TLC, Meant to Be

VH1’s TLC biopic, CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, now has a teaser, and my god, the resemblances are uncanny. That’s rapper Lil Mama as Left Eye, Drew Sidora as T-Boz, and KeKe Palmer (who was in the womb when Ooooooohhh… On the TLC Tip was released in 1992) as Chilli. Lil Mama’s haircut is especially convincing, though it’s hard to compete with a hologram.

I’m hoping the final product delivers more than by-the-book music video reproductions, pretty as they are, but I’m also quite content to hear the opening bars to “Creep” at any time ever, and to see those outfits brought back to life. Remember Left Eye’s condom glasses? Here’s Julianne Escobedo Shepard, over at MTV Style:

It was, of course, the age of AIDS awareness, when reminders to slip on the jimmy cap were everywhere, but Left Eye’s prophylactic interpolation was brilliant. She popped it on her glasses to underscore her name and did all that dancing and rapping with only one good eye, not to mention a perpetually huge hat. The brilliantly colored “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” video kept Carl Jones in business for at least a good year — all his simply, functionally designed Cross Colours gear was perfect for TLC’s super-sweet round-the-way girlitude, and they helped catapult the label onto a new level of popularity. It was, of course, a look for the ages.

The VH1 biopic is due out in October.