In Memoriam...

“But I also sing, ‘If you admire someone you should tell ‘em/No one get flowers when they can still smell 'em" - Kanye

Anyone that knows me on the internet and in real life knows that I been down with Aaliyah for as long as I've been black. LOL, okay maybe not that long but since the early early 90's I knew who she was (Star Search) and had a thing for her. It wasn't just a pretty face with a tolerable sound to me. She was beauty and talent. A musical rarity.

Nobody was as sad as me when I got that call in '01 in the middle of the night when my best friend woke me up with that news that August of her plan crashing and her passing in the Bahamas. As much as anyone I've never known or or had the pleasure of meeting but admired from afar and I felt something for on a personal level including MLK I genuinely cared for her. Nobody before or since her could you say she mimicked or sounded like which is a rarity in recent music history.

In her honor, here are most of her unreleased and rare tracks that I've compiled in the preceding years.

Aaliyah & Outsiders 4 Life - Ain't Never
Aaliyah - Death Of A Playa
Aaliyah - Givin' Up
Aaliyah - Hot Like Fire (MTV Version)
Aaliyah - John Blaze
Aaliyah - Sancta Maria
Aaliyah f/ Missy Elliott - Where Could He Be
Aaliyah f/ Missy Elliott- Best Friends
Aaliyah - Stickin Chickens
Aaliyah f/ Playa - One Man Woman
Aaliyah - Steady Ground
Aaliyah - Man Undercover

and finally a song that she was working on when she passed that she wasn't afforded the time to complete entitled "Time" that eerily and ironically refrains in the chorus words that in retrospect were unfortunately foreshadowing in nature

Aaliyah - Time


Also, if you haven't already done so go cop the May/June icon edition of Fader Magazine with the special Aaliyah tribute on the inside and with her on the cover. A lot of industry people and those closest to her candidly speak about her and how and what they knew of her personally and professionally.