After 20 years, Aaliyah's music is finally coming to streaming platforms

20 years after mega-hit R&B singer Aaliyah tragically died in a plane crash, there is new hope for her adoring music fans, as it was announced this week that Aaliyah’s music and a few unreleased tracks will finally be hitting streaming platforms.

Apart from her 1994 album “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number,” Aaliyah’s music has never been made available to stream, but her record label Blackground Records (which has rebranded as Blackground Records 2.0) has announced that her entire discography will hit Spotify, starting with “One In A Million” on August 20^th, followed by her work on the Romeo Must Die soundtrack on September 3^rd, “Aaliyah” on September 10^th, and new compilations “I Care 4 U” and “Ultimate Aaliyah” on October 8^th.

Barry Hankerson, Aaliyah’s uncle and owner of Blackground Records, has told Billboard that some of the new music releases will feature Drake, Future, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown and Snoop Dogg, and that Timbaland has remixed and produced some of the sessions.

In addition to Aaliyah’s music hitting Spotify (and also available for physical purchases after years of being out of print), Blackground will also release previously unheard tracks from Timbaland, Missy Elliott, Tank, JoJo, Ashley Parker Angel, and Toni Braxton.

While Aaliyah fans may be celebrating, Aaliyah’s estate, which is run by her mother Diane and brother Rashad, feel otherwise.

They took to Instagram to post a lengthy statement about how Hankerson, who is Diane’s brother, has not been transparent or fully accounted to the estate, something which they say further harms the family and “tarnishes” Aaliyah’s memory.

“Protecting Aaliyah’s legacy is, and will always be, our focus. For 20 years we have battled behind the scenes, enduring shadowy tactics of deception with unauthorized projects targeted to tarnish,” the statement began.

“We have always been confused as to why there is such a tenacity in causing more pain alongside what we already have to cope with for the rest of our lives. Now, in this 20th year, this unscrupulous endeavor to release Aaliyah’s music without any transparency or full accounting to the estate compels our hearts to express a word – forgiveness,” the statement continued.

“Although we will continue to defend ourselves and her legacy lawfully and justly, we want to preempt the inevitable attacks on our character by all the individuals who have emerged from the shadows to leech off of Aaliyah’s life’s work.”

The statement ended with, “Ultimately, we desire closure and a modicum of peace so we can facilitate the growth of the Aaliyah Memorial Fund and other creative projects that embody Aaliyah’s true essence, which is to inspire strength and positivity for people of all creeds, races and cultures around the world.”

The Billboard exposé took a deep dive into the conflict between Hankerson, his sister Diane and the Aaliyah estate. In addition, many of the artists that Hankerson once championed on his label have expressed frustration or anger at the way their music was handled by Hankerson and Blackground Records. JoJo re-recorded the music that Hankerson kept and released them herself. Drake, who previously said he would produce a new Aaliyah album, withdrew from the project after Diane’s objections. JoJo, Timbaland, and Toni Braxton have all sued Hankerson over their unreleased material and breach of contract. So the status of Drake and Timbaland on these new releases remains unclear.

While it seems details need to be ironed out between Blackground and Aaliyah’s estate, a whole new generation of music fans are about to be exposed to one of the greatest R&B vocalists of all time. We highly recommend “Try Again” from “Romeo Must Die.” It's a banger!

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