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For fans of Aaliyah who have been eagerly awaiting news as to when her music will be available to the world to stream, a recent statement from her family might put a damper on their emotions.
Since her untimely passing in 2001, the music of Aaliyah Haughton has been kept from music streaming sites due to a contentious battle between her estate and her uncle and former manager Barry Hankerson. This past Wednesday (August 4th), a website emerged on the web with a cryptic message: “Aaliyah is coming.” As fans began to speculate online that this might mean that there was an agreement in place, that was quickly squashed with a statement posted to Instagram and Twitter by her estate.
The Estate of Aaliyah Haughton, represented by her brother Rashad Haughton, expressed their view of the website as an “unscrupulous endeavor.” It goes on to say that the attempt by Hankerson and his Blackground Records 2.0 label to release music from Aaliyah’s catalog is “without transparency or full accounting to the estate.”
The statement also expressed a desire by the estate to extend “forgiveness” to those behind that cryptic message in spite of the recent action, but it also emphasized that they will “defend ourselves and her legacy legally and justly.”
The release got the attention of many including Missy Elliott, who promptly retweeted it to her followers.
This situation is a setback from previous discussions the two sides were having around this time last year. At that point, there seemed to be promise that the estate was going to reach an agreement with the label to have the music released. It looks like that gap has widened again, and fans are going to have to dust themselves off and exercise more patience to hear Aaliyah’s music online.
