For fans of Aaliyah, confirmation of the release of her first posthumous album came as bittersweet news.
Boasting previously unreleased material from the star, the project’s premise- though welcomed by some fans- has also found itself on the wrong end of many a public opinion. Opinions, which suggest her label, BlackGround Records, have gone against the wishes of her immediate family by crafting the LP.
Now, in an interview with Aaliyah‘s uncle and Black Ground CEO Barry Hankerson taken just this morning, he has revealed the singer’s ex fiance Damon Dash is to assist Young Money’s Drake on producing the piece.
Exclusive details below…
Excerpt from interview:
That Grape Juice ( David Asante): Missy Elliott, Timbaland and DMX– all of whom Aaliyah considered friends- have all shared their thoughts on the release, was there any particular reason they weren’t called to collaborate with Drake and Noah Shebib?
BlackGround: The stars grieve just as much as the Haughton family do.
Due to circumstances, we can’t control the emotional toll of healing of her legacy like others. The intent is not to disrespect the family, nor do BlackGround Records want to shed any bad light around Aaliyah’s legacy.
We’d like to go in a different direction with the 16 tracks and have been more than open to work with past collaborators.
So, Damon Dash – Aaliyah’s Ex fiance- is more than willing to assist Drake and Noah in producing the upcoming album.
Keep it locked on That Grape Juice for the full interview in the coming hours. An interview, which sees the ground breaking label answer the questions we know you want answers to.
From the project’s financial backing, to their handling of JoJo‘s forthcoming release.
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URRRRRRg just leave it alone. so sick of it.
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Idk I’m still not feeling this whole thing. Missy, Timbaland, Ginuwine, and DMX aren’t giving their blessing, but Damon Dash is the one person involved that I know that loves her. At least with Damon on the project he’ll have Drake on a tight leash LOL!
i feel so bad for Aaliyah i know she in heaven crying right now that her own uncle is being money hungry & going AGAINST her family wishes!!!!! but Damon Dash just wants some money so of course he willing to help i hated him for how he moved on to his babymama so quickly after Aaliyah passed away!!!!! LEAVE THE QUEEN MUSIC ALONE until her family, Tim & Missy are heading the project!!!!!!
“i feel so bad for Aaliyah i know she in heaven crying right now”
ermm how do you know this??
Why are you trying to start drama @Rihanna Navy? People say things like that all the time.
With all due respect to Aaliyah,why invest all that energy into someone who died ages ago when living artists under your label can’t even get 0.1% of that support despite being talented as well
You should learn that dead artists sell more than being alive (Michael Jackson, Elvis, Whitney Houston…to name a few). Barry Hankerson knows what he’s doing. He’s a business man…and greedy too!
ppl may think that you are hating, but this is very true. manage and work to craft the artist who can make new music and become huge stars, who are just on the side lines waiting for their music to be heard/made/recoredetc. instead trying to milk Aaliyah’s name.
not fair to work on her stuff when their are ppl alive, ready to work on new music,but u they could care less
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Because they know it’ll cause problems and people will talk about this and they think it’ll help sell her records-which is won’t. And I say that as a fan of hers.
Im not understaning this maybe its me! But how is drakes not respect aaliyahs familys chioce, if they said they dont want the album to be done dont do it! Its as simple as dat! I will not support anything the family isint apart of, ” not I” and am a huge aaliyah fan, since the 90s when she first started out, u cant go against a family! Smh!
Some people fail to realize that Missy, Timbaland & Aaliyah we’re drifting apart. They worked closely together one her “One in a Million” album but for the third album, they only worked on 3 songs together.
Even just before Aaliyah began shooting the “Rock the Boat” video, Timbaland revealed that his last conversation with her was an argument. So it’s obvious that they were drifting apart (musically speaking) so I don’t see why ppl are upset that they won’t have anything to do with this new album because they didn’t have much to do with the last one.
I hear that, but you have to respect the family, and if you’re going to disrespect them at least do it with better than Damon and Drake.
Its as bad as getting caught stealing clothes from Primark.
Getting caught stealing value bread from the supermarket, at least get caught stealing something better/from somewhere better. They’re going to ruin the music
This is EXACTLY what i said in a previous post about Aaliyah.. Static Major played a major role in Aaliyah’s last album..may he RIP as well..People assume that her music life revolved around Missy & Tim….their WRONG…if you are indeed a true Aaliyah fan you would know this..and furthermore her uncle is considered family..i think the problem lies with the immediate family being mis-informed
They were drifting apart but I think it was more due to business conflicts than musical conflicts. In an article on You Know I Got Soul, they interview the producers from the Aaliyah album and dissect the project from beginning to end. Aaliyah very much wanted Tim to be part of that album and for whatever reason he resisted until last minute and finally produced WNAR, MTW, and DKWTTY (which was later included on her posthumous I Care 4U album). The lead single for Aaliyah’s last album was always said to be “Loose Rap” (I vividly remember this being said when they were still working on the album). But once Tim got on at the last minute, it was switched to WNAR. I think they still had a creative chemistry and respected each other musically, but at that time Tim was having huge issues with Blackground and being that it was Aaliyah’s label ran by her uncle, I can only guess that put her in an awkward place. Back in 2000 there was a file sharing program called Audio Galaxy and there was an instrumental floating around for a Loose Rap remix which was never released nor is there a version with vocals. The beat went hard and had some signature Timbaland sound effects in it. Years later it was confirmed that it was a Tim beat on one of his fansites. It was also posted on Youtube but removed. So Tim could’ve been involved possible more than we know.
“I don’t see why ppl are upset that they won’t have anything to do with this new album because they didn’t have much to do with the last one.” How about the fact that Drake had ZERO to do with the last album, let alone have any part in Aaliyah’s life and career.
But that’s because they had issues with Barry, not Aaliyah! Maybe she got offended though that Tim refused to work with her but that doesn’t mean they were drifting apart, it means they had fights like all people do. Tim and Missy still love her and speak highly of her. I wouldn’t be surprised if the real issue was Barry Hankerson and his shady ass business dealings(and I hope he’s reading this since he tweeted the link-also have some damn respect for your sister, Aaliyahs mother and stop this nonsense!). Tim still did 3 songs though out of the love he had for Aaliyah and until they say what the fight was actually about or that they were drifting apart that’s purely speculation and rumors on your part.
Yes, I hear you- and yes it’s just my speculation, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. I’ve always believed that they all had love for each other at the end of the day. Just by piecing little bits of info together from interviews and videos, I think that it was Blackground conflicts that caused Tim and Missy to be less involved. I don’t think it was anything personal with Aaliyah.
Just when you thought a hot mess couldn’t get any hotter. This irrelevant s*** has just been waiting for a moment to shine again….. this isn’t the moment so continue looking…. b****
Post it now! I want to read.
This is a joke right? That statement is chock-full of poor grammar, and the explanation provided makes no sense whatsoever. People need to be respectful and stop pressuring Aaliyah’s fam to give their approval. If you can’t honor the wishes of Aaliyah’s mother and brother, you can’t even begin to know what it means to honor Aaliyah and her legacy. Just stop.
This is an awful article. They spell Blackground as Black Ground and FYI Damon was not Aaliyah’s fiance!
This is like a nightmare that just WILL NOT END.
First of all, didn’t Blackground come out with a statement earlier this year stating that Missy and Timbaland would be on board only for them to come out and say they have never been approached? So now we’re supposed to believe them about this because it’s an “exclusive” I think not.
So this is supposed to save them face because now instead of drake producing the ENTIRE LP, they have someone on board who was very close to her .. so I’m guessing that is supposed to make this all okay? TGJ why don’t you ask them about how else they plan to destroy and disrespect her legacy and family seeing as they have no intentions on pulling the plug on this. The backlash is tremendous, people aren’t here for it, nobody wants to hear material from a ‘hook’ or a bridge that is expanded into a 3 minute song like stop it already.
At this point nobody cares about who is involved anymore this is clearly a ploy for them to generate revenue off of her name for their struggling record label which is so sad considering these people are her family! this industry is just stone cold! And if Damon knows how against this project her mother and brother are why would he participate? A lot of things still aren’t making sense and they aren’t giving FULL answers and Aaliyah fans are tired of it. Let her rest in peace. I;’ve never seen so much controversy around this woman’s name. She wasn’t about all this, it was strictly about the music, about her talent. if they are trying to keep positivity around her name why continue on with the project? If you want ‘NEW’ generation of people to become familiar with her music why not make a documentary or something? a TV special or never before seen footage of things I KNOW you guys have? why play with music that she had absolutely NO INTENTIONS on releasing?
This is just a mess and like I said it won’t end. They are SOOOOOOO disrespectful for continuing on with this and acting like her family and fans don’t exist. Yes Damon Dash was her ex-BOYFRIEND but what the hell would he know about doing an a Aaliyah album? Barry Hankerson, His son Jomo, and Damon are ALL notorious for their bad business and that’s what this record has written all over it.
May God Rest Your Soul Babygirl.
Well said!!
PREACH! A-men! I hope Barry is reading every.single.word! She was never about this controversy and she would absolutely HATE what they are doing right now! Her fans knows this so her so called “family” – Barry Hankerson should definitely know this as well! Tim and Missy don’t even want to be involved! They ever knew she wouldn’t ride with this mess!
wow someone who forced Aaliyah on that plane is mooching off of her. Let her rest in peace. because you guys know she was getting tired of the BS this industry allowed itself to become. She would not go against her family wishes and for every project she put out Rashaad had to be a part of it in someway. So now the true goons of this biz want to say she would put out mediocre songs she was a perfectionist and wanted her music fit for a lifetime. People will never know what she would put out or not because she is not her to put these fools out of business smh she must be shaking in her grave right now.
*here
No alot of people say damon dash sacrificed aaliyah. He killed her and the illuminati awarded him so much wealth.
DRAKE NEEDS TO GO SIT DOWN
Dame dash is a wanker I hope he falls off a cliff stupid fuckyard dickface. I’m so annoyed to read this, talk about no respect for a persons family.
This was SO POORLY written and Blackground Records IS her family! Literally! Jomo and Barry and them! So why is this written like it’s a “label press release/interview” when it’s probably frigging Barry himself? As a big fan of hers I don’t think we need an album. Let ALONE Drake and Dame doing it!
So many lies, so many rumors around this album and Barry seems to be enjoying it and milking it. It’s disgusting. Tim said he doesn’t even think it’s going to happen and I agree. I wish Barry would fall WAY BACK and remember this is his dead niece! Not some toy object, not some icon, not some singer-you blood! Stop toying with her legacy, her fans emotions and most importantly her/your familys emotions! Just because she is gone now doesn’t mean you can behave this way! I know Barry loves his niece so he needs to start acting like it, I’m sure she would not be impressed by this sloppy display of a so called new album, if you ARE going to do it-do it right! Don’t drop a song her, then Drake randomly says he’ll be doing the producing! Do it right! You’ve been in the business long enough to know how to promote things and set up an album so fans aren’t left confused and annoyed!
Proof-reading is your best friend Sam or David.
Rapper freeway and just blaze said aaliyah was on her way to do a remix with them that night when she died. They said damon set up that session and he kept calling her and rushing her to see If she left. Hype was sued by her parents and won cause his people rented that plane to save money cause she left early. It’s stated she didn’t know about the weight issue. Someone from her record company told the airport people to skip the weight balance of the luggage and passengers. Who does that? That was intentional. Her uncle does evil stuff like that. He got his girlfriend fired and blew up her car. Plus he’s a lawyer and that crash happened out of the u.s. where no one can take legal actions. If your reading this I hope u ask forgiveness before u leave this world because you chose money over your own niece. That’s evil but your day is coming. Maybe not now, maybe not years, but it’s coming. Yall letting it be known Yall after her money cause Yall going against her mother. Yall scarred them people for life taking their angel from them. GOD have mercy on their souls.