DJ2high Remembers Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes: Friendship and an Unfinished Dream

Translation, verification and attribution note: This English edition was translated and edited from HIPHOPCs’ Japanese interview with DJ2high, published on February 25, 2026. It corrects Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes’s surname, reduces conversational repetition and separates public record from private memory. Unless a paragraph cites an external record, encounters, calls and proposed work are DJ2high’s recollections. HIPHOPCs has not reviewed phone records, radio logs, private contracts or unreleased session files.

DJ2high’s connection to Los Angeles hip-hop is usually told through producers, rappers and the Death Row orbit. This interview turns toward a different relationship: the friendship he says began when Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes called him during a 1999 trip to Japan. The story moves from a Yokohama living room and a club night to years of informal calls, an unfinished plan to make music and one final invitation that DJ2high says he could not accept.

The public record: Left Eye, TLC and the period of this story

Lopes was the rapper and one of the defining creative voices in TLC alongside Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas. The Recording Academy credits her with four GRAMMY wins and twelve nominations, including TLC’s wins for CrazySexyCool, “Creep,” FanMail and “No Scrubs.” The group’s official site continues to present TLC’s catalog and current activity.

DJ2high places their first meeting around the Japanese promotion cycle for “No Scrubs” in 1999. The exact date and promotional itinerary have not been independently confirmed by HIPHOPCs.

A promise from artist Shahid “Shah Wonders” Ali

Sei: I heard that you had a connection with TLC. Who were you close to?

DJ2high: Left Eye. We met in 1999, around the time “No Scrubs” came out.

The connection began with my friend Shahid Ali, whom I call Shah. He was an artist and designer connected to TLC’s visual world. I met him in Japan after I started KSR in 1998. Someone working for my company knew him from clubs, and when Shah did not have a fixed place to stay in Japan, I let him stay at my house.

When I drove him to Narita Airport, he told me, “I will definitely introduce you to Left Eye.” I did not expect anything. People make promises like that and often nothing happens. I simply enjoyed communicating with Shah and hoped to see him again.

Editorial note: Interviews with Shah Wonders published elsewhere describe his personal and design relationship with Lopes and TLC. HIPHOPCs has not independently authenticated every artwork attribution discussed in the Japanese interview, so this edition does not present a specific T-shirt or album package as a verified credit.

“Left Eye, fool”: the unexpected call in Yokohama

DJ2high: Two or three months later, I was eating at Sagamiya, a sushi restaurant near Yokohama Central Market that I had visited since childhood. I was there with the reggae artist Corn Head when an unfamiliar Japanese mobile number called.

The caller said her name was Lisa. I asked, “Who?” and she answered, “Left Eye, fool.” I could not believe it. She said she was in Japan and bored. I asked whether somebody could drive her and invited her to my house. I gave the driver directions, and about an hour later she arrived.

Sei: What happened when she came over?

DJ2high: We talked and played our music for each other. She arrived with a larger group of friends from Atlanta. T-Boz and Chilli were doing something separately at first. What stayed with me was how naturally Lisa entered the room. She was already internationally famous, but the first day was mainly conversation and music.

Verification boundary: The call, visit, guest list and conversation are DJ2high’s firsthand account. HIPHOPCs has no independent phone, travel or residence record for the meeting.

A restrictive-diet anecdote, not health advice

DJ2high: I remember asking why she looked so young. She told me she had been living on fruit and water and mentioned Dr. Sebi. The conversation made me more conscious of eating fruit, although I eat many other things too.

Health note: HIPHOPCs cannot verify what Lopes ate, for how long, or any medical treatment she may have received. A fruit-and-water-only diet can be nutritionally inadequate; the British Dietetic Association explains that restrictive plant-based diets require planning to meet nutritional needs. This recollection is not an endorsement. The Japanese interview also repeated claims about Dr. Sebi and the medical industry that are not supported here by reliable evidence; those claims have therefore been omitted. Readers should seek qualified medical advice for health or nutrition decisions.

A night out in Yokohama—and an unverified radio memory

DJ2high: On the second day, Lisa wanted to go to a Japanese club. I called the manager of Logos in Motomachi, Yokohama, and asked him to reserve the VIP area because I was bringing somebody who would surprise him. He said he had seen almost everyone, so we made a playful bet: if he was not surprised, I would pay the normal price; if he was, the night would be free. I walked in holding Lisa’s hand, and his expression settled the bet.

I also remember listening to a J-WAVE broadcast that TLC was scheduled to join. During the lead-in, I heard Lisa call out my given name, Hikaru, in the background. Then she phoned and said she was done and wanted to go. Chilli later joined us too.

Editorial note: DJ2high’s memory of the broadcast and the group’s movements has not been checked against J-WAVE archives, production records or the recollections of TLC’s members. This edition does not characterize the event as an abandoned professional obligation.

The “No Scrubs” joke and a friendship carried by phone

Sei: Did the relationship continue after those two days?

DJ2high: Yes. We kept talking by phone. Often the calls had no purpose beyond asking what the other person was doing.

I was attracted to her. The timing made it funny because “No Scrubs” was everywhere, with the line “I don’t want your number.” I told her I felt special because I had her number. It was a very intense two days and then a long, ordinary telephone friendship. I had never told this story publicly before.

The collaboration DJ2high imagined but never completed

Sei: Did you ever make a song together?

DJ2high: We discussed it, but business details never reached a final resolution, so we did not complete a track together.

Part of the reason I came to America was the possibility of making music with Lisa. Snoop Dogg and the West Coast world were also important, but somewhere in my mind the strongest vision was to find Lisa, make a TLC record and win a GRAMMY. That was a dream I had as a teenager. It did not happen.

She did record a short Japanese-language drop for me. My released edit removes some of the more explicit and private lines. The surviving audio is hosted on my official SoundCloud account.

What is confirmed about Tha Row in early 2002

Contemporary NME reporting dated January 4, 2002 said Lopes had signed with Tha Row—the renamed Death Row Records—and was preparing a second solo album under the name N.I.N.A. This public chronology supports the broad timing in DJ2high’s memory; it does not verify their private conversation.

DJ2high: A few months before she died, Lisa somehow found my new U.S. number and called. I had not given it to her. Shah may have been the connection, but I do not know.

She told me she had joined Tha Row and asked whether I wanted to become her official live DJ. I wanted to do it. But several of my close friends had recently left the Death Row orbit, and relationships around Tha Dogg Pound were tense. I felt returning to that environment would put me in a difficult position. I declined. The last time I spoke to her, she had asked us to work together and I had to say no.

Attribution note: The offer, DJ2high’s reasons and the call are his recollection. HIPHOPCs has not seen an employment proposal, contract, call log or confirmation from Lopes’s estate or Tha Row.

April 25, 2002: the confirmed loss and DJ2high’s memory

Lopes died in a road crash in Honduras on April 25, 2002. A contemporary CNN transcript reported that she was driving and that seven other occupants survived. CBS later described TLC’s album 3D as a tribute completed after her death. The Recording Academy’s official artist page preserves her TLC-era awards and nominations.

Sei: Where were you when you heard?

DJ2high: I was in a Hollywood studio when a friend called. I could not believe it. What hurt was that our final conversation had been an invitation to work and my answer had been no.

After her death, a Japanese hip-hop magazine published an issue with Lisa on the cover. On its final page, she was asked about Japan, and she mentioned enjoying time at the home of a DJ friend named Hikaru. When I found that, I cried.

Document note: DJ2high supplied HIPHOPCs with an image of the magazine page. The scan supports that a statement naming Hikaru appeared in the material he shared, but HIPHOPCs has not independently obtained the full issue or verified the transcription with the publisher. The scan is not reproduced in this English edition because reuse rights are not documented.

Remembering a person beyond the icon

The importance of this story is not that DJ2high stood near fame. It is the contrast between TLC’s public scale and the small details he remembers: a surprise call at a Yokohama sushi restaurant, exchanging music in a living room, aimless phone conversations and a joke built around the biggest song of the moment.

Public records can confirm the success of “No Scrubs,” the N.I.N.A. period and Lopes’s death. They cannot confirm the emotional texture of a private friendship. That part belongs to DJ2high’s testimony, presented here with its limits intact.

What DJ2high was planning when this interview was recorded

DJ2high: Joe Cool left a large body of art. I have been thinking about using some of it to begin an animation project on YouTube, with the possibility of other platforms later.

Editorial note: This was a plan described at the time of the interview, not an announcement of a completed release. Ownership, permissions and the current production status have not been independently verified, and no Joe Cool artwork is reproduced here.

Official references and related English coverage

• Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes at the Recording Academy
• TLC official website
• CBS News: TLC completing 3D after Lopes’s death
• NME: Lopes signs with Tha Row and prepares N.I.N.A., January 4, 2002
• CNN transcript: contemporary report on the Honduras crash
• British Dietetic Association: planning a nutritionally adequate plant-based diet
• Left Eye’s DJ2high drop on DJ2high’s official SoundCloud
• DJ2high official YouTube channel
• DJ2high interview, Part 1: his early path and West Coast career
• DJ2high interview, Part 2: Snoop Dogg, loss and career
• DJ SN-Z on Yokohama, OZROSAURUS and Los Angeles
• More HIPHOPCs exclusive interviews in English

Interview: Sei / HIPHOPCs
Japanese-edition materials: supplied by DJ2high; source-photo reuse rights vary and none are reused in this English edition
English-edition artwork: original HIPHOPCs editorial design; no third-party visual material