Lisa Lopes
Supernova

The testament of one of the greatest rappers and interpreters of all time. Or at least of the often drab and uninspiring American urban scene. We are talking about "Supernova", one of my favorite albums, and the only solo studio album by Lisa Lopes, known to most as Left Eye, rapper of the legendary 90s R&B group TLC (a band unfortunately known here in Italy almost solely for the hit "No Scrubs"). Testament because, indeed, it was released just a few months before the tragic death of the singer in Honduras, at only 30 years old, due to a car accident. An apocalyptic life, that of the young rapper with black blood. First, the financial problems with the band, the illness of her colleague and friend Chilli Thomas, and finally, before her premature death, the fire set to the home of her ex-boyfriend Andre Rison, an American sports superstar.

It all started from a sort of bet with the other girlz of the group... managing to release a solo album while maintaining her own stylistic integrity already proven in the decade-long militancy in TLC, but attempting to explore new sounds and thus redefine a new musical identity. An ambitious project by Lopes in which she also invested her historic record label, ARISTA (which has in its roster other talents of black music like Whitney Houston, Usher and Babyface). Meticulously crafted and at times pioneering productions, like those by Rocwilder, Rick Rock, Twin Dragon, and collaborations of excellence and research including the one with Carl Thomas in "Life is like a park," the one with Angela Hunt in "True confessions," although the highlight turns out to be the posthumous duet between Lopes and the undisputed guru of black music (also defined as the Kurt Cobain of rap) 2Pac.

Many are the peculiarities of this artist, the most notable are certainly the unmistakable metric and her typically south flow, though always faithful to funk. Ultimately a sort of last bastion of this controversial musical genre in a precarious balance, to perhaps make a daring comparison between Lauryn Hill and Kelis Rogers. Among the most noteworthy tracks, it is certainly necessary to highlight the up-tempo rap HOT!, the first single and thus the trailblazer of this record project THE BLOCK PARTY and finally the last track of the album, A NEW STAR IS BORN with the collaboration of Tandi Forman (which, by the way, a small great treat, contains a sample of "Better Things" by Massive Attack).

A career unfortunately cut short by a too premature death, but that shone incessantly without ever losing style (the only decidedly TRASH note is the duet of Lisa Lopes a few years ago in "Never be the same again", a not bad song, but alas, performed in duo with Mel C of the Spice Girls).

A commendable CD, for lovers of the genre and not... definitely worth listening to.