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Aaliyah Dana Haughton
January 16,1979 - August 25, 2001
By Jabari Jerkins
On Aug. 25, 2001, while more than a
few of us were worried about how bad the
Tar Heels got beat by the Oklahoma
Stxiners, the music industry, the world, the
Haughton family and friends lost some
thing much more important than a game.
On that day, Aaliyah and eight other
people (Gina Smith, Keith Wallace,
Douglas Kratz, Scott Gallin, Eric Forman,
Anthony Dodd, Christopher Maldonado
and L. Maradel) were killed in a plane
crash. The music industry' and the world
lost a singer that had made three good
albums, and still had limitless potential.
The world also lost a lady with great acting
potential, as we saw in her performance in
"Romeo Must Die". We lost a lady that
was going to do what few others hav'e
done. She was set to parlay her singing
career into an acting career; she was going
to appear in three movies ("Queen of the
Damned" and the two upcoming "Matrix"
sequels) in the next few years.
We cannot talk about Aaliyah without
talking about her musical career. She came
onto the music scene in 1995, amidst a lot
of controversy. At the same time that her
album, entitled "Age Ain't Nothing but a
Number", was being released, there was a
rumor floating around that Aaliyah, who
was then 16, and R. Kelly, who was then in
his late twenties, were romantically
involved, even married by some accounts.
That controversy brought her, and her
album to the spotlight, but the album is
what kept her in the spotlight, and made
people forget about the controversy.
People were too busy getting down to
"Back and Forth", "Age Ain't Nothing but
a Number", "At Your Best", and other
great songs on the album to worry about
the rumors about her and R. Kelly. Her
second album, entitled "One in a Million",
was just as good, if not better, than her
first. Tracks like "One in a Million", "Four
Page Letter", and "Hot Like Fire" gave
people more of what they had gotten in
Aaliyah's first album; great vocals accom
panied by nice beats. After her second
album, Aaliyah did not come out with
another album until the release of her self
titled album in 2001, just before her death.
In the time between her second and last
albums, Aaliyah made her acting debut,
appearing in "Romeo Must Die". Her
death came about a month after the release
of her third album, which includes great
tracks such as "We Need a Resolution" and
"Rock the Boat".
Even if you are not a big fan of Aaliyah
and her music, the death of Aaliyah had to
affect you. A large portion of the people
that listen to hip hop music, like Aaliyah,
are young people. The fact that a
singer/actress died at such a young age -
twenty-two - makes many of us reconsid
er our own mortality. The death of Aaliyah
also affects the public at large. Aaliyah s
plane crashing, coupled with the tragedies
at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon
and Pennsylvania, makes us all thmk twice
about flying anywhere.
However, people that knew her lost
much more than the singer and actress we
saw. Her family—parents Diane an
Michael Haughton and brother Rashad—
lost Aaliyah Dana Haughton, a very
important member of their family- Artists
who knew and worked with her, li ®
Ginuwine, Timbaland, Missy Elliot an
Janet Jackson, lost an inspiration and grea
friend. These artists, as well as Aaliy *
brother Rashad, did a short tribute to
Aaliyah at the MTV Video Music Awards
on Sept. 6, 2001. One of the fan letters tha
• j ^'VV6
was read during the tribute saiQ/
haven't lost anyone. We've gained an
angel". I feel that same way. Aaliyah
always be remembered and missed by
black community as a whole.
5
Black INK