Did Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes Date Death Row Records Owner Suge Knight?
Lifetime’s first episode of Hopelessly In Love took viewers on a journey of uncovering the intimate details of TLC rapper Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes and former NFL star Andre Rison’s relationship. Their union lasted over a decade and was a rollercoaster ride but Rison loved Lopes until the very end. Many were stunned when the series revealed that Lopes was in a weird love triangle with Rison and Tupac Shakur, but even more stunned to find out that Lopes also dated Shakur’s label head, Suge Knight.
Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes dated Andre Rison and had deep feelings for Tupac Shakur
Despite Lopes and Rison’s lengthy relationship, she spent much quality time with Shakur, whom her friends say she was madly in love with. Though they never crossed the lines of friendship, Lopes’ circle say that she considered Shakur to be her soul mate.
According to the series, Lopes and Shakur met a year before she began dating Rison. They met at an industry party and instantly hit it off. Lopes’ sister, Reign Lopes, revealed int he documentary that Shakur made Lopes promise to never let him make any sexual advances towards her. She didn’t and their friendship remained platonic, though those closest to her claim that Lopes would have preferred for their relationship to progress into something more.
“Lisa adored Tupac. If Tupac wanted to go there, she would have dated Tupac,” said Lopes cousin Tangi Foreman. “She really reflected on who she wanted to be with when she got out of the diversion center.”
Ironically, Rison and Shakur had their own friendship outside of Lopes. They met shortly after Lopes and Shakur when the rapper used Rison’s home studio to record some tracks. Shakur also filmed a music video at Rison’s mansion and lived with him for a few months. Rison did not know Lopes at the time nor that Shakur and Lopes were friends.
Rison and Lopes met in 1992 and dated on and off for over ten years. The relationship between Shakur and Rison became strained after he became suspicious of Lopes’ feelings for Shakur.
“I think she was confused because she loved me and she loved Tupac,” Rison said.
Still, Lopes and those closest to her insisted that Shakur and Lopes were strictly friends but the love was deep.
Lopes’ best friend, Trenae Smith, said in the series, “Andre had her heart and Tupac had her soul.”
Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes dated Suge Knight after she and Andre Rison split
Shakur died in 1996 and Lopes and Rison continued dating, even getting engaged. They never made it down the aisle and Lopes called off the wedding.
Rison said that it was hard for him to get over feelings that Lopes and Shakur were involved, despite her insistence that they were not. On Lopes’ end, her sister revealed that she couldn’t get past the hurt she experienced at the hands of Rison in the past.
“Past infidelities and being controlling, Lisa didn’t want to deal with that again,” Reign explained. “She already saw my mom going through similar things so I personally think that’s why Lisa called off the engagement to Andre.”
Lopes focused on her career after her split from Rison. Feeling boxed in and stagnant with TLC, she went solo and signed to Death Row Records. In a strange twist, she began dating Knight and moved in with him.
“The doorbell rings and I get up and open the door and they go these carts with all of her f***ing s**t,” Knight began. “She never went home. She showed up and never rolled out.”
Knight says he began spending more personal time with Lopes while they worked on her solo project and things eventually turned romantic.
“Before it was any relationship before it was a sexual relationship, I had major love for her,” he said. “But I knew Andre and we were cool and Pac was…still is…that’s my little brother. But uh…I cared about her.”
When Rison found out, he considered the situation to be “messy” as Lopes dated Rison and once had feelings for Shakur. “I was done,” he declared.
The relationship between Knight and Lopes was also featured in a 2015 Rolling Stone article. According to sources, the relationship reached a dramatic peak when Lopes discovered a love nest in the Death Row offices where Knight housed other women. A Death Row associate says Looes once threw bleach all over the furniture in the room, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage
The last time Rison saw Lopes was in a club in Atlanta. The two hadn’t seen or spoken to each other in months. Rison was in the VIP section of the club. When his entourage asked if he was going to invite Lopes into his section and he declined, they were shocked.
“It was the first time anyone had ever seen me deny her access to me,” he said.
Sadly, Lopes died a short time later in a car crash a month shy of her 31st birthday. Rison referred to her as an angel in an interview following her death. It’s unclear if she and Knight were still dating at the time of her death.
