She was best known as Babygirl and Gladys Knight’s niece (her uncle was Barry Hankerson). She was a contestant on a singing competition show called Star Search and was originally from Brooklyn. Many would have described her to be talented, kind-hearted, and one in a million. There was truly no one like her as there could never be anyone like her. She was known for being wise beyond her years with a mature manner as she never showed jealousy or anger when it came to situations not going her way or working out in her favor. Aaliyah was smart with talent that was unmatched as her audition song for The Detroit High School For The Fine and Performing Arts was Ave Maria which she sang in Latin. “There’s a thing that you see when somebody walks out on the stage, I call it the fire… and that’s what I saw with Aaliyah”. Ed McMahan said in remembrance of her. She was looked at as a role model and a successful musician amongst her peers. Her hit songs were “Are You That Somebody”, One In A Million”, and “Try Again” amongst many others. On August 25th, 2001 she lost her life at 22 years old in a plane crash that could have been avoided if her “ Rock The Boat ” video shoot location had not been removed and if her plane wasn’t overweight.
Rock The Boat
Was the last music video Aaliyah would ever shoot. The location was set in Miami, Florida as the rest of the shoot would take place in the Bahamas. Dame Dash thought this was unnecessary as Miami had beaches and everything the aesthetic the music video had and needed. Lenny Kravitz offered Aaliyah to use his plane as she had a fear of flying and was hesitant once she saw the little aircraft later known to be the Cessna 402, but Hype Williams took it for himself as he was known to be the type of director who had extended film days and unnecessary locations for his music videos according to Dame Dash.
Rock The Boat has rocked the world as little pieces of her death were released to the public. The truth of her accident was released years later as the world learned new information about her accident. When fans first learned about her accident from ABC News they were devastated, but now many don’t find her “crash” to be an accident. According to Kathy Landoli Kingsley Russel who was a teenager at the time, her family owned a taxi service and remembered seeing her being carried onto the plane. Not thinking anything of it he would learn that as soon as the plane went up into the air it immediately came back down taking the lives of all nine passengers including Aaliyah’s hairdresser, bodyguard, and record executive to name a few. If Aaliyah were to have survived the crash her recovery process would have been impossible as she suffered from severe burns, blow to the head, and shock within a weak heart. Aaliyah was still in her seat when they found her. The plane wreckage was sixty miles from the runway.
The conspiracy behind her so-called accident began to unravel when fans couldn’t and refused to believe that the icon tragically passed the way she did. The plane she boarded was indeed small and one she refused to get on. Understandably so she decided to go to her taxi and wait for a better solution, but the better solution never came, but instead she was given a pill in hopes of calming her. Little did she know a better jet gifted by Lenny Kravitz wasn’t given to her as Hype Williams refused. Big red flag and WHY. Before boarding she and her team argued that the plane’s condition was faulty with a pilot that had possession of cocaine and cocaine in his system.
One of Aaliyah’s backup dancers Fatima claimed she was in a rush to leave the island as she was told Dame Dash Aaliyah’s boyfriend at the time was in the hospital. This was said to be a lie as he was completely fine. Aaliyah had called him prior to boarding telling him her concerns. “ don’t get on, ” he told her but in response, she said she had to and that she had no choice as work had to be done. She was known for being a hard worker and close to a workaholic who simply loved what she did. The last words Dame Dash ever heard from Aaliyah was “You know I gotta do it”.
“You have to start asking yourself questions after being in this business for this long if you’re a halfway intelligent person when do you start questioning how lucky some motherfuckers keep getting.” Jaguar Wright claims.
Sacrifice
The Beyhive (Beyonce’s fanbase) believes that she has always been the IT girl even when Aaliyah was alive. An Aaliyah fan or anyone who was a fan of music in the hip hop/ R&B world in the late 90s and early 2000s knew Aaliyah was the IT girl as Beyonce was becoming a solo artist whose career was struggling after leaving Destiny’s Child. (Aka Tina’s child as Beyonce’s mother’s name is Tina and Beyonce always had the lead in almost if not the majority of Destiny’s Child’s songs.) “ They were having a hard time taking her solo and then Aaliyah died and they brought Rich Harrison in. Got me looking so crazy right now. She ( Beyonce) liked posing in pictures for page six Aaliyah didn’t. In a red carpet interview between Aaliyah and Beyonce, many could sense that Beyonce was jealous of Aaliyah and even claimed that Beyonce had sacrificed her in the opening of her song “ Lemonade “. She takes off a jacket underneath the water and recites how she wanted to be prettier, and younger some believe she’s referred to Aaliyah as she was underwater in the “Rock The Boat” video and that this was a confession. Anti-fans of Beyonce have been convinced that Beyonce and her whole family are into dark magic and voodoo as she and her sister refer to themselves as oshun representing love and fertility. This is bullshit considering how her name means beyond others and the truth of what she did to people who she thought of as competition. Either eliminating them or taking their career like what many think she did to Aaliyah. Jay-Z and Aaliyah had history. A history that was cut short due to her falling in love with Dame. Some believed Beyonce had another reason to be jealous of Aaliyah as she didn’t play about her man as they are known to be a power couple. Anti-fans believe that the truth behind Beyonce and Jay-Z’s relationship and marriage was a business transaction where she would get more attention and fame as he would remain relevant. It’s no secret the Carters are in the Illuminati and that Beyonce may or may not have joined before Aaliyah’s conspiracy death as she is too serious about Becky with the good hair. “… I don’t even know what to say. I just know that was a murder. You know what I’m saying? That was a spiritual murder, whether people know it or not because god doesn’t kill people … but a lot of people I would down from the prime of her life. It’s so unfair … I believe it wasn’t her time to go because from what I know it ain’t supposed to go down like that, simple obedience like your gut always warns you. Your gut never lies to you.” Mary. J. Blige said in an interview with BET.
Aaliyah’s uncle Barry white got paid for her death leaving fans wondering why. Why would anyone have it on their agenda to want her dead and whose mission it was for her to have no other way off the island?
Sanpaku Eyes
Occurs in people that have lived or live with really tough lives or when they’re about to die. The eyes tell a million stories and emotions, but sanpaku ones tell the signs of death. It is not normal to have a big area of white underneath your eyeball. In an interview, Aaliyah said she was given a sign of a plane passing by and a dream that she was high as no one or nothing could get to her as she felt at peace and free. “ Someone’s following me and I don’t know why. I’m scared. Then suddenly I lift off. Far away. As if I’m swimming in the air. Nobody can reach me. Nobody can touch me. It’s a wonderful feeling.” Aaliyah confessed to an interviewer. Eight months after Aaliyah’s death the world lost Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopez of TLC. Her death also didn’t sit well with people who weren’t spiritual as it did with non-spiritual believers, myself included. To make her death more conspiracy worthy she documented her time in Honduras right before she crashed. Her eyes were sad in the last look she gave the camera and the next thing the world saw was her red rental car upside down after flipping multiple times near a tree from reported media outlets that became the story the world was told.
She’s Still Alive
Another conspiracy is that she’s still alive and lives as the pop star Natalie LaRose who resembles her. Some believe she lives as Wild N Out star B. Simone. (I think this one is a Stretch) as she dressed up as her and showed social media just how delusional she was for believing she looked and danced like Aaliyah. Before Aaliyah’s death, a video of someone calling Aaliyah Natalie surfaced as the singer looked as if she was in an airport and was adjusting her eyes to be more awake responding to the name.
Her Legacy
Many believe people such as Beyonce and people who are considered to be at the top of the music industry would not be as successful as they are if Aaliyah was still alive. In some way, she is through her music as many remember her memory as someone who changed the sound of R&B. Her style was tomboy meets streetwear and occasionally sexy met modest as her looks always looked effortless. Her signature hairstyle was inspired by film star Veronica Lake, her mother suggested that she should cover her left eye to give off a mystery and mystique look. “I’ve always been mysterious. My mother and father always used to ask me ‘What are you thinking, what’s going on? There are times when I don’t even know myself.” Aaliyah told Vibe magazine.’ The mother-and-daughter duo didn’t know how successful that was until the media and fans couldn’t get enough. Much to their surprise and with the success of the hairstyle, many believed that she had a lazy eye. After her passing fans learned that she just had a funny bone. In 2013 MAC Cosmetics decided to launch an inspired limited edition collection in Aaliayah’s honor. Within seconds the collection was sold out. Aaliyah built a name for herself through her career as she went on to become a myth and an unknown legend to a younger generation who asks who she was compared to the older generation who refer to and consider her to be an icon. Her music doesn’t get played as much as other artists who have passed on as the question of who gets her music rights remains unanswered and up for debate. I believe it shouldn’t go to people who have failed her, for example, P. Diddy who has been making money off of Biggie for more years than Biggie has been alive, but to an organization, she would have liked to donate to or simply no one, but unfortunately that’s not how the music industry and the world works as someone always benefits from another person whether they’ve been a great person or not.
Aaliyah’s death didn’t leave just the world at a standstill, but the music industry. The saying “The show must go on” is deemed true for almost everything in life as the world keeps spinning. Aaliyah and I share similarities not only in music taste but appearance (as some might say). She was passionate about singing and her talents the same way I am when it comes to performing them and putting on a show for anyone willing to watch. Being from the same borough she has become an inspiration to me to always compete with yourself and no one else, as you should always want to work on yours.
