Aaliyah
CousinLarry
4,618 Posts
Lonnie B was playing a bunch of Aaliyah on his 12o'clock mix. Today is the 5 year anniversary of her death. In addition to being super fine she had some great songs. What were some of your favorites? I was always a fan of "Are you that somebody?" & "If your Girl only knew".
Comments
Nothin huh?
her shit with R Kelly was pretty great BACK BACK FORTH AND FORTH but she was like Timbaland's muse or something - whether on ballads ("I Care 4 U," "One in a Million") or bangers ("Try Again") they were a perfect team.
"One In Million" is of course one of the most gorgeous R&B tracks EVER. One thing someone pointed out to me once is how, despite its glitchy rhythms, the beat itself is totally nonfunctional - it doesn't exist to create a groove, merely to be rhythmically interesting on its own. In other words, the drums skitter around not to make you dance or nod your head or whatever but as part of the track's inherent beauty. Her singing is heavenly, esp when double tracked on the chorus.
I found some euro release of the s/t album which, despite being unplayable on computers (grrr) is great for including extra bonus traxxx, including "Try Again."
Her death was much sadder to me than Pac's or Biggie's, for some reason.
came out last year for those who don't want to track down her whole (regrettably small) discography.
saw one of her lps the other day and pulled it from the bins and just stared at the cover for a minute giving a eulogy in my mind.
cosine to 'one in a million' being one of her best tracks. 'are you that somebody' was excellent too. and 'back and forth' still gets crazy love/airplay in chicago!
Cosign. "Are you that somebody" got play by everybody, despite their view of Clear Channel ratings.
No doubt. She was on the cusp to real big thangs. I think the public didnt have that much time to mourn her passing 'cause of 9/11.
Her cover of "At Your Best" which, as far as I know, was produced by the Awruh = possibly my favorite Aaliyah song
I think if you look at someone like Ciara, who pretty much jocks all of her moves, you can sense the void she left behind. Or at least that's how I feel, because I think she was headed places. Maybe it was out of the music business, but a lot of female singers in R&B today are all ass and no voice.
At least Erykah Badu has both.
ima wear my aaliyah shirt today
Exhibit A...
http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=708619&an=0&page=0#Post708619
Without question Aaliyah > Cassie obv, but this whole "back in the day singers were TALENTED" thing is retarded and people used to say the same shit about Aaliyah, and they used to say the same shit about the R&B artists in the 90s R&B thread. R&B is pretty damn solid at the moment (and chartwise its way outperforming hip-hop) so I can't understand why people will so earnestly repeat the same "how things USED to be" nonsense.
For example...
I like last year's album by Teedra Moses a whole lot. She also ghostwrote for xtina milian (see "Dip it Low") but her own album is much more ghostly, icy sounding retro-futurist 90s nostalgia. "Backstroke," OMG.
Exactly--I remember lots of people complaining that Aaliyah couldn't sing.
But she made the most of the ability that she had, and that's no different from what Cassie is doing.
To tell the truth, i cant listen to this album st8 through. I felt is was transition album, w/ her trying to slowly establish herself w/out Timbaland. There are memorable singles but as a whole I think it comes up short.
I knew where she was going though, which takes some bravery considering her position at the time.
Some of her non-timbo tracks are my favorites ("Rock the boat" obviously, but also "Loose Rap"...Was "Between the Lines" timbo? I don't think so, that too.)
I need the remix (It had a reinterpolation of Syvlia Striplin/Junior Mafia's "Get MoneY")
I celebrate Aaliyah's entire catalog.
I'm sure he wrote it--as he's done with a lot of things involving Timbaland--but I've never known him to do much production.