I have trouble accepting the fact that you're gone, so I won't. - DMX
Those were the words DMX spoke ten years ago in the music video for "Miss You". In what started out as song recalling a past boyfriend who has gone off to college sadly turned into a tribute song when on August 25th, 2001 Aaliyah along with eight others were killed in a plane crash. She had just wrapped up filming the music video for "Rock the Boat" in the Bahamas and was returning home when the plane she was in went down shortly after takeoff. She was 22 years old.
Aaliyah first burst onto the scene at age 14 when she released her debut album Age Ain't Nothing but a Number under the wing of R. Kelly. While R. Kelly seemed to play the mentor role in tailoring her sound, it would later be discovered that the two were much more than that. In what would be the beginning of a long history of underage affairs Kelly, then 27, married the 15 year old Aaliyah after secretly eloping in Illinois. Despite the controversy, songs like "At Your Best" put Aaliyah in the R&B spotlight. A sultry voice mixed with her cool vibe made Aaliyah's music both radio friendly and Afrocentric. She had a uniqueness about her that separated her from other singers.
After her relationship with R. Kelly ended Aaliyah began working with one of the hottest new producers in Timbaland. The album they would create, One in a Million, would become on the of the greatest albums of the 1990s and turned her into a superstar. The chemistry that she and Timbaland had was second only to the likes of Michael and Quincy. Along with others in the Timbaland camp (including Missy Elliot, Ginuwine, and Playa) Aaliyah kept making hit after hit. In this time she also made her film debut starring in Romeo Must Die alongside Jet Li and DMX. Aaliyah was praised for her natural acting ability and her quick transition from the music studio to the big screen. In the summer of 2001 she released her self-titled third album, continuing her trend of critically acclaimed albums. Aaliyah would be the last album she would record.
I still remember hearing the news of Aaliyah's passing on MTV. It came as such a shock that someone so young and so talented could go out like that. I remember Detroit's primary urban radio station WJLB playing her songs all day as it really clicked that she was gone. Seeing numerous stars break down on t.v. as they reminisced on their past memories. The one that sticks the most with me still is listening to DMX start crying as he reads a poem that he wrote for Aaliyah. At her funeral her casket was carried in a white carriage drawn by horse, and twenty two doves were released for every year of her life. The investigation of the plane crash revealed that in a rush to get back to the United States the plane was over packed with cargo and the excess weight was a factor in the crash. A further investigation showed that pilot Luis Morales was not approved to fly that plane, and his autopsy revealed levels of cocaine and alcohol in his bloodstream prior to takeoff. A wrongful death lawsuit was later filed.
In the ten years since her passing a lot has changed. Beyonce has taken off as the unofficial queen of R&B (a crown many say Aaliyah would be holding right now), Timbaland has gone the pop route in recent years, Missy and Ginuwine have be M.I.A. as of late, and R&B as a whole hasn't been as good. One thing that hasn't changed since that August in 2001 is that we haven't forgot about Aaliyah. She had swag before it was cool. She was sexy and classy at the same time. She could dress to kill one moment, then the next she could kick it with the boys in a Tommy Hilfiger fit. She stayed true to herself and made music that people really enjoyed. She's been imitated by many over the years, and her style is still trying to be duplicated. As they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery.
It's still hard to wrap my mind around a decade of her absence, but time waits for no one. We miss you babygirl, and you truly were one in a million.
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