Alliyah died around 2001. There's a conspiracy that she was killed cause the plane was known overloaded. She was about to become a superstar insiders said. But it it went out right as she was about to kaboom. SHe left us with Try Again one of that period's biggest urban hits. Another person who went from big to nowhere is Ashanti.

So I want to know whee you think Aaliyah would be and what she've become if she was still living.

Beyonce wouldn't exist.

Honestly and people DONT like to realize this, that last album which is her best, was falling on the charts at the time of her death, people like to forget that FACT but that album was not going to repeat her sales of the first and second albums, I THINK as an artist she was growing, and that is when you shake loose the hanger on fans, i liked that final album, not crazy about the debut and the second was pretty good. But i see her drifting away from music and maybe becoming more experimental musically like AMERIE did with her third album and that terrified the Beyonce camp to get her booted from the label. But i dont think she would have been a HUGE star musically.

Wait Bey had Amerie booted from the record label-do tell!

ScarletScandal said:

Beyonce wouldn't exist.

The gays wouldn't function properly.

Gunsnhalen said:

ScarletScandal said:

Beyonce wouldn't exist.

The gays wouldn't function properly.

The gays shall remain at peace as long as the Holy Ruby Slippers safely inside their display case.

lastdecember said:

In the same position as Brandy, Mya, Ashanti and Monica unfortunately.

lastdecember said:

Honestly and people DONT like to realize this, that last album which is her best, was falling on the charts at the time of her death, people like to forget that FACT but that album was not going to repeat her sales of the first and second albums, I THINK as an artist she was growing, and that is when you shake loose the hanger on fans, i liked that final album, not crazy about the debut and the second was pretty good. But i see her drifting away from music and maybe becoming more experimental musically like AMERIE did with her third album and that terrified the Beyonce camp to get her booted from the label. But i dont think she would have been a HUGE star musically.

People always say this with no facts.

Before she died, Aaliyah's last album gave her the biggest first week sales in her career. Not to mention, the album was already certified GOLD while it took months for her first two albums to do the same. As a matter of fact, Aaliyah's first two albums Charted and peaked WORSE than "Aaliyah" did and still managed to sell Millions of copies. Aaliyah was just simply a slow album seller, thats how her albums always sold even since the beginning of her career... And besides, the album was only out for a MONTH. How can you predict how the album's success would have turned out? She didn't even have a chance to tour/put out more videos/promote, etc....

[Edited 1/17/14 12:24pm]

Brandy still gets props and collects dough. I see Aaliyah as being at least that level, if not bigger because of her potential as a film star.

A friend of mine asked me this same question, I think bottom line her first two albums would still be my favorites today.

Cinny said:

Brandy still gets props and collects dough. I see Aaliyah as being at least that level, if not bigger because of her potential as a film star.

A friend of mine asked me this same question, I think bottom line her first two albums would still be my favorites today.

I do like Aaliyah better than Brandy, certainly, but I don't see her being at the same level she is now (as a near-legend we lost too young). I think she would have faded but kept a somewhat loyal fanbase.

NDRU said:

Cinny said:

Brandy still gets props and collects dough. I see Aaliyah as being at least that level, if not bigger because of her potential as a film star.

A friend of mine asked me this same question, I think bottom line her first two albums would still be my favorites today.

I do like Aaliyah better than Brandy, certainly, but I don't see her being at the same level she is now (as a near-legend we lost too young). I think she would have faded but kept a somewhat loyal fanbase.

Part of it is Aaliyah had some of the producers' best work, who are legendary in their own right.

Cinny said:

NDRU said:

I do like Aaliyah better than Brandy, certainly, but I don't see her being at the same level she is now (as a near-legend we lost too young). I think she would have faded but kept a somewhat loyal fanbase.

Part of it is Aaliyah had some of the producers' best work, who are legendary in their own right.

Yes, definitely, a big part of it

Pressure said:

lastdecember said:

Honestly and people DONT like to realize this, that last album which is her best, was falling on the charts at the time of her death, people like to forget that FACT but that album was not going to repeat her sales of the first and second albums, I THINK as an artist she was growing, and that is when you shake loose the hanger on fans, i liked that final album, not crazy about the debut and the second was pretty good. But i see her drifting away from music and maybe becoming more experimental musically like AMERIE did with her third album and that terrified the Beyonce camp to get her booted from the label. But i dont think she would have been a HUGE star musically.

People always say this with no facts.

Before she died, Aaliyah's last album gave her the biggest first week sales in her career. Not to mention, the album was already certified GOLD while it took months for her first two albums to do the same. As a matter of fact, Aaliyah's first two albums Charted and peaked WORSE than "Aaliyah" did and still managed to sell Millions of copies. Aaliyah was just simply a slow album seller, thats how her albums always sold even since the beginning of her career... And besides, the album was only out for a MONTH. How can you predict how the album's success would have turned out? She didn't even have a chance to tour/put out more videos/promote, etc....

[Edited 1/17/14 12:24pm]

WRONG sorry to say but everything there is fact, I worked in music retail and with labels all during that time, and her label was worried because the album was very expensive to make (look it up) and the first single UNDERFERFORMED BIG TIME peaking at Number 59. First week sales YES were her biggest but at the time of her death the album had stalled, "More than a Woman" was set as the second single but didnt get good feed back and that is why "Rock the Boat" was thrown together as the single, the "More than a WOman" vid had already been shot but due to lackluster feedback they were gonna scrap it as a single. The Album's certification of GOLD was during the week after her death when it crossed the 500,000 in sales mark. HAD this tragedy NOT occured the album would have been gold obviously BUT if "rock the boat" didnt perform and turn the sales around the album never would have gotten to the sales of her second album or first, that is FACT. AS far as predicting success, NO KIDDING, you also cant predict death adding sales. Labels forecast these things i am just relaying what they think, they work on a 4 week judgement and SORRY they were saying it was underperforming, to me it was her best album which is probably why she was losing some ground, she was getting older and her audience wasnt going with her, it happens all the time.

A similar thing happend with Mariah's MIMI record, it was actually on some stores "recall" lists for the month, the first single "Its like that" though top 20 was far from the numbers Def Jam was paying for it, some chains actually were already shipping units back as "we Belong together" started to gain ground, again labels move quick, I mean you all know the SOUNDSCAM era, everything is bottom line and week one, Shoot they forecast an albums sales after being out one day, what makes you think one month would be different.

lastdecember said:

Pressure said:

People always say this with no facts.

Before she died, Aaliyah's last album gave her the biggest first week sales in her career. Not to mention, the album was already certified GOLD while it took months for her first two albums to do the same. As a matter of fact, Aaliyah's first two albums Charted and peaked WORSE than "Aaliyah" did and still managed to sell Millions of copies. Aaliyah was just simply a slow album seller, thats how her albums always sold even since the beginning of her career... And besides, the album was only out for a MONTH. How can you predict how the album's success would have turned out? She didn't even have a chance to tour/put out more videos/promote, etc....

[Edited 1/17/14 12:24pm]

WRONG sorry to say but everything there is fact, I worked in music retail and with labels all during that time, and her label was worried because the album was very expensive to make (look it up) and the first single UNDERFERFORMED BIG TIME peaking at Number 59. First week sales YES were her biggest but at the time of her death the album had stalled, "More than a Woman" was set as the second single but didnt get good feed back and that is why "Rock the Boat" was thrown together as the single, the "More than a WOman" vid had already been shot but due to lackluster feedback they were gonna scrap it as a single. The Album's certification of GOLD was during the week after her death when it crossed the 500,000 in sales mark. HAD this tragedy NOT occured the album would have been gold obviously BUT if "rock the boat" didnt perform and turn the sales around the album never would have gotten to the sales of her second album or first, that is FACT. AS far as predicting success, NO KIDDING, you also cant predict death adding sales. Labels forecast these things i am just relaying what they think, they work on a 4 week judgement and SORRY they were saying it was underperforming, to me it was her best album which is probably why she was losing some ground, she was getting older and her audience wasnt going with her, it happens all the time.

A similar thing happend with Mariah's MIMI record, it was actually on some stores "recall" lists for the month, the first single "Its like that" though top 20 was far from the numbers Def Jam was paying for it, some chains actually were already shipping units back as "we Belong together" started to gain ground, again labels move quick, I mean you all know the SOUNDSCAM era, everything is bottom line and week one, Shoot they forecast an albums sales after being out one day, what makes you think one month would be different.

How was the album expensive to make when they used an in-house/ underground production team? The only star producer on the album was Timbaland and he did those songs for Aaliyah for free, because Blackground still owed him and Missy money from the "One in a million" album. Missy refused to work on the last one but Timbaland caved in.

And WNAR wasn't a hit. So? What artist doesn't have a flop song in their catalogue? Does a flop song mean the end of her career? The album was still her BIGGEST FIRST WEEK SELLER.

And how did MTAW get lackluster feedback? It wasn't even pushed as a single yet. She performed it twice but the commercial cd single wasn't released, it wasn't sent to radio, and the video didn't even drop until after she died. It was just that ROCK THE BOAT was gaining heavy airplay without it even being a single (Yet you say she was fading) so it made sense that the label switched the singles.

And wrong again. "Aaliyah" was certified for Gold a week before she died, which took a month, while it took over three months for "One in a million" to do the same feat. Even on "106 and park" Free and AJ congratulated her on getting her plaque for the album. Like I said, Aaliyah was just a slow seller.

^It was kind of a risky album, wasn't it? Maybe for today's standards it doesn't particularly sound like anything out of the ordinary, but I'm talking back then, 2001... 'Aaliyah' was not entirely your standard contemporary R'n'B album. Both 'Rock The Boat' and 'More Than A Woman' were going against the flow of what was mainstream urban music at the time, I can wholly imagine that 'Resolution' wasn't doing so hot on the charts because it was misunderstood. At least that is what I heard around me at the time (I was 14 and was digging the singles, her passing left an impact on me, yet at the time I somehow couldn't get into 'RTB' or 'MTAW').

Pressure said:

lastdecember said:

WRONG sorry to say but everything there is fact, I worked in music retail and with labels all during that time, and her label was worried because the album was very expensive to make (look it up) and the first single UNDERFERFORMED BIG TIME peaking at Number 59. First week sales YES were her biggest but at the time of her death the album had stalled, "More than a Woman" was set as the second single but didnt get good feed back and that is why "Rock the Boat" was thrown together as the single, the "More than a WOman" vid had already been shot but due to lackluster feedback they were gonna scrap it as a single. The Album's certification of GOLD was during the week after her death when it crossed the 500,000 in sales mark. HAD this tragedy NOT occured the album would have been gold obviously BUT if "rock the boat" didnt perform and turn the sales around the album never would have gotten to the sales of her second album or first, that is FACT. AS far as predicting success, NO KIDDING, you also cant predict death adding sales. Labels forecast these things i am just relaying what they think, they work on a 4 week judgement and SORRY they were saying it was underperforming, to me it was her best album which is probably why she was losing some ground, she was getting older and her audience wasnt going with her, it happens all the time.

A similar thing happend with Mariah's MIMI record, it was actually on some stores "recall" lists for the month, the first single "Its like that" though top 20 was far from the numbers Def Jam was paying for it, some chains actually were already shipping units back as "we Belong together" started to gain ground, again labels move quick, I mean you all know the SOUNDSCAM era, everything is bottom line and week one, Shoot they forecast an albums sales after being out one day, what makes you think one month would be different.

How was the album expensive to make when they used an in-house/ underground production team? The only star producer on the album was Timbaland and he did those songs for Aaliyah for free, because Blackground still owed him and Missy money from the "One in a million" album. Missy refused to work on the last one but Timbaland caved in.

And WNAR wasn't a hit. So? What artist doesn't have a flop song in their catalogue? Does a flop song mean the end of her career? The album was still her BIGGEST FIRST WEEK SELLER.

And how did MTAW get lackluster feedback? It wasn't even pushed as a single yet. She performed it twice but the commercial cd single wasn't released, it wasn't sent to radio, and the video didn't even drop until after she died. It was just that ROCK THE BOAT was gaining heavy airplay without it even being a single (Yet you say she was fading) so it made sense that the label switched the singles.

And wrong again. "Aaliyah" was certified for Gold a week before she died, which took a month, while it took over three months for "One in a million" to do the same feat. Even on "106 and park" Free and AJ congratulated her on getting her plaque for the album. Like I said, Aaliyah was just a slow seller.

First week doesnt matter, tons of artists have BIGGER first weeks and the album doesnt sell as much as something else. Norah Jones second album sold more first week and debuted higher than "Come Away With Me" but "come" sold 11 million in the USA and "feels like home" sold barely half of that. Thats happens alot to many artists, also the Aaliyah certification done by the RIAA is for units shipped, which passed 500,000 shipped but at the time of her death 466,000 had sold, there is a huge difference in shipped to stores and what sells over the counter, RIAA is a whole different animal from soundscan, RIAA certifies and Soundscan gives a pretty accurate number of what people actually buy. Master P in the 90's used to ship a million units for certification and over 60% was shipped back for not selling in stores, especially east coast stores which were bombarded with No Limit crap.

As for album costing alot, ask her label, people know what these cats charge for beats i mean come on now, Pharrell has been quoted as charging half a million a song, do the math on that, even though this wasnt a HUGE team at the time, swizz beatz was gaining alot of ground, Timbaland wasnt a cheap artist to get. Slow Seller or not that isnt the point the mindset at labels doesnt care if you sell slow, this isnt the 80's or 70's anymore, back then you could BUILD a base, since soundscan the game has changed that is FACT.

lastdecember said:

Pressure said:

How was the album expensive to make when they used an in-house/ underground production team? The only star producer on the album was Timbaland and he did those songs for Aaliyah for free, because Blackground still owed him and Missy money from the "One in a million" album. Missy refused to work on the last one but Timbaland caved in.

And WNAR wasn't a hit. So? What artist doesn't have a flop song in their catalogue? Does a flop song mean the end of her career? The album was still her BIGGEST FIRST WEEK SELLER.

And how did MTAW get lackluster feedback? It wasn't even pushed as a single yet. She performed it twice but the commercial cd single wasn't released, it wasn't sent to radio, and the video didn't even drop until after she died. It was just that ROCK THE BOAT was gaining heavy airplay without it even being a single (Yet you say she was fading) so it made sense that the label switched the singles.

And wrong again. "Aaliyah" was certified for Gold a week before she died, which took a month, while it took over three months for "One in a million" to do the same feat. Even on "106 and park" Free and AJ congratulated her on getting her plaque for the album. Like I said, Aaliyah was just a slow seller.

First week doesnt matter, tons of artists have BIGGER first weeks and the album doesnt sell as much as something else. Norah Jones second album sold more first week and debuted higher than "Come Away With Me" but "come" sold 11 million in the USA and "feels like home" sold barely half of that. Thats happens alot to many artists, also the Aaliyah certification done by the RIAA is for units shipped, which passed 500,000 shipped but at the time of her death 466,000 had sold, there is a huge difference in shipped to stores and what sells over the counter, RIAA is a whole different animal from soundscan, RIAA certifies and Soundscan gives a pretty accurate number of what people actually buy. Master P in the 90's used to ship a million units for certification and over 60% was shipped back for not selling in stores, especially east coast stores which were bombarded with No Limit crap.

As for album costing alot, ask her label, people know what these cats charge for beats i mean come on now, Pharrell has been quoted as charging half a million a song, do the math on that, even though this wasnt a HUGE team at the time, swizz beatz was gaining alot of ground, Timbaland wasnt a cheap artist to get. Slow Seller or not that isnt the point the mindset at labels doesnt care if you sell slow, this isnt the 80's or 70's anymore, back then you could BUILD a base, since soundscan the game has changed that is FACT.

You fail to understand. Not only was "Aaliyah" a bigger first week seller than her first two albums, it was also selling faster, going Gold in a month while it took "OIAM" three months. Think about it. Aaliyah's first two albums PEAKED @ # 18 and still went multi platinum. If her last album DEBUTED @ # 2 and went Gold faster than the last two albums (With an underperforming first single btw), it's obvious that the album was going to be on its way to platinum with more promotion and singles/tours etc.

and who cares if she sold 466k? She's only 32k short of 500k shipped. That;s not a huge gap at all. In fact, that means she sold 93 % of her shipped copies. It was still GOLD CERTIFIED when she was alive. Give props man.

Are you serious? Why would it be expensive for Barry Hankerson (Aaliyah's label owner and Uncle) to use producers that was signed to HIS LABEL IN THE FIRST PLACE? If anything he took the cheap route and used producers that was already working under HIM. That;s why they are called "in house" producers dude. They give cheaper prices to artists signed to the same label/camp.

I did not know Missy refused to work on that last one over owed payments. WOW!!!!!!!!!

Missy wrote "I Care 4 U" on the Aaliyah album.

ADC said:

Missy wrote "I Care 4 U" on the Aaliyah album.

You know how sometimes you're at a store or some place public, and a song comes out the speakers that makes you go "What? How did they program that one into their system?"

.

I heard 'I Care 4 U' a couple months ago in some little supermarket. Couldn't stop myself from humming along.

.

</off topic>

I only recently found out that Missy even penned that song. I was pleasantly surprised. Yet another reason for me to love Missy.

.

ADC said:

Missy wrote "I Care 4 U" on the Aaliyah album.

Wiki said:

ADC said:

Missy wrote "I Care 4 U" on the Aaliyah album.

"I care 4 U" was a "One In a Million" leftover. It was recorded in 1996.

No wonder the post-humous Aaliyah album is a "sensitive" subject, when The Breakfast Club interviewed Timbaland and Missy together, if Missy was refusing to write anything for the self-titled album.

ginusher said:

Cinny said:

I thought it was hella suspect that Missy did not contribute to the third album but popped up for all of the tributes afterward.

I don't know how Missy and Aaliyah's relationship was in 2001, but Timbaland revealed in that BET documentary that his friendship with Aaliyah was really rocky before she passed. He said that they got into an argument the day before she died. In the WNAR video, Timbaland and Aaliyah filmed their scenes in seperate rooms.....

Timbaland also said that he didn't like Aaliyah's self titled album, and that it was "rushed" and he felt like "One in a million" was a better album. I guess he felt jealous that he wasn't much involved in it..

[Snip - luv4u]

ScarletScandal said:

Beyonce wouldn't exist.

[Snip - luv4u]