There has been a lot of controversy over the recent news
that Hip-hop artist Drake, will be executive producing a new album from the
late R&B artist/actor Aaliyah. The album will include unreleased vocals of
the artist before she passed.
During her career, Aaliyah has collaborated with artists and
producers such as Missy Elliot, TImbaland, Magoo, and Jermaine Dupri. However,
none of these artists or producers were asked to collaborate on this new album.
Aside from the music, they’ve had personal relationships with Aaliyah. In a
recent interview with Timbaland, he expressed how he acted as a big brother
towards Aaliyah.
In a recent interview with New York’s Power 105, Missy
Elliot expressed her perspective on the situation. Elliot mentioned that out of
respect for the family, they should be the ones to initiate an Aaliyah album.
She also said that there’s a difference between the ways Aaliyah’s family
mourns her death, and how fans and supporters mourn her death. After all, “they
knew her before she was Aaliyah to the world” says Elliot.
Prior to the Power 105 interview, media sources got in touch
with Aaliyahs brother Rashad Haughton. He precisely stated, “There is no
official album being supported by the Haughton family.
In this predicament, the families voice morally should out
weigh the rest. For example, imagine if a set of businessmen decided to release
a Michael Jackson album with unreleased vocals from “The King of Pop”, without
any consent or input from the Jackson family? The project would seem more about
the revenue rather than paying homage to a great artist.
Morally speaking, the correct way to approach this album
would have been for the family to be contacted, and offered a project plan
they’d agree on. After that step is taken, I definitely believe they’d want to
involve other producers and artists like Missy Elliot and Timbaland. I believe
that’s the only way characteristics of the late Aaliyah can be added to the
album, other than her vocals.
Drake will receive Aaliyah’s catalog of music, and he can
put any kind of twist to her vocals. Though, if he were to bring Aaliyah’s
affiliates into the picture, they may be able to give a real life situation
Aaliyah faced at the time she recorded it.
In the end, this will be a tough task for Drake, though it
isn’t too late to fix.
Check out the first released track entitled “Enough Said”
and let me know what you think.
