Though Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was already a Grammy-winning, multi-platinum star as part of the superstar R&B/pop group TLC, many wondered whether Lopes - the energetic rapper of the best-selling girl group - could make it as a solo artist.

Lopes hoped to prove her doubters wrong. She had a 2001 CD "Supernova," but it was never released domestically, only overseas. Plans for a second disc were on tap, but she died tragically the next year in a fatal car crash in Honduras.

Almost seven years after her death, Lopes' dreams are finally being realized with the new album "Eye Legacy." The CD is comprised of years of unreleased material enhanced by a myriad of guest artists, like her former compatriots Chilli and T-Boz, who appear on the first single "Let's Just Do It," along with Missy Elliott. On "In the Life" with Bobby Valentino, Lopes delves into her past, when she hustled on the streets as a runaway, slept in various homes and sold drugs to survive.

She also recalls her tumultuous relationship with former lover and football star Andre Rison, as well as friction between herself, Chilli and T-Boz, on "Let It Out," featuring Wanya Morris of Boyz II Men. "Know that we're still all that that we live and we learn/come through every situation crossing bridges we burn/And we still the biggest thing the industry every seen/That's T-L-C, the unstoppable team," Lopes raps.

Lopes gets her point across on the CD with sharp rhymes, even though at times the production doesn't always mesh with the flow of her raps. There are only a few songs that only feature Lopes, like "Forever," but she proves she doesn't need accompaniment to shine.

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. Associated Press Writer

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