Dallas Austin is finally revealing how he coped with TLC star Chilli leaving him for Usher back in the day. Austin discussed the situation with Angela Yee during an appearance Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, on her Fox Soul show, “Established.” The famed music producer admitted it was one of the most difficult challenges he faced while living in Miami, Florida.
“Oh, I wanted to kill everybody because, honestly, I was friends with Usher, too,” he said. “We’re two different people. We always have been. But it was crazy because I moved to Miami. I was just so fed up. ‘I got to get out of Atlanta. Things are going too crazy.’ I moved to Miami, I sat up in that house. Me and her first broke up then. I started working on music in Miami, in this house where I set up all my equipment. But by the time I called and said, ‘Hey, let’s be together in Miami.’ She said, ‘No, no, no. It’s a wrap. I’m done.’”
He went on to acknowledge that the breakup ultimately fueled his creativity and led to some of the biggest hits he ever produced. From Blu Cantrell’s “Hit Em Up Style” to the motion picture soundtrack for Drumline, Austin revealed it all happened during that same time frame when he was dealing with his highly publicized split from Chilli.
“I’m thinking this is the worst year because she goes and started dating Usher, and I’m going mad. We got a kid. That’s my girl, this that and the other,” he said. “So, I went through this whole year thinking it was the worst year of my life when really, I did all the P!nk songs at that time. ‘Just Like a Pill’ and ‘Don’t Let Me Get Me’ was about my relationship I was in. I did Blu Cantrell’s ‘Hit Em Up Style.’ I did Drumline. All of this stuff was going on, but I must have had blinders on because I was in such that space that everybody gets to when you break up. It’s painful. It’s crazy.”
Flip the page to watch Austin’s interview with Yee in its entirety.
