The TLC singer visited T.I.’s “ExpediTIously” podcast and said she needed to clarify a few comments her friend Jermaine Dupri made about her voice.
T.I.‘s ExpediTIously podcast has grown into a mega-hit. The rapper has interviewed dozens of his fellow artists and industry professionals, including his good friend Jermaine Dupri. Back in April, the So So Def mogul stopped by ExpediTIously and discussed all things music, including a tidbit about how he seemed to be responsible for TLC’s T-Boz singing in a lower register. T-Boz and Dupri have known each other for decades, but the singer recently made an appearance alongside her groupmate Chilli to clear up a few things.
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“The other day when J.D. was on your show, and the reason I have to say it here is because it was said here, some things were very inaccurate,” T-Boz said. “It was like a revision of history… And the thing about my story is, I have proof because facts are facts.” The singer added that in her previously released book, she “gave J.D. props or what he really did.”
Then, she cleared up what she said were misconceptions of the truth. T-Boz explained that way back before she met Jermaine Dupri she “was rocking the low notes at 17-years-old” when she was in a group called Second Nature with Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, prior to them meeting Chilli. “It wasn’t like [Durpi] looked at me and was like, ‘Oh, this blonde girl, I’mma make her sound deep. The reason he knew I could sing deep is because the night that I sang in the audition, I was singing deep and I sang Guy then.”
“I was afraid to do that as my thing,” said T-Boz. However, after she auditioned for someone else, she was introduced to Dupri. “That’s what made him put me on Kris Kross’s demo, because he heard me doing it already.” Dupri allegedly encouraged her to “feel comfortable” with her voice during a time in music when women didn’t sound like her gravely deeper tone.
T-Boz said that she’s not mad at Dupri for his story because they’re like siblings. She added that she didn’t want to have to clarify anything about it on T.I.‘s podcast, but with all of the things she’s endured in the industry, she had to stand her ground. You can watch T-Boz and Chilli on ExpediTIously below. They jump into the Dupri drama at the beginning.