TLC’s Chilli Shares That She Was Once Told Black Artists Don’t “Sell Well” On Magazine Covers: “When You Are A Woman Of Color, It’s Real Hard” [Video]

TLC singer Chilli recalls the struggles she faced during the rise of her career.

On Tuesday, Chilli became emotional at Variety’s Power of Women luncheon during TLC’s Legacy Award acceptance speech. The 52-year-old singer reminisced on the group’s most challenging times and greatest accomplishments as women of color in the music industry.

“When you are a woman of color, it’s real hard — it’s a huge struggle,” she said. “I’ll always remember when ‘No Scrubs’ came out and it was actually our first number one…I always wanted to be on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine…we didn’t get the cover. I won’t say who [got the cover], it’s okay because he deserved it too but we also did. The message was ‘the last time we had someone Black on the cover, it didn’t really sell well.’”

She continued, “I have to say that just because you hear many ‘nos’ does not mean that you don’t have the talent because you do. We never stopped believing in ourselves and each other.”

Later in her speech, Chilli highlight TLC’s longtime manager Bill Diggins and his loyalty to the group following the passing of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes.

“Bill Diggins believed in us when we were on top of the world,” she added. “And when everything happened — losing our sister — and no one believing in us anymore, thinking that it was over…he never felt like that.”

Chilli ended her remarks with mentioning that she and bandmate T-Boz will “forever keep our sister Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes’ memory alive through everything that we do.”

In addition, the trailer for the group’s upcoming two-hour documentary “TLC Forever” was shown during the luncheon, which details legacy of the iconic 90s trio.

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