CD Reviews

Review: Lisa ''Left Eye'' Lopes, Eye Legacy

Mass Appeal/Koch (2009)

By MIKAEL WOOD | January 27, 2009

1.5 Stars

The posthumous hip-hop release has become such a music-biz commonplace that the folks who package these things no longer seem concerned with honoring the legacies of the artists whose names prop them up.

This collection credited to the late TLC star isn't the worst of the bunch: Left Eye, who died in 2002 after a car accident in Honduras, was never less than a spunky studio presence, a quality that survives much of the budget-bin production here. ("Block Party," featuring an appearance by the always welcome Lil Mama, works up some energy worthy of the song's title.)

But with a slapdash track list that intersperses previously unreleased cuts with lightly retooled versions of tunes from Left Eye's import-only solo debut, Eye Legacy still feels like an after-the-fact throw-away, one that makes you wonder just what its creators were attempting to say about their dearly departed friend.

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