#PebblesTriedIt

Hey everybody!!! This past Monday VH1 premiered Crazy, Sexy, Cool: The TLC Story and it broke network records with 4.5 million viewers.  If you read my last post you know that I was excited about this movie.  But I had no idea how much tea this movie was going to spill. 

I had watched their Behind the Music some years ago so I know that TLC was dragged through the music business.  However, it is one thing to have them talk about their struggles but it's another thing to have it portrayed in a movie.  We were shown in 2.5 hours that TLC most definitely climbed mountains while trying to rise to musical greatness. They overcame cheating boyfriends, abortions, life threatening diseases, and bankruptcy.  When I was listening to "Creep", "Waterfalls", and "What about your Friends?" I had no idea these sistas were barely holding it together.  But what really gets me is their shady manager, Pebbles.  Pebbles makes Joe Jackson look like a Disney princess.  She was ruthless.

 

The first side eye that Ms. Pebbles gets is when she told the girls they would get a $25 stipend a week.  Now I know that this was 1990 but what exactly were you getting with $25 dollars a week? Scrunchies?! Then her inner Joe Jackson came out when she was tripping about Chilli talking to Dallas Austin and then threw her out the group. I almost thought she was jealous but then I realized that she was protecting her investment because these girls were a product to her.   Every time these girls asked about their money (which they were entitled to) she would start throwing them these out of the world excuses.  These girls had #1 hits and selling millions of albums but didn't have anything to show for it but the scrunchies they were buying with their $25 stipend. 

Now let's talk about where Pebbles got bold.  Pebbles informs TLC they have a platinum selling album and instead of presenting them with fat checks she instead presents them with Rav 4s from a used car dealership.  Like, seriously?! The girls later find out that these cars was brought with their own money.  But Fruity Pebbles doesn't stop there.  T-Boz collapses at one of their shows and she is rushed to the hospital.  This is where Chilli and Left-Eye find out that T-Boz has sickle cell disease.  Instead of Pebbles showing a little compassion, she is concerned about the money that will be lost from cancelled shows.  That was her inner Ike Turner. 

The girls get fed up with being broke and go to their lawyer.  And just when you thought Fruity Pebbles couldn't be any worse, you find out that the lawyer that is representing TLC is actually Pebbles' lawyer too.  At first the lawyer tells them that he can't even talk to them about their business without Pebbles' permission.  But I guess he feels sorry for them and proceeds to school them about their "standard contract".  Money from their albums is going back to the label to pay for studio time, rehearsal time, travel, gifts, LA Reid's label, Pebbles,  Pebbles' label and apparently those raggedy Rav 4s.  TLC decides that Fruity Pebbles has to go but, unfortunately, will have to pay a heavy fee  just to keep their name (apparently they paid a million dollars per letter). 

According to Rolling Stone, Pebbles' kids were none too happy with this portrayal of their mother.  Well, I bet TLC wasn't too happy having to file for bankruptcy.  If you didn't learn anything from this movie, you better learn these managers are not your friends.  Take your contract to a lawyer (not your manager's lawyer) to make sure every thing is on the up and up. 

What are your views on the portrayal of Pebbles?