Without actually trying to, and without ever mentioning Perri “Pebbles” Reid by name, Grammy-winning singer and songstress Kandi Burruss lent credence to Pebbles’ claims that she did not swindle TLC out of millions of dollars as poignantly portrayed in the VH1 “Behind the Music” special and, most recently, in the “CrazySexyCool” film.
Burruss, now a favorite on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” sort of defended TLC’s former manager Pebbles when she discussed her group’s first music contract in a recent interview. Burruss, a former member of the ’90s girl group Xscape, said her first contract was also “crappy,” like most artists’ deals were back in the day, she said.
“Definitely,” Kandi said resoundingly when asked by HipHollywood if her first deal was similar to the one signed by TLC. “To me, everyone got a bad deal back then in the beginning. And even now people don’t get that great of a deal unless you built your own movement before you got signed.”
Pebbles and TLC have been trading insults for the past three weeks regarding this very topic and the threat of lawsuits continues.
Burruss said her bandmates’ deal “sucked” and, most of all, she sort of expected it.
“I think we had the same amount of points (as TLC), seven points, and for a lot of people it was the same,” Burruss continues. “That’s what I expected. Because, in my mind, no one is going to spend all this money and give you all this money and you haven’t proven yourself yet.”
“Everyone, at that time, went into … sucky deals. And it was all about trying to renegotiate on your second time around or your third time around,” Burruss continues. “And I think that’s where the problem was because [TLC] was in a situation where they couldn’t negotiate.”
The lack of sympathy for TLC’s surviving members emanates from the fact that Xcape didn’t negotiate a good deal with their label.
Burruss said she has no regrets, however, regarding the experience. And, based upon this last statement, she is almost saying TLC needs to get over it because they are now making millions of dollars whereas they otherwise would not have without being put together by Pebbles.
“I would never take it back because it opened the door for me to be able to come in the game, ya know?” she said. “On one hand, you say ‘[TLC’] deal kind of sucked.’ But on the other hand they are a world-renowned group, and now they’re making millions of dollars. Hey … it all started from there.”
