Sunnie, Tali, and Bunni Ray of Blushhh Music are bringing Old School Back

The newest group from Mathew Knowles' Music World Entertainment is more than a girl group they are a hip-hop trio consisting of rappers Sunnie and Bunni Ray, and vocalist, Tali, better known as Blushhh Music.

What's The 411 had an opportunity to talk exclusively with Blushhh Music about how the group came together; their raponizing art form; the people who influenced them; meeting Mathew Knowles; and Kelly Rowland's impact on Tali; and their first single, Old School Back, which can be purchased on iTunes.

How Blushhh Music Came Together

We all like to know how groups come together. So starting from the beginning, it all started with the help of digital technology. More specifically, Blushhh Music came together with the help of social media.

Group member Sunnie was part of a duo searching for a singer to complete the group. During an Internet search of singers in Houston, she found Tali on Facebook. Fortunately for Tali, she branded herself well with a profile name on Facebook, TaliBestSingerlastname. Additionally, Tali's photos represented her well and the way she responded to the inquiry were the icing on the cake that gave her an invite to audition to be part of the group.

Five years later, the original group of Sunnie, Tali, and another rapper met Mathew Knowles at a showcase and were signed to an artist development contract. Two months into the contract, the other rapper dropped out and consequently there was a need to find another group member. Sunnie and Tali found Bunni Ray on Instagram. Mr. Knowles gave Sunnie and Tali complete creative control over the selection of Bunni Ray, because, at the end of the day, it was their "sisterhood" that was important.

So, can these ladies sing and rap? Well, in a word, yes! They gave us a taste of their "raponizing" aka a Capella rapping harmony.

Musical Influences

In music, everyone is influenced by someone. As a trio, Blushhh Music's sound is their own. However, as individuals, you can hear their influences.

Growing up, Sunnie's musical influences were MC Lyte, Lauren Hill, Tupac, and Queen Latifah. Fast forward, her current influences are Drake, Timbaland, Missy Elliott, Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole.

As a vocalist, Tali's influences come from the R&B/Pop side of the ledger. Michael Jackson's, "You are Not Alone," is the first song she sang at 3-years-old. Like many kids who were influenced by their parents' musical preferences, Tali followed her mother's path and became a fan of Janet Jackson and The Jacksons. Tali later became a fan of Destiny's Child, Sade, Shakira, and Selena. Since she has been raponizing, Tali's hip-hop influences include NWA, Bone Thugs n' Harmony, and Chance The Rapper.

Just listening to Bunni Ray, you can tell her influences are Left Eye (TLC), DaBrat, and Lil' Kim. What is surprising is that she is influenced by modern day Kanye West and the Flatbush Zombies. With What's The 411 being based in Brooklyn, shout out to the Flatbush Zombies! If we had known in advance of the interview, perhaps we could have arranged a meetup!

Blushhh Music's Defining Fashion Style

What's The 411 host and beauty expert, Courtney Rashon, is always focused on beauty and style. Courtney says when she first saw Blushhh Music, she saw their style as glam hip-hop, "Destiny's Child meets TLC, meets like a Run DMC."

"We do match, as you can see," responded Sunnie. "We're big on matching."

Their look is cohesive, a tip they learned from Mathew Knowles. When people see them, they should know that they are in a group even if they are not standing right next to each other.

Although there is cohesiveness, "we do have individual things about ourselves that you're always going to notice, Sunnie continued. "You're always going to notice Sunnie with the braids and a hat. Tali with the big blond hair."

"Artistic," Bunni Ray chimed in. "...she's super artsy with what she wears."

"I'm likely to draw on something or rip it up," added Tali.

"It is never going to be how she bought it in the store," says Bunni Ray.

Tali, who has a sexy style of her own, says that Bunni Ray brings the sex appeal, with Bunni Ray, "you're going to see thighs and boobs, you're going to see, sex appeal," said Tali with a finger snap.

Working With Mathew Knowles

What's The 411 host Onika McLean asked the question that many people want to know.

"How's it working with him (Mr. Knowles)...tell us something we don't know."

"He's not as intimidating as he looks; he's not as mean. We thought he hated us. Oh, he don't like us; I didn't even want to sing," responded Tali.

"If he's hard on you, it is because you have potential," added Sunnie.

"If he tells you that you're good, you might want to work," Tali said.

"Because you're never done growing," Sunnie continued. "Even with his daughter, he says all the time, Beyonce, every show, she's looking at something to improve. Every show, he's looking at something to improve. If you ever feel satisfied, and there's nothing in your mind that you feel you should work on, then he says you should just stop it here because you're not going to prosper. "

"He's funny," said Tali. "He's very funny, he has jokes, so smart. He knows what punch lines to say, what to make the topic of the day. Watch this be the headline because I said it."

"He's a marketing a genius." Sunni interrupted.

Kelly Rowland Makes a Great Impression on Blushhh Music

Aside from Mr. Knowles, who is the most interesting person that they have met since they became a group, Onika asked Blushhh Music

"Kelly Rowland!," Tali responded without hesitation. "Kelly Rowland to me; she played a big part when I was growing up period, in my high school days. When Sunni found me, I was telling Sunni about it, so Sunni was like, okay, okay. So when we got signed with Mr. Knowles, it was weird. So we just had the Atlanta Car Show, the car and bike show that we did, and she (Kelly Rowland) has June's Diary and they were there and they performed. So we got to meet Kelly, and when she saw us across the room, she ran over to us, and she was like 'hey I'm so happy to see you, great job.' So I finally got a chance to introduce her, and they were like, 'hey I heard so much about you.' She's just so sweet. She took a picture with us. She gave us great advice and that is something that we just took with us. It was like meeting the entire Destiny's Child group. It's really like we are Music Entertainment World family.

The Wrap-up

In answering Onika's question regarding what each member of the group would like for the audience to know about the group, Tali didn't hesitate to swoop in before Sunnie and say "original," which is Sunnie's line. After a laugh, Tali told Sunnie to "steal" her line, and she obliged.

"Always be you because no one can be you better than you in the words of Tali," offered Sunnie.

These ladies are so talented, humble, and focused!

Download Old School Back by Blushhh Music on iTunes and follow Blushhh Music on all social media at @BlushhhMusic.

Singer, actress and all-around entertainer, Bette Midler has a remake of TLC’s Waterfalls on her new album, It’s The Girls!

The album, consisting of remakes of songs from girl groups, is a celebration of girl groups and is Bette Midler’s first album in nearly 10 years.

On the album, in addition to the remake of TLC’s Waterfalls, there are remakes of The Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, The Shirelles, The Ronettes, The Andrew Sisters, The Crystals and more.

“I have loved the sound of females harmonizing since I was a kid; I always sang along. Didn't we all?” Midler tells Billboard. “I think the idea that you could become part of the group was the thing that endeared me to the girl groups. You weren't just singing along, you were THERE!”

There is a little bit of a dustup over Midler's remake of Waterfalls originally recorded by TLC, but most people like Midler’s heart-wrenching rendition.

It's The Girls! is set for a November 4 release.

Check out audio clip of Waterfalls and let us know what you think.

Audio of Waterfalls by Bette Midler

Perri "Pebbles" Reid, the former manager of the R&B group, TLC, claims the producers of a VH1 biopic film defamed her by portraying her as an "unethical and dishonest businesswoman" who exploited the three singers for her own personal gain.

In a lawsuit filed in Fulton County, Ga., Ms. Reid says that producers of the VH1 film "Crazysexycool: The TLC Story," fabricated large portions of the group's story and passed it off as a true biography of the band. Reid sued VH1 owner Viacom for defamation in April in federal court, asking for $40 million in damages. (That case is still pending and is in discovery.) The new state lawsuit is against surviving members of TLC and executive producers Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas for the same $40 million amount in compensatory and punitive damages.

"The TLC movie told a story of Ms. Reid as a conniving and dishonest business woman who hoodwinked three innocent girls and exploited their talent for her own personal gain and in the process negatively influenced their personal lives and deprived them of fair compensation," the complaint states.

Atlanta-based trio TLC is one of the biggest selling female groups of all time with hits such as "Waterfalls," "No Scrubs" and "What About Your Friends." A third member, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, died in a car accident in 2002. The other two women have performed sporadically over the years without her, including a tour not too long ago in Australia, according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

The lawsuit goes into detail from Pebbles' perspective in how the group was formed, her role in it and what she knew or didn't know at the time. For instance, she wrote in the lawsuit that she had no idea Chilli was pregnant in the early 1990s and learned of T-Boz's sickle-cell anemia only after the first album was released. She wrote how actively she was in recruiting and managing the group in those early years.

"On many occasions," the lawsuit states, "Ms. Reid personally advanced expenses on behalf of TLC and was never fully reimbursed by the group out of her own generosity" and "compensated TLC over and above amounts due under the terms of the contract." She portrayed herself as a person who "counseled" and "nurtured" the group as individuals and encouraged them to be frugal in their spending as new artists. She wrote she "poured her heart and soul into the group for over five years and did not want to walk away from TLC."

She said before the first album was completed, TLC began to try to change contract terms to cut her out of the deal. She believes TLC filed for bankruptcy in 1995 as "a legal ploy to renege on, and be released from, its contractual obligations to Ms. Reid."

The two sides eventually settled that case.