During and after the release of TLC's third studio album, FanMail (1999), Lopes made it known to the press on multiple occasions that she felt that she was unable to fully express herself working with the group. Her contributions to the songs had been reduced to periodic eight-bar raps, and studio session singers such as Debra Killings often took her place on the background vocals for the group's songs. In its November 26, 1999, issue, Entertainment Weekly ran a letter from Lopes that challenged her group mates to record solo albums and let the fans judge which of the three was the most talented:
"I challenge Tionne 'Player' Watkins and Rozonda 'Hater' Thomas to an album entitled The Challenge. A 3 CD set that contains three solo albums. Each [album]... will be due to the record label by October 1, 2000... I also challenge Dallas 'The Manipulator' Austin to produce all of the material and do it at a fraction of his normal rate. As I think about it, I'm sure LaFace would not mind throwing in a 1.5 million dollar prize for the winner."[3]
Watkins and Thomas declined to take up Lopes' challenge,[4] though Lopes always maintained it was a great idea. Things were heated between the women for some time, with Thomas speaking out against Lopes, calling her antics "selfish", "evil", and "heartless".[5] TLC then addressed these fights by saying that they were very much like sisters that occasionally have their disagreements; as Lopes stated, "It's deeper than a working relationship. We have feelings for each other, which is why we get so mad at each other. I usually say that you cannot hate someone unless you love them. So, we love each other. That's the problem." The women eventually settled the feud, and The Challenge was never followed through. After the conclusion of the successful FanMail Tour, the women, however, took some time off and pursued personal interests. Lopes was the first to begin recording her solo album, Supernova, though it underperformed internationally and was never released in the United States.
During this time period, Thomas had begun working on a solo project until she realized that rumors of TLC's demise had taken over in the media. It was then that Thomas made a call to LaFace label-head L.A. Reid to discuss working on TLC's fourth studio album. After contacting Watkins, and soon after, Lopes, sessions for 3D began in May 2001. However, soon after recording had begun, sessions came to a halt, as Lopes began work on her second studio album, known as N.I.N.A. (New Identity Non Applicable). In January 2002, as Watkins was hospitalized due to complications stemming from her ongoing battle with sickle cell anemia, Lopes eventually came to visit her in the hospital and went back to the studio to record raps for 3D. In April 2002, as Watkins' condition improved greatly, Lopes went to Honduras to do missionary work and also record a documentary film about her life.[6]
On April 25, 2002, Lopes was killed in a car crash, leaving behind material that she had recorded for both N.I.N.A. and 3D. Watkins and Thomas decided to use three of Lopes' newly recorded raps that were specifically recorded for the album ("Quickie", "Girl Talk", and "Who's It Gonna Be?"); the other songs that feature her in it were unreleased raps from her solo album sessions. The unreleased vocals were featured on the songs "Quickie", "Over Me" and "Give It to Me While It's Hot".
Watkins and Thomas decided that they would complete the remainder of their fourth album, to be called 3D, which featured production from Rodney Jerkins, the Neptunes, Raphael Saadiq, Missy Elliott and Timbaland. The decision was also made that TLC would continue on as a duo rather than replace Lopes. The group went on a hiatus, but announced in 2009 that they would possibly begin recording a fifth studio album.[7]
3D received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 71, based on 14 reviews.[8]Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic praised the album as "one of the best modern soul albums of 2002" and called it "a bittersweet triumph". He found that while 3D "perhaps doesn't blaze trails like their other albums, it never plays it safe and it always satisfies."[2] Andy Battaglia of The A.V. Club wrote that "in spite of a slim body of songs and an occasionally half-finished feel, the group stakes a solid claim to the riches of future-soul with 3D, leaving a distinct stamp on even its weakest material with gorgeous singing built around the understated grace of '60s girl groups."[14]
Billboard magazine found that "with 3D, TLC has crafted a fitting tribute to a departed sister", calling it "a nearly perfect collection."[15] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly remarked that "thanks to such hired guns as the Neptunes and Rodney Jerkins, TLC have made a better post-tragedy album than expected. 3D is a smorgasbord of modern R&B that ranges from silky to retro." He noted however that the album "still, feels a little incomplete, like much of their work."[1]Rolling Stone writer Barry Walters concluded that "the album isn't the romp it might have been had Lopes survived, but 3D solidly embodies black pop in a year in which it has lacked a center."[11] Dorian Lynskey from Blender felt that "3D's sheer creative vibrancy is itself a testament to Lopes's live-wire charisma", while Dimitri Ehrlich from Vibe noted that "while the CD is consistently well-produced and performed, the material recorded before Lopes's death [...] is simply darker, sexier, and angrier."[13]
Commercial performance
In the United States, 3D debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 and at number four on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.[16] Selling 143,000 copies, it sold less than half of the first-week total scored by previous album FanMail (1999), which had opened at number one on the chart with 318,000 units.[16] It also marked TLC's lowest-charting album since Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip (1992).[16] On December 10, 2002, 3D was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments in excess of one million copies.[17] By November 2004, the album had sold 680,000 units in the United States,[18] As of July 2017 it has sold 693,000 copies, according to Billboard.[19]
Internationally, 3D failed to reach the top 40 on the majority of the charts it appeared on, except Canada, where it managed to debut and peak at number 31 on the Canadian Albums Chart.[20] Nevertheless, the album was particularly successful in Japan, reaching number two on the Oricon Albums Chart and earning a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) in November 2002.[21][22]
