to Uptown Records by its founder Andre Harrell. Blige then began background vocal work for other artists on the label such as Father MC and Jeff Redd. In 1992, Blige released her debut album, What's the 411?, which is credited for introducing the mix of R&B and hip hop into mainstream pop culture. Its 1993 remix album became the first album by a singer to have a rapper on every song, popularizing rap as a featuring act. Both What's the 411? and her 1994 album My Life are featured on the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, and the latter on Time magazine's All-Time 100 Albums. Throughout her career, Blige went on to release 14 studio albums, all of which have reached the top ten on the Billboard 200 chart, including four number-one albums. Her biggest hits include "Real Love", "Not Gon' Cry", "Be Without You" and the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Family Affair".
Blige has also made a successful transition to both the television and movie screens, with supporting roles in films such as Prison Song (2001), Rock of Ages (2012), Betty and Coretta (2013), Black Nativity (2013), her Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated breakthrough performance as Florence Jackson in Mudbound (2017), Trolls World Tour (2020), Body Cam (2020), The Violent Heart (2021) and co-starring as jazz singer Dinah Washington in the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect (2021). In 2019, Blige starred as Cha-Cha on the first season of the Netflix television series The Umbrella Academy. She currently stars as Monet Tejada in the spin-off of the highly rated TV drama Power in Power Book II: Ghost.
In the 1990s, Blige spent six years in a relationship with singer Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey of the R&B group Jodeci. During a 1995 interview on the UK television show The Word, Blige confirmed the two were engaged; Hailey denied that they were going to get married. Following her toxic relationship with Hailey, Blige was rumored to have got close to late rapper Tupac. According to Tupac's former bodyguard, Tupac had intervened in heated arguments between Mary and K-Ci.