Essence.com: Remembering Aaliyah
Wednesday, August 8, 2012 at 9:54AM On Sunday, rapper Drake and producer Noah "40" Shebib dropped "Enough Said," a posthumous single by the late singer Aaliyah, at the OVO Festival in Toronto. The song is reportedly a prelude to an upcoming Aaliyah album that Drake is said to be executive producing. The single is decent enough, but the controversy around it is what really has everyone talking.
Most people agree that Drake’s intentions are in the right place. He’s an ardent fan who credits Aaliyah as one of his biggest musical influences, and he has two tattoos — an image of Aaliyah’s face on his back, and new ink on his chest that reads as both "416" (Toronto's area code) and "116" (for January 16, Aaliyah's birthday) — to prove the point. But Drake is simply a fan of Aaliyah's, just like the rest of us, and he didn’t know her when she was alive. There’s no personal or professional connection — like, say, when Natalie Cole did a posthumous collaboration with her late father Nat “King" Cole, or when Puffy released unheard Biggie tracks after his death. So it just seems odd Drake would be at the helm of this project, instead of Aaliyah’s longtime friends and collaborators Missy Elliott or Timbaland (who, after initially questioning Drake’s endeavor, are now rumored to be producing two tracks for the album). Admittedly, Timbaland’s reported input makes me a little warmer to the idea, but I can't jump on board.
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