Hot Tea ⏤ Vol 20
Hot Tea ⏤ Vol 20
We were too young when some of juiciest gossip graced the 1990's. But now it's time to sip this nostalgic tea and ki-ki. Are you ready?
Hi friend! It’s my 20th volume of Monday Lunch, and we have a juicy lunch date planned. Today we are doing something a little different.
I want to gossip as adults about what was happening in the 90s. When major life and celebrity moments happened in this decade, we were too young to really understand and had no business discussing it either. So now that we are all grown grown let’s finally add our two cents to some of the biggest scandals and moments of the 90s.
I hope you have your hot tea ready; I am sipping a peach-creamsicle herbal tea by @theamazingteacompany. They are a women-owned and operated company that began its journey selling tea leaves at a market in Kingston, Jamaica.
Grab your mug because the tea is piping hot!!
Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes & Andre Rison
In the early 90s, girl group TLC was on top of the charts. At one point, they were the highest-selling female group of all time. T-Boz was dating a member of Jodeci, Dalvin DeGrate. Chilli was dating songwriter and producer Dallas Austin. And Lisa was dating Andre Rison, an NFL Player who was playing for the Atlanta Falcons, when Lisa burn that man’s house down to the GROUND. The ground, OKAY.
Ok, so what are your thoughts on this situation?
The story goes like this:
On the night of June 8, 1994, Rison was reportedly out clubbing with some of his friends. Annoyed with Andre, Lisa decided to also go out with friends (we’ve all done this) but got home before him. When he got home around 5 am, he was immediately greeted by a super annoyed Lisa in the driveway of his million-dollar mansion. The media reported that she was angry because he bought himself a lot of new sneakers without getting her any.
Ok pause.
Sneakers? Sis burned down a house because he didn’t buy her any sneakers? Come on; I am not buying it. I think she saw him with another chick, a familiar chick. I’m not burning down your house when I see you out with a random girl for the first time. Now I will burn down the house (that is if I even decide to stay) if I caught him with the same bitch I caught him with the first time(s), oh now we fighting. In Lisa's case, burning down the house.
Back to the story.
Andre claims Lisa was drunk and began slapping him in his face. He decided to slap her back, to calm her down.
What? I don’t know who told that man slapping this woman was a good way to calm her down. It did the complete opposite.
Then they took their argument inside, and that’s when Andre slammed Lisa on the bed and sat on her to calm her down.
Listen, if I was Lisa and you were sitting on me, I would be boiling HOTT. And sis was. He got up and left. Probably fed up with her shenanigans. That’s when a light switch flipped, and she proceeded to fuck *claps* his claps* shit claps* UP claps*.
She took a pair of sneakers, tossed them into the bathtub, which was made from plastic, and torched them. Then Sis took a pole off the vacuum and went outside to bust the windows out two of Andre’s luxury cars. Do you know how furious you would have to be to grab a pole from the vacuum cleaner to destroy someone’s car???
Then Left Eye proceeded to sit by the whirlpool and watch everything burn to the ground. Like a real G.
She was hella bold to sit back at the house and wait for Andre to come home to a burned-down house. I would have loved to listen in on how that conversation went when he pulled up. This was well before social media and reliable cellular service, so who knows how he found out about it.
The craziest part of this story is that they stayed together! Would you have stayed with someone who burned down your house?
I don’t think Lisa should have burned his shoes in the house. If she wanted to burn up his shit, she should have taken it outside. But I guess in the heat of the moment, you react and react she did. She wins the crown for best relationship drama of the 90s for me, lol.
I hope you are resting easy Lisa. We miss ya.
J.Lo & Puffy run out on club shooting
Shyne wasn’t on the scene but a minute before he was snatched away from his newfound hip-hop fame, and J.Lo & Puffy was in the center of it all.
Before we get into what happened, what did you think about these two together? Were you a fan of J.Lo & Puffy?
I actually liked them together, and I believe that their relationship would have lasted if they had dated later in life. Out of all of Jennifer’s relationships, my favorites have been Marc Anthony and then Puffy.
In December 1999, Lopez and Puffy were at a New York City club celebrating Puffy's protégé Shyne's album when something popped off between Puffy and a dude at the club named Matthew Allen. According to New York Magazine, a fight broke out, and shots were fired at the ceiling, injuring three people.
The two were pulled over after they fled the scene and were found with a stolen loaded gun in their car. Both were eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, but both had to sit in jail for numerous hours. The same didn’t happen for Shyne. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison after this incident was taken to trial. *insert eye roll*
Apparently, this situation was so “traumatic” for Sean Combs that it caused him to rename himself' ‘P. Diddy’ after being named Puffy Daddy for years.
Aight, what you think? Puffy has been escaping life and death ever since he entered the hip-hop scene. Rumors have always been that Puffy was the intended target the night of BIG’s murder.
I love Puffy; he will always be Puffy to me. He is a smart man, but he really is a scary clown. I’ve always imagined him running away to save HIS life only, not worrying about anyone else but him. I also see him cracking under pressure. No lie. I love you tho Puffy. Keep dancing.
Furthermore, everything he touches seems to fade away. Am I wrong? Nope.
What happened to Craig Macks's career? Total is one of my favorite girl groups of the 90s; why they ain’t make it? Harlem World is one of my favorite albums ever, Ma$e was supposed to be the pick-me-up after we lost BIG, but he needed to find God. Damn, Puffy drove him to the church altar; that’s a first.
Puffy got bored with 112 and let their 4th album tank. They’ve never recovered. He held on so tight to The Lox that Ruff Ryders had to pay bank to get them on the label, officially. He was holding on to them but wasn’t making them any hits? Who does that? It’s a power trip.
Black Rob (RIP) had a major hit with WHOA!. But Puffy decided he had better stuff to do. Probably strapped for cash because he ain’t have no money, Black Rob went out robbing and stealing and caught that charge in ’06. Do you remember that?
I could keep going; G-Dep, Kain, Da Band, Danity Kane, Mark Curry, Faith Evans, Carl Thomas, Loon, and of course Cassie. He did Cassie so wrong. I am glad she went out and found her true happiness. It’s like the Bad Boy curse. Regardless, the 90s wouldn’t have been the same without Bad Boy, so I appreciate Diddy. I guess I can use his new name.
I definitely went on a tangent there. What were we talking about? Oh, that’s right, J.Lo and Puffy fleeing the scene after he started an altercation where shots were fired. Ha. Imma leave this one here.
Mike Tyson bites Evander Holyfield’s ear
People forget that Tyson actually bit both of Holyfield's ears during their 1997 match. Like, he bit one ear but bit the other ear off. And then spit it on the ground.
Forreal bruh? Like why would you even do this? It seems like a real cop-out move if you ask me. It makes me think back to “was Holyfield whooping that ass?” But I can’t remember anything about the fight besides looking at the adult’s faces in the room.
Wait, y'all remember when your parents used to have fight parties at the house? Did your folks do that?
My mom would have THEEEEE best fight parties at our home in Baltimore City. I can’t remember exactly where we were living at the time, but she used to order the fight and invite all of her friends over. I would spend my Saturday nights eavesdropping over a bunch of 30-somethings conversations.
And then like that *snaps*, the fight would be over, and everyone would be yelling at the TV because we spent like $50 to order a fight that lasted 2 minutes, sometimes less than that.
So what you think of Mike biting the ear off? What about fight parties?
I know we still have fight parties, but it’s nowhere as frequent as it was back in the 90s. I feel like there were fights several times a year. Now we are lucky if we get one good fight a year. Or maybe I am out of the loop. Someone update me.
Faith Evans & Tupac & The Notorious B.I.G. & Lil’Kim
I have so many questions for you.
Ok, first off, do you think Faith & Tupac had sex? I think she did that shit.
Seriously I do. And I don’t blame her. Listen, I’m not in support of infidelity at all, but I get what she did. I disagree with it, but I get it. BIG put her through so damn much. He was basically messing with Kim right under her face. She probably thought, let me hit Christopher where it hurts the most; I will mess with his biggest enemy. Like that is how we think when we want to be trifling as hell.
So this brings me to Lil Kim. She was wrong on so many levels for still messing with this man knowing damn well he got a wife and a baby on the way. But then he was probably gassing her head up. She loved the hell out of that ugly stylish large, and in-charge lyrical genius.
Sometimes I look at Faith and think to myself, “Wow, girl, you had a whole different life I never got to experience or see.” I was so young when BIG was heavy on the scene. Ready to Die dropped in early ’94, when I was almost 9. I remember seeing BIG and Pac on magazine covers and music videos. But I didn’t get to know them as a people until after they both were murdered.
Tell me this wouldn’t be the perfect Instagram picture if they were dating right now? Everything in this picture is perfect.
Are you a Tupac or a Biggie fan? I love Pac. I think he has an amazing musical catalog and shocking excellent acting career. Tupac was an amazing actor. Y’all know John Singleton wrote Baby Boy for Tupac to play Jody? He figured this would be a great way to tell his story since a single mother also raised Tupac. When Pac passed, Singleton shelved the project for a while until he met Tyrese and felt he could carry the film.
However, I am a Notorious B.I.G. fan fan. Biggie always made me feel rich AF when I listened to his music. Adding to that, his music videos also broadcasted a luxurious life. I was hooked. Tupac was rapping about his hard-ass life. Biggie was flowing, Versace’d down to the socks, making big men look sexy AF to a young jawn.
He just made me feel good. The ladies were always fly in the music videos. Hair laid, outfit fresh, fly shoes; they were set. I wanted to be over there with them, living the glamorous life.
So who’s your favorite?
How old were you when Ginuwine’s Pony video dropped in ’96?
I remember this like it was yesterday. I was almost 11. I walked out of my room and saw my mother gyrating mid-air to this shirtless oiled-up man on the TV screen with a high-top Jheri curl.
I just stood there as quietly as possible, so I could watch the rest of the video before being sent back to my room.
When I finally watched that video solo, I sat through the entire thing with my mouth hanging, watching the way he slid around the stage. That music video is not suitable for children at all. But as a kid, you can’t stop watching and listening.
At first, I didn’t understand what he meant by “ride my pony.” My 10-year-old self was thinking about an actual pony. But it wasn’t until my mother slipped up and used a similar saying while trying to be slick talking to her man-friend. She said something like, “I can’t wait to ride that jungle gym later,” or something like that. And I remember thinking, “wait, you can’t ride a jungle gym,” and then my 10-year-old brain clicked.
What’s your story about the first time you saw this music video? Crazy to think I was barely 11 when this song came out, and it STILL bumps like it came out a few years back.
Ok, last one.
How did you spend December 31, 1999?
We went to church—First Institutional Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona, to be exact.
Once we got into the church, my high school best friend and I walked away from my mom to sit with the Pastor’s son and his best friend. We had been hanging out as a foursome friend group since the summer. You ever had a friend who is a PK?
Anyways, my mom let me roam free in the church without her. She was just glad that I never put up a fight to go to church. And no, it wasn’t just for the boys, or maybe it was. Who knows.
So we find seats in the balcony on the last row. Five minutes before midnight, Pastor told everyone to fall on their knees and pray as the new millennium approaches. I was praying extra hard. I was one of those people who got caught up in the Y2K drama, especially in the AOL and Yahoo chat rooms. I didn’t think the world would come to an end, but I also didn't think about it not being an option, lol.
As the clock struck midnight, I was face down in my church chair with my eyes squeezed shut with my breath held. Then I let out a huge sigh of relief. I got up and then looked to my friends and asked where the next stop was.
See, my mom set the rule to come to church for the countdown; after that, I was free until my curfew time.
The four of us dipped out.
Jems 💎
#listen - Out$ide: 90s Only [steam on Apple, Spotify, Tidal]
You didn’t think we could ki-ki about drama from this decade without a bop to go with it? It’s time to go to the club in the 90s, on a Monday. Press play on this playlist curated by Bee Sherel. If this doesn’t get you in a good mood, then maybe sat down at the wrong lunch table. Enjoy!
#watch - The Movies: 1990s (CNN/HBO)
You could watch the entire series, it starts in the ‘50s, but you really begin to see the Black films push through during this decade.
#laugh/inspo - A White Toenail Szn Manifesto - IGTV
This gathered my entire soul and is THEE most beautiful ode to white toenails. I plan on putting a couple of her points into play this szn, but for those who are single and mingling around, this entire manifesto is for YOU. Watch every single minute of this.
Whew did you enjoy this chit-chat with me? It was fun gossiping with you today on the happenings of the ‘90s. We will have to do this again sometime. In fact, we will have another gossip lunch soon.
There should be enough snacks here to last a while because we won’t have lunch together again until June 7th! I know you will miss me, but it will be here before you know it. This year is flying by. xo