Aaliyah, the Highest most Exalted one

Hi Charlie! It's been a long time since we've seen each other, a lot has happened in the span of a year, but today I'm coming at you with a subject that you'll be thrilled about! I'm talking about Babygirl, this one particular superstar that made the 90's what they are known to be today, the girl that paved the way for other singers (literally), the princess of R&B, the one and only AALIYAH. 

A little introduction

Aaliyah was born in Brooklyn on January 16, 1979 and raised in Detroit, she signed a distribution deal  with Jive Records at age 12 and later on got signed to Blackground Records label, which was held by her uncle. Her fame began to grow in 1994 after the release of her first album at only 15 years old "Age Ain't Nothing But A Number" while having R.Kelly as a mentor. 

She was what I would like to call a "quadruple threat"; she could sing, act, dance and model and somehow managed to be good at each one of these crafts, which is one of the reasons why I held her close to my heart since I was just a little girl, when I first got introduced to her marvelous craft. 

After facing allegations of an illegal marriage with R.Kelly, Aaliyah ended her contract with Jive and signed with Atlantic Records, where she started to work with Timbaland, a widely known record producer that later became on of her best friends and was part of her group made up of Timbaland, Magoo, Missy Elliott, Playa and Ginuwine and Aaliyah herself.  This group gave birth to multiple songs such as "Up Jumps Da' Boogie by Timbaland, Magoo, Missy Elliott and Aaliyah", "Best Friends by Missy Elliott featuring Aaliyah", "Final Warning By Ginuwine featuring Aaliyah" and many more. 

                                                                  Aaliyah and her crew

                                                                  Aaliyah and Ginuwine

 

What was so special about her is how she carried herself, she was extremely classy but also had a tom-boyish side to her, she had the perfect blend of both worlds. She was also extremely private about her life, Aaliyah was never involved in any sort of drama and always MINDED HER OWN BUSINESS and made music that she actually enjoyed making. She had this aura about her that captivated whoever she was in company with, an aura that made her producer, Timbaland, 23 years old at the time, fall in love with her while she was still underaged (16 y.o), her attractiveness was almost dangerous, she was a threat. 

What I also love about her music is that she includes a lot of egyptian and algerian influence to them by sampling well-known algerian and egyptian songs such as "Batwannis Beek" (my mom's favorite song) by Warda Al-Jazaïra, an algerian famous singer into her song "Don't Know What To Tell Ya"  or even "Alouli Ansa" by Mayada El Hennawy into her song "More Than A Woman", and also "We Need A Resolution". She also made sure to include the arab culture in her dance moves, props to her and Timbaland for introducing the US to these types of sounds, as they were the first to do so.

We Need A Resolution (she killed it in this music video, literally so mesmerizing):

Don't Know What To Tell Ya 

She was fond of the arabic culture and traditions, her name itself means "the highest most exalted one" in arabic, she even got an arab themed living-room where her decoration only revolves around North-African culture and I can't blame her, indeed we've got that flavor. 

 

Her discography

Age Ain't Nothing But A Number - 1994

One In a Million - 1996

                                             (Posthumous self-titled album) Aaliyah - 2001

Movies she was featured in

Romeo Must Die - 2000

This movie gave birth to tracks such as "Back In One Piece" featuring Dmx and "Try Again" with a cameo of Jet-Li in the music video, I find this movie refreshing as it portrayed for the first time on TV a black and asian (blasian) couple. 

                                                 Aaliyah and Jet-Li on the set of "Try Again"

                                                   Aaliyah and DMX in "Back In One Piece"

DMX also made an apparition in "Romeo Must Die" as a character named Silk, she was actually the one who convinced him to be part of the cast as they were very close friends. 

Queen of the Damned (released after her death) - 2002

She played the role of the Queen Akasha.

Her tragic death

On the 25th August 2001, she had to film her music video for her upcoming single "Rock The Boat" and to do so, she needed to got to the Bahamas to get the desired scenery. Despite the fact that they had some difficulties filming certain scenes, everything went alright as she was already ready to come back home but sadly on her way back to Florida, the plane that she was in crashed, killing her and 8 other passengers. At the peak of her career, she died at the age of 22.

                                                  Lil' Kim and Mary J Blige at Aaliyah's funeral

                                                            Ginuwine at Aaliyah's funeral

                                                            Aaliyah's parents and brother

                                                                       Aaliyah's Casket
   

A music video to pay tribute to her was made shortly after her death. 

(I've never seen DMX being on the verge of tears, heartbreaking :( )

Dmx, a close friend to her, went into a state of shock after her death and hit rock bottom while falling into drugs, her death affected everyone in the music industry. 

                            

Various artists such as Drake, Missy Elliott, Beyoncé are trying to keep her legacy alive.

Aaliyah was truly one in a million.