Aaliyah Discussion

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

Jan 16, 2021 21:20:38 GMT -5 SHOOTER said:

We can't get her music properly re-released but at least there's boomboxes!

bumpboxx.com/pages/aaliyah

OMG yes! And a pager too lol! So 90s.

I've seen the one they had done for Selena.

[Rican@]

What is the boombox? Like the usage of it? Karaoke?

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

Jan 16, 2021 22:03:24 GMT -5 Rican@ said:

What is the boombox? Like the usage of it? Karaoke?

It seems like it is a karaoke boombox, not a regular one, where it only plays their music that you can sing along to.

[thezatch]

I was on my way home from running some errands today and Tim & Magoo’s “I Am Music” came up on shuffle. I will admit I teared up a little bit during her bridge of ad-libs. So angelic, yet haunting since it was released right after she passed. Her influence can still be felt to this day.

Happy Birthday Aaliyah.

[Ty]

B**** H******** is going straight to hell for this evilness he's committed to black musicians and human creativity.

[vithor]

Jan 16, 2021 23:49:53 GMT -5 Ty said:

B**** H******** is going straight to hell for this evilness he's committed to black musicians and human creativity.

And, as I've read on the internets around, apparently his son is ready to take over once he makes the transition, who isn't gonna let us listen to all of it easily either

[Queen of Insomnia.]

We've been blessed with another unreleased track from Baby Girl:

[Ty]

This is cute. Is it from the OIAM era?

[Linnethia Monique]

Jan 17, 2021 15:45:43 GMT -5 vithor said:

Jan 16, 2021 23:49:53 GMT -5 Ty said:

B**** H******** is going straight to hell for this evilness he's committed to black musicians and human creativity.

And, as I've read on the internets around, apparently his son is ready to take over once he makes the transition, who isn't gonna let us listen to all of it easily either

Jomo was split from the same Satan gene as his father. You can add his spawn with Gladys Knight, Shanga, to that too since he's been giving her hell for years now.

[George]

Jan 21, 2021 12:02:01 GMT -5 Ty said:

This is cute. Is it from the OIAM era?

Not sure. Some background on the song back in 2013:

www.factmag.com/2013/01/18/listen-to-quit-hatin-a-new-song-featuring-unreleased-aaliyah-vocals/

NEW MUSIC I 18.01.13 I BY FACT

Another song is crafted from unreleased vocals by the late R&B siren.

Like ‘Enough Said’, the divisive pseudo-collaboration produced by Noah ’40′ Shebib and featuring Aaliyah Super Fan Drake, ‘Quit Hatin’ has a suspicious origin. The snare rolling, bass-heavy beat is produced by LA unknown Knotch (while similarly obscure DJs Dre Sinatra and Carisma paste their drops all over the track). Unsurprisingly, the song is a missed opportunity to properly honor the late singer.

According to In Flex We Trust, the song was released by Aaliyah’s estate to celebrate what would have been her 34th birthday. No word on whether or not this song appears on the planned posthumous Aaliyah record, which is said to feature Timbaland, Missy Elliott, and Drake.

While there hasn’t been any news about the record since last summer, we’d hope whoever is involved is more reverent of the singer than the team on this track. [via Spin]

Update: As mentioned in the comments and elsewhere, the song also appears to sample Aaliyah’s posthumous single ‘Come Over’; the same sample appeared on A$AP Rocky’s ‘Fuckin’ Problem’, which was produced by Drake and 40.

[Sir Benji]

Jan 21, 2021 11:56:52 GMT -5 Queen of Insomnia. said:

We've been blessed with another unreleased track from Baby Girl:

Ok so this must be the (or close to) original version. This leaked in 2013 with updated production.  This was assumed to be for that unreleased/cancelled  album that Drake and 40 were helping produce until Aaliyah's mother reached out to them and asked them not to do it.

Part of the lyrics were also used in the Timbaland song "Shakin" from his 2015 mixtape "King Stays King" it uses the production on this version as the basis with added production from Tim.

I wonder who leaked this version?

BG is holding off on the catalog because B & J want to squeeze as much money as they can out of it they could care less about the fans.

[divasummer]

I like that unreleased track.
Does Aaliyah have a store you can buy her music off of or a streaming deal with someone?
Why is it her estate doesn't do anything with her music now???

[Ty]

Jan 24, 2021 12:17:30 GMT -5 divasummer said:

I like that unreleased track.
Does Aaliyah have a store you can buy her music off of or a streaming deal with someone?
Why is it her estate doesn't do anything with her music now???

Read this: thesource.com/2018/07/17/aaliyah-15-great-blackground-records-albums-you-cant-stream/

[thezatch]

Reading over that Source article, I'm so glad I picked up a majority of those albums back in the day before Blackground went belly up.

[Zinc.]

The Black Women Who Ruled Music in 2001



Aaliyah
It had been five years since Aaliyah's last album when her self-titled third LP arrived in July of 2001. The experimental neo-soul album marked a turning point in the young star's artistic output, proving that she had much more on her mind than the R&B box she'd been shoved into. Debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, the album would eventually hit No. 1, but only after tragedy struck. Aaliyah's life was cut short on Aug. 25 when a plane leaving the Bahamas, where she'd just finished filming the video for "Rock the Boat," crashed, killing her and several crew members. The posthumous climb to the top of the chart marked the first for an artist since John Lennon in 1980. The album is widely regarded as the blueprint for artists like Beyoncé, The Weeknd and countless others.

[Caviar]

Album of the century.

[George]

An unreleased song called “Round N Round” with Ne-Yo leaked today:

[bat1990]

This is catchy!!! I just wish Ne-Yo's vocals didn't overtake hers in the second half.

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

I like it. It's nice.

[back2blk]

Yeah I like this. I am not mad at it.

[Rican@]

I love it! If she was here, I would love some ad libs from her at the end. Ne-Yo carries the song well.

[Queen of Insomnia.]

What's up with these two never released songs leaking in less than three wks span?!
O.o Colour me surprised. I hope its a gift that keeps on giving. fingers crossed.
Another cute gem. Only makes me wonder what else is hidden from us...

[Caviar]

I need that song on tape! I could imagine that being on a follow-up to the Red album.

[Zinc.]

Aaliyah Still Sounds Like The Future

An eponymous album marks a major moment in an artist's career. For women, owning one's work, body, and artistry can be especially powerful, even political. Throughout Women's History Month, MTV News is highlighting some of these iconic statements from some of the biggest artists on the globe. This is Self-Titled.

In 2000, while filming scenes in the title role for Queen of the Damned in Australia, Aaliyah finished recording her third album. It had been in the works for a couple years — she reportedly completed most of it in New York before making her on-screen debut in that year’s Romeo Must Die and releasing “Try Again” as the soundtrack’s lead single. But despite the time gap, Aaliyah’s vision for her eponymous album remained clear: to expand the boundaries of her sound.

“She told me specifically what kind of records she wanted,” singer-songwriter Tank, who wrote “I Can Be” and “What If” for Aaliyah, told the music blog YouKnowIGotSoul in 2011. “She kind of wanted a little dangerous, a little sexy, that type of thing.”

Tank, with other co-writers and producers for the album including Static Major, Bud’da, J.Dub, Key Beats, and Playa, hunkered down in Melbourne’s Sing Sing Studios for about a month. Aaliyah, who filmed her scenes as the evil vampire Queen Akasha during the day, joined them in the evenings. When the album was released on July 7, 2001, it debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. It received rave reviews: Vibe called it “the best soul album of the young millennium,” while Spin described Aaliyah as a “musicologist” who creates “meaning outside the lyrics.”

Aaliyah was a continuation of the remarkable way the artist surpassed herself with each release. While 1994’s Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number bridged her precocious mystique with new jack swing, 1996’s One in a Million highlighted Aaliyah’s hushed tones with thumping, stuttering rhythms in collaboration with creative soul mates Missy Elliott and Timbaland. Aaliyah took all that and fused it into a sophisticated soundscape at the bleeding edge of sonic innovation.

Aaliyah’s forward-thinking musical outlook was representative of the enterprising artist she was — and the icon she so quickly became. As she developed her wide-ranging talent, her magnetic appeal flooded into other arenas: film, where she was cultivating a promising career, and fashion, where her laid-back, sensual style made her a muse for designers like Tommy Hilfiger. He even launched a whole campaign around her wearing baggy jeans with an exposed waistband and bandeau top, the success of which inspired the brand’s women’s line. Importantly, Aaliyah was an inspiration for kids coming of age everywhere who saw glimpses of themselves in her.

Considering the ingenuity of Aaliyah, it’s no wonder. The production was mind-bending, characterized by a cybernated sonic freakiness, and the way Aaliyah pulled humanity out of digitized ones and zeroes is a master class in nuance. “We were trying to do as much as we could and try to put an album together for her to be able to hear and see what she felt,” Bud’da recalled.

Aaliyah’s honeyed falsetto was more robust and urgent than ever as she explored relationship dynamics and intimacy in Timbaland’s twitchy syncopation (“We Need a Resolution,” “More Than a Woman”), desire in shimmering synthesizers (“Rock the Boat”), liberation in swelling staccato (“I Refuse”), and jealousy in glitchy, industrial chaos (“What If”).

“There are a lot of great flavors on the album,” Aaliyah said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel. “It's older, it's edgy, it's raw, yet it's a little bit of fun. I want to tell people where I am as a person in my life today.”

When Aaliyah was released, nothing sounded quite like it. TLC and Destiny’s Child had played with staticky accents on Fanmail and The Writing’s on the Wall, respectively — a trend that Aaliyah herself spurred with One in a Million — but Aaliyah was avant-garde. Weirder, in an electrifying kind of way; as Vibe described: “damn near post-R&B.”

It’s still impossible to fathom what happened next. Just a month after Aaliyah was released, returning home from the Bahamas where she shot the music video for “Rock the Boat,” Aaliyah and eight other passengers lost their lives in a plane crash. She was only 22. The indelible mark she made on contemporary R&B and pop culture, at large, in such a short period of time had been so immediate: Aaliyah stretched the bounds of what R&B could sound like in a way that redefined the genre, while helping inform sonic trends of the early 2000s. Twenty years after the release of the album as well as her tragic death, the force of that impact still reverberates.

It’s not difficult to hear the direct influence Aaliyah made on the generation that followed her. Artists like Kehlani, Tinashe, Ciara, and Rihanna have taken audible cues from Aaliyah’s soft vocal phrasing and left-of-center song qualities. "We owe our chill vibe to her," Tinashe told Billboard. "People were used to artists belting things out. She brought a new vocal styling that wasn’t represented in R&B. Not everything has to be so uptempo." Drake is one of Aaliyah’s loudest devotees, sampling her music (“Unforgettable”), referencing her in lyrics (“BedRock”), and rapping to her previously unreleased tracks ( “Enough Said”). FKA Twigs channeled Aaliyah outright in “Two Weeks,” pairing her sweet tone against anxious percussion and then paying music video homage to Queen of the Damned in full Queen Akasha regalia.

“The new generation pulls inspiration from Aaliyah, despite not growing up with her, because she was authentic," Missy Elliott said in 2014. "Her music couldn’t be placed in a category."

Indeed, perhaps the best indicator of Aaliyah’s influence is how it has extended into more unexpected musical territories like dubstep — which, bearing in mind the experimental nature of her work, isn’t all that surprising. On “In McDonalds,” electronic maestro Burial pitch-shifted Aaliyah’s “I Refuse” into a whispering siren that cut through enigmatic sparsity. James Blake sampled “Are You That Somebody?” to form the foundation of his airy post-dubstep anthem “CMYK.”

Such a sweeping compass is one reason why Aaliyah’s lack of visibility on streaming platforms feels so glaring. The majority of her catalog isn’t available on any service. Aaliyah and One in a Million can be found on YouTube; there are bootlegs floating around the internet and random songs on Spotify featured on obscure compilations like R&B Divas and Girls of Hip Hop, Vol. 1. The only Aaliyah album currently available to stream is her first, Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number, which was written and produced by R. Kelly; in 2019, Kelly faced charges of bribing an Illinois official in order to procure a fake ID for the then-15-year-old Aaliyah in order to marry her. He is currently imprisoned awaiting a trail on charges of racketeering and child pornography.

Journalist Stephen Witt traces the streaming obstacle back to Aaliyah’s uncle, Barry Hankerson, who owns most of her discography through his now-defunct Blackground Records imprint and who seems unwilling to release it. There are also issues with the fact that her three albums were each distributed through different labels.

But with streaming as today’s primary avenue of musical consumption, if Aaliyah’s music isn’t accessible in our all-but-entirely digital era, younger generations who didn’t grow up with it won’t have the chance to truly discover it — no matter who cites Aaliyah as an influence or takes her fashion notes or celebrates the impact she made. As Witt writes, this runs a dangerous risk that Aaliyah will be forgotten. “Nostalgia is cyclical,” he adds, and “if Aaliyah's catalog isn't on the right platforms, her music could functionally cease to exist.”

Last summer, it seemed like things started moving along, albeit slowly. Aaliyah’s estate gave a statement saying communication had begun regarding the status of her music and its streaming availability. This January, another statement thanked fans for their patience and support: “We must acknowledge that these matters are not within our control and, unfortunately, take time.”

For those who loved her or still have yet to discover her, hopefully we’re a step closer to having Aaliyah’s music at our fingertips. In the meantime, her voice can still be heard in the musical landscape she helped revolutionize, as well as through the multidimensional trajectory of her legacy — to be sure, a distinction she wanted all along.

“I want people to see me as an entertainer,” Aaliyah considered in a 2001 interview with MTV News. “Someone who can do it all. I want people to look at me as a full-on entertainer.” She paused, then smiled. “And a good person.”

[bat1990]

Looking at Aaliyah's history on the Billboard radio genre charts, I can only image how many more Top 10s she would have if Urban and Adult R&B were included in the Hot 100 earlier than Dec 1998.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Billboard Radio Monitor}

Song	Chart	Peak Position	Weeks Charted	Peak Week
Back & Forth	Single Sales	3	23	6/4/1994
Back & Forth	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	1	26	6/11/1994
Back & Forth	Adult R&B	6	20	6/11/1994
Back & Forth	Rhythmic	1	26	7/9/1994
Back & Forth	Mainstream Top 40	16	15	7/30/1994
At Your Best (You Are Love)	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	3	23	9/10/1994
At Your Best (You Are Love)	Adult R&B	4	23	9/17/1994
At Your Best (You Are Love)	Single Sales	4	20	9/17/1994
At Your Best (You Are Love)	Rhythmic	2	24	10/22/1994
At Your Best (You Are Love)	Mainstream Top 40	40	1	11/19/1994
Age Ain't Nothing But a Number	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	33	9	12/24/1994
Age Ain't Nothing But a Number	Single Sales	59	7	1/14/1995
Age Ain't Nothing But a Number	Adult R&B	26	8	1/28/1995
Age Ain't Nothing But a Number	Rhythmic	36	5	2/18/1995
I Need You Tonight	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	40	1	11/18/1995
I Need You Tonight	Single Sales	60	2	12/16/1995
Are You Ready	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	40	1	5/25/1996
If Your Girl Only Knew	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	3	20	9/28/1996
If Your Girl Only Knew	Single Sales	7	25	10/12/1996
If Your Girl Only Knew	Adult R&B	38	25	10/26/1996
If Your Girl Only Knew	Rhythmic	6	26	11/2/1996
One In a Million	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	1	26	12/28/1996
One In a Million	Adult R&B	21	99	2/22/1997
One In a Million	Rhythmic	2	26	3/1/1997
4 Page Letter	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	8	14	5/3/1997
4 Page Letter	Rhythmic	26	8	5/17/1997
Hot Like Fire	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	25	6	8/30/1997
The One I Gave My Heart To	Rhythmic	8	19	11/15/1997
The One I Gave My Heart To	Single Sales	6	26	11/22/1997
The One I Gave My Heart To	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	15	13	12/6/1997
The One I Gave My Heart To	Adult R&B	34	7	12/20/1997
Are You That Somebody?	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	1	26	7/25/1998
Are You That Somebody?	Rhythmic	1	33	8/22/1998
Are You That Somebody?	Adult R&B	33	3	9/12/1998
Are You That Somebody?	Mainstream Top 40	6	26	11/21/1998
You Won't See Me Tonight	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	38	2	7/17/1999
I Don't Wanna	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	3	23	3/4/2000
I Don't Wanna	Rhythmic	22	10	3/25/2000
I Don't Wanna	Adult R&B	25	13	4/29/2000
Try Again	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	2	25	4/29/2000
Try Again	Rhythmic	1	29	6/3/2000
Try Again	Adult R&B	35	5	6/10/2000
Try Again	Latin Pop	37	5	7/15/2000
Try Again	Tropical	32	6	7/15/2000
Try Again	Mainstream Top 40	3	26	8/12/2000
Come Back in One Piece	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	24	7	7/15/2000
Come Back in One Piece	Rhythmic	39	1	7/22/2000
We Need a Resolution	Rhythmic	38	4	6/9/2001
We Need a Resolution	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	11	13	6/30/2001
We Need a Resolution	Tropical	31	2	9/29/2001
Rock The Boat	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	2	26	10/27/2001
Rock The Boat	Adult R&B	18	26	11/10/2001
Rock The Boat	Rhythmic	13	26	1/12/2002
More Than a Woman	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	7	18	3/30/2002
More Than a Woman	Rhythmic	12	22	4/27/2002
More Than a Woman	Mainstream Top 40	19	10	6/15/2002
I Care 4 U	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	7	26	10/26/2002
I Care 4 U	Adult R&B	8	32	12/14/2002
Miss You	Rhythmic	6	26	1/25/2003
Miss You	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	1	26	2/8/2003
Miss You	Adult R&B	19	26	3/29/2003
Miss You	Mainstream Top 40	10	15	4/26/2003
Miss You	Single Sales	3	53	5/24/2003
Come Over	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	13	26	9/20/2003
Enough Said	Mainstream R&B/Hip Hop	32	9	10/20/2012
Don't Think They Know	Streaming Songs	66	1	7/13/2013
Don't Think They Know	Digital Songs	44	1	7/20/2013

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

The 100 Greatest Song Bridges of the 21st Century: Staff Picks

www.billboard.com/articles/news/list/9571438/greatest-song-bridges-21st-century-top-100

79. AALIYAH, "TRY AGAIN"

How it Starts: "See, you don't want to throw it all away..."

The part you definitely remember: A's warning that she might be shy on the first date, but "what about the next date?" That sly come-on is followed by the wordless "huh, huh, huh, huh (Oh)" that you and your friends definitely harmonized on like crazy at karaoke with way too much attitude for the room.

Why it works: This whole song is Aaliyah's step-by-step instructions on how to win your way into her shy heart despite what seems like a hard "no" on going forward.... until she crucially lets her guard down in the bridge and is like, "c'mon, man! you know how this game is played! Hang in there!" -- GIL KAUFMAN

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPNQgdXDxmm

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPtTxCbniml

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CP6HQXAh1Hz

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CQ1myMAHFGs