Whazzup With T-Boz?
Sister 2 Sister, unknown date
Most people know Tionne Watkins as the short-cut blond, belly-button-flashing cutie whom the multi-platinum selling hit threesome, TLC, named "T-Boz." T-Boz has seen a lot in her short life. Years ago, she barely escaped becoming a statistic while hanging out with her boyfriend, a drug dealer. Instead she became a singer in the cutting edge TLC, recording such hits as, "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg," "Creep" and "Waterfalls." But even the glitterati of the show business has its dark side. Despite their millions-selling, chart-topping success, TLC would experience unbelievable financial woes and eventually file for bankruptcy. Career obstacles weren't the only things T-Boz would conquer. Since birth, she has lived with the pain and debilitating hereditary blood disease, Sickle Cell Anemia. But the "T" in T-Boz must stand for "tough" because the 26-year-old singer has picked up her cross and even stepped out into the spotlight with it by becoming the national spokesperson for the Sickle Cell Disease Association. T-Boz talked extensively to Jamie Foster Brown about her life, her family, her illness, her man, her new SHEE Entertainment company and her dreams. Here's the interview:
T-Boz: Hello
Jamie: Hello, T-Boz!!
T-Boz: (Laughs) Who is this?
J: Don't be asking who it is because you know you gotta work. Hold on with your crazy self.
T-Boz: (Laughing) I got to work?
J: Yeah. Everybody was saying, "Ask T-Boz this. Ask T-Boz that."
T-Boz: For real?
J: I'm like whose interview is this?
T-Boz: You know...
J: Where is your mommy? That's the only question I'm going to ask you.
T-Boz: She's at home.
J: How is she doing?
T-Boz: Fine, I tried to call her today. She ain't never home. She goes shopping in this place in Atlanta called the Apparel Mart. It's a big place, like you have to take a few days to walk around it.
J: Where is daddy? Is he dealing with those rockets down there?
T-Boz: No, he doesn't work for NASA anymore. He's retired. He's a minister now.
J: Now, how are you doing? [Jamie and T-Boz know Jamie is concerned because T-Boz suffers from Sickle Cell Anemia.]
T-Boz: I feel good. I haven't been sick in a long time.
J: What do you have to do not to be sick?
T-Boz: I can't really tell you what I did this time. I just didn't get sick. Usually, no sleep, not eating right or especially if my body is weak because of a cold or a flu and I haven't been resting or eating or something, it will put me on a crisis. But I didn't catch the flu and everybody in my house had it. I've been taking vitamins and stuff. I don't take them every day like I'm supposed to, but more than I used to.
J: What do you eat?
T-Boz: I never really ate real bad. I just don't eat, period. You know what I'm saying? I don't have a big appetite. My first time eating could be anytime from 6 to 10 at night.
J: What?!
T-Boz: It's weird. I have crazy habits, but I started eating in the daytime now, so that's probably helping.
J: What are you eating though?
T-Boz: Child, pasta! I started eating salads. But you know I've gotta have my oxtails.
J: You like oxtails?!
T-Boz: Yeah. I'm not a meat lover, but I gotta have my oxtails once in while.
J: Well who makes that? You know how to make them?
T-Boz: Yeah I cook 'em.
J: You cook them with what?
T-Boz: You boil them in water with Lawry's seasoning salt and some peppers, chop some onions, and let 'em cook for about four or five hours and just take some flour to make gravy. It's real easy.
J: Do you cook normally?
T-Boz: When I feel like it. I started cooking when I was 12 because my mom said that if I ever got married, don't no man want to come home to no wife from a hard day's work without a home-cooked meal.
J: Do you care about that?
T-Boz: I mean I used to when I was growing up, but nobody knew I was gonna be singing and I would have a man who cooks. If I don't feel like cooking because I've been working too hard, then we're both going out to eat.
J: What else do you like to cook?
T-Boz: Cheesecake and Taco casserole.
J: I gotta tell you this.
T-Boz: What?
J: The last time we did the interview with you, you talked about the apartment you had just gotten with everything made for the handicapped and that the toilet was tall and your feet couldn't touch the floor, right?
T-Boz: Yep.
J: Well, my husband went out and bought one of those toilets for our house and it's the best thing in the world. [Both laugh]
T-Boz: Your feet be swinging.
J: My feet ain't swinging, because I've got a little height. Okay?
T-Boz: Okay, well...
J: The toilet comes up and meets you.
T-Boz: You don't have to bend down that far.
J: We gave one to my parents and they just love it. Everybody who comes to visit loves this toilet and I tell them, "This is the T-Boz toilet because she told us about these toilets." [Laughter] Are you still thinking about getting married? Is that on your menu?
T-Boz: I mean, naw, that will come in time. Naturally, I'm not trying to force it. It's not like, "Oh God, I'm getting old. I gotta get married." I don't think like that.
J: You don't think like that?
T-Boz: No. Because I know one day I will get married. Just like one day I'll have kids. Just like one day I'm gonna sing. One day...
J: Are you still with Dalvin? [of Jodeci]
T-Boz: Yes!
J: Girl, you Negroes....How long has it been? Three years?
T-Boz: It's been some years. It's been a long time.
J: How is he doing?
T-Boz: He's fine.
J: Why do you love Dalvin so much? What is it about him that's so special?
T-Boz: What? Dalvin? One thing he's my friend. The way I feel about men is they come and go. I mean, if a guy doesn't act right, you have to do what you gotta do and leave, but if they're going to be there...You know, some people have to grow up and some people have to go through things, but I mean, honestly, it came to a point in time in my life where I had to think about myself. It's like, you gonna be down with me or you not. I've got to love myself. And my career is most important. It's like, if you can get over somebody's death in the family, you can get over a guy.
J: Ooh, that's a profound statement.
T-Boz: Thank you. That's how it is. You have to make people understand. It's like this: My career is my career and my life is going to keep going. It's got to, you know what I mean? My career is the most important thing. Not more than him, or a guy, but it is when it comes to myself. You gotta learn how to love yourself, because if they mess up, you either get over them or stay with them and go through it with them or you get somebody else. But what is still there? Your family, the people you knew before, and your life. You have to live your life for you. You have to make sure you're straight. You gotta eat and live and breath every day. And if they're playing around and going somewhere and doing some dumb stuff they ain't gon' be there for you when you stop breathing or when you gotta eat. So it comes to a point where you gotta be like, "Are you gonna be down or are you not because, regardless, I'm going to do what I gotta do. And if you're going around playing and doing little boys stuff, you ain't gon' be here to take care of me and feed me when I'm running around chasing you. I need to be doing what I have to do." So he's my friend.
J: He's your friend? You all talk about everything?
T-Boz: And I'm his friend. I've got his back and he's got mine. He knows how I think, and that helps, too. People don't know him because he acts too major league cool, but he is so silly. He cracks me up all the time. He also does music all the time. He's a real good-hearted person.
J: Let's talk about you being the national spokesperson for the Sickle Cell Anemia Association. What is sickle cell anemia? So many people don't understand the disease. How many black people are affected by it? Do you know?
T-Boz: I don't know how many black people, but I know it's a lot, or at least a trait.
: When did the trait show up in you?
T-Boz: When I was born. My case is kind of weird to this day because when I was born, they really didn't know much about Sickle Cell Anemia. But when I was seven, this Indian doctor diagnosed me with Allergenic Arthritis mixed with 83 percent of the Sickle Cell trait, which no other doctors say they ever heard of. But he was correct. I stayed in the hospital all the time. Nobody knew that my mother's milk was making me sick. When they would give me a carton of milk on my lunch tray, it kept making me sick. But nobody knew why. I would just cry and cry. I hated going to the hospital because I knew most of the time I wasn't coming home soon. It seemed like I lived there. The doctor put me on Isomil. Then, at 15, I got off Isomil. The kids used to tease me and say, "You drink baby's milk." I used to water it down because baby's milk is so disgusting. In the winter, I don't eat ice cream because being cold will make me sick. When I get cold, I keep cold in my bones from hours to days. I always tried to be strong, like sometimes my body would become so weak that I couldn't walk. So my mother would have to carry me around. And it's pretty embarrassing when your mother has to carry you to the bathroom when you're 15 or 16 years old. So I would crawl.
J: When you were seven years old, were you in pain? Sickle Cell Anemia is extremely painful, right? It's like cramps isn't it?
T-Boz: Child, sometimes they feel like... Well it could be a crampy feeling with sharp pains mixed with it. And you could feel it flowing like floating through your system. Some people feel different. But that's how mine felt. It changed, the older I got. I used to cramp and it would turn to sharp pains.
J: But T-Boz, you and TLC go out there with your navels out and stuff like that. Every time I look at y'all, I say, "Those look like six-month old baby stomachs.[Laughing] Doesn't that bring on Sickle Cell Attacks?
T-Boz: That's only if I get real cold and ain't been doing right. But for the most part, when we're done, I always have my jacket.
J: Who has that Sickle Cell trait? Is that on your mother's side or your father's side?
T-Boz: Both of them.
J: And they probably didn't know anything about that when they got married did they?
T-Boz: Nope.
J: What is Sickle Cell?
T-Boz: It's basically a blood disease. Your red blood cells, which are circular normally, form a sickle shape. That causes you blood not to flow correctly. And your joints clot up, which stops your blood from flowing correctly, which stops oxygen from getting to your lungs. And in the midst of all that happening, since it's in all your joints. wherever it clots is where all the pain is. Sometimes it's not my entire body. Sometimes it's just my left leg or sometimes my back. Girl, and let me tell you when my back hurts and my chest... Whoooo! It's enough to make your head blow off. You be hurting so bad you cannot breath. And that is the worst pain. I hate it when my back hurts.
J: Didn't you say one time that you could feel the blood running through your veins?
T-Boz: Yeah. It's this weird feeling where it, like moves. It's almost like you could feel something changing and while it's changing it hurts. You know how Rice Crispies sound pop, popping? It's just like you can feel something moving like that.
J: How do they stop it? When you go into the hospital, what do they do to help you?
T-Boz: Really, if you ask me, I don't know if it makes it worse. You come in for one thing and come out with some other crap, okay? Because Sickle Cell's the kind of disease that the pain goes away when it wants to. So all they do to cover it up is give you drugs. They give you IV fluid, which is supposed to help your blood flow properly. You have to take a lot of fluids to help your blood stream flow correctly again, so you're constantly drinking water. You drink so much, your urine will be like water. This is to help flush your system.
J: Can it kill you?
T-Boz: Yeah, A lot of people have died. It attacks your organs and every time you get sick, it works on your organs and breaks your organs down. Some people lose a spleen. Your oxygen is not flowing through your body. Plus, being sick like that and your body being weak, it does something to your insides. So it will break your body down.
J: So you're going to have a benefit for Sickle Cell?
T-Boz: Yes, hopefully sometime in 1997. But my whole thing is trying to get it televised. Because you see all these other benefits for other diseases and there're really nothing for Sickle Cell. This is a Black disease, which makes it more important to me because you know we don't get as much attention. We need something fun, something that someone would go to regardless of it being a benefit, but something you would wanna see or watch anyway.
J: Are you going to be able to tour again?
T-Boz: Yes, but they will have to break it up and give me two days off, then work, then off...and so on.
J: You know they were telling Anita Baker that she had to do a straight concert tour for months at a time. She was concerned with leaving her two children and wanted to do some dates, then come back home, then go back out. Finally, promoter Al Haymon told her that he would arrange a tour like that for her.
T-Boz: He's good at that kind of thing. Some people just don't care about people, but I think he really cares about people. He came to me on several occasions and asked how I was feeling.
J: When are you all going back into the studio?
T-Boz: In February. I'm out here [in Los Angeles] vocal training now because I bruised my right vocal chord.
J: How did you do that?
T-Boz: Child, singing. It's been like this for two years. I can't sing high anymore. So my coach is helping me not to hurt my voice and to build it back up. It's almost like a workout.
J: What do you do? Give me an exercise.
T-Boz: You hold your lips together and go Brub baa brr...A little 2-year-old would have fun. It vibrates!
J: Wait let me try. Brub baa brr...[Laughter]
J: Who suggested that you go to him?
T-Boz: I think Chilli was working with him first and he's worked with a lot of rock 'n roll artists. He's worked with the girl from No Doubt. I like her a lot.
J: I was just hanging with her.
T-Boz: Really? She's real cool and I like her music.
J: What are Chilli and Left Eye doing? I know Left Eye still has her projects. Is Chilli doing film projects?
T-Boz: Girl, I couldn't even tell you. I think basically everybody's been trying to get their personal life together.
J: My writer said, "Ask T-Boz when was the last time she cried and why?"
T-Boz: Last time I cried? Ahhh. I don't cry a lot. Sometimes I cry if I'm sick.
J: Did you cry during TLC's bankruptcy trial?
T-Boz: Child, no. I was just like, "Whatever you gotta do, you gotta do."
J: You all got your money? Or you're supposed to, right?
T-Boz: Well it's owed out to everybody. We'll see. If you ask me, we're still broke.
J: You all are not with Norm anymore, are you? [Referring to artist manager Norm Nixon, who is also Debbie Allen's husband.] What happened with that?
T-Boz: It just kind of didn't work out.
J: So you all filed for bankruptcy. You're not with Norm, you're not signed with Pebbles' production company anymore, and instead you're signed directly with LaFace.
T-Boz: We've got money. I think some money was released to me last week, but they're holding it to pay everybody else first. They gave us whatever, so we could have a good Christmas.
J: But you are able to live good. You used to live in that hotel, but then you moved out, right?
T-Boz: No, I used to live in a condo on the other side of that hotel.
J: So what do you have now, a condo or a house?
T-Boz: I wanna get a house. Right now I stay at the bottom part of my mothers'. It's like a 2-bedroom, 3-bathroom at the bottom of her home.
J: Did you think that after TLC filed for bankruptcy, there would be a wave of artists asking for bankruptcy to get out of these contracts?
T-Boz: A lot of people thought we were going to change the business and that everyone would file bankruptcy to get out of their contracts. People thought about it, but it's something that's hard to go through.
J: Was the bankruptcy due to the production deal or the deal with LaFace Records?
T-Boz: We filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was due to Pebbles, period. LaFace gave us money. But that was illegal because we were signed with Pebbles first. So they didn't go through her because they would have to give her half of everything we earned and they just gave us money in our pocket, so she had a right to sue them. But she tried to make it seem like she didn't do anything wrong. I'm still cool with her, but right is right and wrong is wrong and I ain't going to lie about it. Why would she get 50% of Lisa's rights? She didn't sit down and write with her. She didn't rap. Like when I did "I Touch Myself," I had to give her 50% of that. We weren't even with her anymore when we did "CrazySexyCool" and we still had to give her 50% of everything we made. And that was more than we made, split.
J: How old are you? Do you tell your age? You don't care, do you?
T-Boz: I'm proud of my age. To me, I've lived a long life. I'm 26, and will be 27 on April 26th.
J: Okay, you are known for your hair. So what made you decide to wear wigs? What's up with the white hair?
T-Boz: I was figuring out what color I wanted to do my hair next, but I just do whatever I wanna do, basically. I don't really care if anyone likes it, as long as I'm happy with it.
J: Is it white now?
T-Boz: No, it's red now, real red.
J: So is TLC still together or do you have a solo project?
T-Boz: Yes, TLC is still together. I'm not working on a solo project, but I am in this new Kevin Aucoin book called Women of Today as Women of Yesterday and I'm Josephine Baker. It's like a major thing in Hollywood to get in Kevin Aucoin's book. He's a famous makeup artist. There are four other Black women in the book, including Janet Jackson and Naomie Campbell. People like Demi Moore, Cher, and Julia Roberts are in it. Let me tell you, he did my makeup once before and when he called me, I almost passed out.
J: What about the modeling? Aren't you signed with Bethann [Hardison]?
T-Boz: Who me? Girl, I never signed with her. I love Bethann to death. We want to work together. We did one photo shoot, but I didn't like the pictures so I kept them. I'm working on some stuff by myself. I've been writing movies and I have a cartoon.
J: Where are you from?
T-Boz: I'm from Des Moines, Iowa.
J: Weren't you up for some movie role?
T-Boz: Yes, I was and I did get the role. But shooting has been delayed. That is one of the things Bethann is working on for me.
J: You don't know if it's still coming out?
T-Boz: They're still doing it, but I don't know if I'll have time. It's good to know that they like me. I was the only person who read with no acting experience.
J: Well there are a lot of things coming your way and the men love you. They think you're special.
T-Boz: Really?! They don't ever approach me. They just look at me funny. Sometimes a person will try and scheme, but I'm the type of girl who doesn't like games.
J: Who named you "T-Boz?"
T-Boz: Lisa and I had a group. My name was "The Boss" and then I changed it to "Boz." We were getting something graffiti'ed one day and we just came out with "T-Boz," which stands for "Tionne is the Boss."
J: What was it like working with Prince?
T-Boz: I never got to work with him. It was talked about, but I don't know what happened. I've never even met him.
J: What was it that made you all go to Norm Nixon?
T-Boz: It really just kind of happened because Chilli met Brad [Johnson] and he works with Norman. We went out to eat with Debbie and Norm and he's like a real addressive person. We asked him was he trying to manage us and he said he would like to.
J: You all [TLC] still love each other?
T-Boz: We're straight. Everyone has different stuff to do. I feel I'm getting older. I have things that I would like to do, like when you asked me if I'm going to have a child. I feel like if I'm going to have a child I would like to spend time with my child for the first two years because that's the most important time in a baby's life. I'm trying to have my career, so that when I do start a family, I want to be able to have total focus. I don't want to be stuck in bankruptcy, all chaotic, stressed out because I'm mad at my boyfriend or my group pissed me off. I don't want to be angry when I bring my child into this world.
J: That's interesting that you said "my boyfriend" and not "my husband." Why did you say that?
T-Boz: Because that's how it is now. Or, even my husband - it's still the same thing.
J: It's interesting that you said that. I think a lot of girls think like that - "my boyfriend" as opposed to "my husband."
T-Boz: Well, I don't wanna be one of those women who get married and then get divorced a lot. I'm just saying if I wanna go and do that, I wanna make sure it's right. You can only hope, anyway, but at least I wanna feel comfortable. So until then, if that's the way it's gonna be, you're gonna be my boyfriend.
J: So are you thinking about doing more movies?
T-Boz: I read for Jerry Maguire, but I lost the part to Regina King. I was still happy because I heard that Halle Berry and Janet [Jackson] read for the part. I think Regina is a major actress. I like her a lot.
J: Which TV sitcom would you be in if you got to choose?
T-Boz: I don't think I would really want to be in a sitcom, I would choose an HBO special with a talk show where people fight and argue for real. I'm serious! That would be the highest rated show.
J: They would fight and argue for real? As opposed to it being staged?
T-Boz: Yeah, I'm serious. I'm talking about some real, "get down and dirty," argument kind of stuff that people want to see. It would just be fun.
J: I haven't talked to you since I taught you how to do that choreography for Usher's video. [T-Boz laughs] Remember, I threatened you?
T-Boz: I got sick right after practice and went to the hospital. Then I came right back to the set the day after. I didn't want to tell my mom because she would have been upset.
J: I bet she would. Now wait a minute! I want to know something. You keep saying you're getting older. Okay, what have you learned? What would you do differently if you could turn back the clock?
T-Boz: I don't think I would do anything differently because I don't feel bad about my past. Like in high school and stuff, I think everything happened for a reason. I probably shouldn't be here today. I don't think I've made major mistakes in my life, only minor stuff. I might have stole something when I was a teenager - stupid stuff like that - but I've never been a drinker - I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't smoke weed now - I don't do nothing. I've never been on drugs, I've never had an abortion...so I don't feel that I've done anything to myself that's messed up besides making myself sick and not taking care of myself; that's probably the worst thing I've done to myself, which I'm just now starting to correct.
J: None of you all in TLC have babies. Why do you think that young girls feel the need to have babies?
T-Boz: I think they feel that if a guy wants to have a baby by them, it will keep him around. And we know that is not true. Your baby is the only thing that will be around and you'll have to be connected with the father for the rest of your life. I try to make guys understand that: "If you don't like this girl, then why have a child with her when you don't care about her?"
J: What did you feel when Tupac was killed?
T-Boz: It messed me up because I felt he was a major, major, major actor. I think he could have beat almost everybody else out. I didn't think Tupac was a bad person. Actually I got a kick out of him. I thought he was cute. Yes he could have been called ignorant, but you have to take people for who they are and that was him. He was really intelligent. He didn't act ignorant when he was around us. If I saw him spit at the camera, me being in this lifestyle, I can understand how the press can piss you off. You can't say, "He lived by the sword, he died by the sword" because a lot of people have made mistakes in life but just didn't get killed. You can't judge him because everyone has done some stupid stuff where we all could have been killed. I could have died when I was hanging out with my drug dealer boyfriend while he was out robbing people, but does that make it okay if that would have happened? "That's what she gets for hanging out with the wrong people."
J: Your company, SHEE Entertainment, has two rock bands: Mobius Trip and She's the Man. One is out of Atlanta and one out of Jersey. Why are you into rock?
T-Boz: I like rock. I'm universal. I'm open for all types of things. I want to learn. I want to see things. I want to understand. I feel that there is so much of life that I missed out on and I learned my lesson when I dated this drug dealer for over seven years.
J: What were you doing with him? Was the money sweet?
T-Boz: I was a virgin. I didn't know. I just knew I liked him - or loved - him. I grew into learning things. I made my mistakes. I was stupid.
J: That sounds pretty scary.
T-Boz: I've been through a lot. I've taken myself through some unnecessary stuff. I've started to write a book on my life. Tupac paid for his. He is dead. I'm blessed because I made it through. And if you go back and do it again after you know better, then you can only throw your hands up and be like, "Okay, if the person dies, that is what happens."
J: Have you ever fought a guy?
T-Boz: Yes, my ex-boyfriend.
J: Now why did your groups sign with you? Do you have management with them or a production deal?
T-Boz: Oh no, I don't have a production deal yet, and I would never manage anyone. We bonded. I've been working with She's the Man in the studio. I've been putting together a package to shop them. The reason I call my company "SHEE Entertainment" is because it's anything in entertainment that I want to do: cartoons, books for kids, movies.
J: What's the cartoon like that you're developing?
T-Boz: It's fly, I'll say that. I can't talk much about it now. I wrote the cartoon with Salita. I write what I want and she puts it in script form because she's a writer, but I created everything.
J: You're also going to be a model for a hair care and makeup line, right?
T-Boz: Yes, someone wants me to do a hair line. I'm looking into that. I think Black girls need a Black hair dye for Black women. I use Miss Clairol, which is a White product, which I think is a problem for a lot of women's hair. We need something for our hair to make it look better.
J: So have you gained any weight?
T-Boz: Yes, two pounds. My hips spread a little bit.
J: Are you still dancing?
T-Boz: Sometimes. I went to a club in Atlanta with Jermaine Dupri and we danced for three hours. I also love Devine, the choreographer. He is my boy.
J: When you had Sickle Cell attacks, people were saying you had AIDS. Did that bother you?
T-Boz: Yes, because they are stupid. Why? If I did have AIDS, you are not supposed to laugh and point fingers. People don't care about other people and they don't care about people's lives. But when it happens to them, it's not funny. That is what makes me sick. When I go into the hospital, I need you [the hospital staff]. I need your help. That's what you are here for; that is the reason you became a doctor, to help people. That's what you said. So when I get to the hospital, you [shouldn't be] walking around peeking behind the curtain doing everything else except helping me feel better. Instead, you run around saying I have AIDS.
J: Are you talking about the hospital help?
T-Boz: I was in a hospital in New York. If I could have gone back when I was better, I would have cursed each of those three nurses. I would have fought them. To this day, I get pissed off when I talk about it because I was in a wheelchair: I was real sick. I couldn't breath. I had on a baseball cap; it should not matter who I am. I'm a person. That shouldn't make you get up and give me attention. Why, because I'm a celebrity, do you jump up and give me attention? They take me in the back where they are playing cards and tell me to sit in an asthma chair. I told my security, Dino, to take me out of that hospital. I went to three hospitals. That was the time I cried because any bump I would go through in the car hurt me. Sometimes you get in so much pain. Last Christmas when I had surgery, I went to the hospital and I bought all the kids gifts and sat with them and their families in their rooms. I'm a person who understands what it's like to be in the hospital. People don't understand that people need people when they are sick. That helps you get stronger. That helps you get better.
J: When they gave you surgery, what did they do?
T-Boz: I had surgery because I had a fibroid cyst on the back of my uterus.
J: Who are you all in the studio with?
T-Boz: You know I've got to go back with Dallas [Austin]. That's my producer, period. Everybody needs to understand, I feel like if I don't go with him I will jinx my whole album and I won't make it.
J: And you Chilli and Left Eye love each other more than ever. You know what makes me feel good? It's that you all have gone through so much, and still go through stuff, and you're still together.
T-Boz: Well everyone thought I was leaving.
J: I ran into [LaFace Records Video Director] Bille Woodruff and he told me that if anybody could be a video director, you could because you study, you put your time in, and he is very impressed with you. He thinks you're wonderful.
T-Boz: We are very down to earth. I go and work with each dancer, hours a day on my own. I don't hire people to [take my place]. I'm putting together packages for my groups. Like this past Christmas, I made my own Christmas cards.
J: Can you afford a staff?
T-Boz: Yes, it's just that you have to spend money to make money. So my thing is, whatever you choose to invest in - mine is invested in making money.
J: Don't you have a brother?
T-Boz: Yes, KoKo. Carnoy Neal III. He doesn't like his name. That's my boy. His is so big - size 11 shoe, 5 feet 4, just turned 14. He's a baller. He's good at basketball.
J: Okay, girlfriend. Send me some pictures of the family. Tell your assistant, Michael, I said thanks, and tell Chilli and Left Eye I said hi.
