BaBYgIrL...Better Known as AALIYAH!

So, today marks the 7 year anniversary of the death of one of my most loved artist -- Aaliyah Dana Haughton! For those of you whom may have been sleeping under a ROCK for the past several years; Around 7pm on August 25, 2001, just after finishing the "Rock The Boat" video, Aaliyah and crew boarded a small plane in hopes to get back to the States early...unfortunately, they never made it off the island.

I can honestly say that Aaliyah is the only celebrity that I have shed a tear over...not that the other deaths weren't tragic...hers just seemed to hit me a lot harder than the others for some reason. I still to this day remember exactly what I was doing when I heard the news of Aaliyah's untimely demise...It was the beginning of my senior year of high school, and I had just gotten home and settled from school and softball practice...I was waiting on my then boyfriend to stop by and I was chatting it up with one of my closest friends, Ashley B., on the phone about random stuff as usual...I then heard her say "OH My Gosh...Shri hold on...NO, I just have to go! I'll call you right back!!!" and then she hung up...so i'm sitting here like "WTF! That was so unlike Ash, what is going on!" A few minutes went by and then Ashley called me right back and before I could ask what was up she blurted it out! Now, what she was about to say was the VERY LAST thing I was expecting to hear her say...She said that Mary had texted her, saying she got a message in her 2 way pager (remember those?!!? LOL) like an update from CNN stating that Aaliyah had been killed! I just sat on the couch in the living room and didn't know what to say...Neither Ashley or I believed it, so we stayed glued to CNN to get the confirmation for ourselves and once we saw it scroll across the bottom of the CNN ticker we STILL didn't believe it!!! I think I might've watched it scroll across the bottom, and the brief breaking news story on CNN for hours that night! After we saw it on the CNN ticker we then turned on the radio to V103 quiet storms and within an hour Joyce Littel was announced that her 2way was too going off with the word about Aaliyah...

Aaliyah was an artist that I connected with, someone I truly admired and someone I honestly felt was a genuine soul. I met her once in person at Lenox Mall, I actually accidentally bumped into her...it was Birthday Bash weekend I think (or some BIG concert in Atlanta), before all they got was strictly Atlanta/southern artist and Lenox was the "IT" spot...so me and my friends spent the day in Lenox to see what celebrities we might spot. That day it was like a circus in there! I saw DaBrat, Ginuwine fine self :-), Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz (remember them -- they did that song "DejaVu/UPTOWN Baby"?) and Aaliyah...Brian McKnight, Usher, TLC, and Jermaine Dupri were all also there. When I bumped into her, at first I didn't know who she was...I was trying to get to the other side of the mall because I heard Aaliyah was in there and little did I know I damn near ran her over! She was sooo petite and tiny in person...she had to be about 5'0 or 5'1 and all of 110 lbs...if that! She didn't have on any make-up, and she was wearing some like sweat/comfy lounge pants and like a tank top...and she had her hair down but it wasn't curled or all glamed up but yet and still she looked flawless! Aaliyah was definitely a natural beauty...when I bumped into her I said "Excuse me, I'm sorry!" and she looked up and my heart damn near sunk and I couldn't say anything else...I don't get start struck often but this time (and when I met Chilli) were the only times I was fazed that I actually was standing in the midst of a celebrity! I'm busy running to go find her, not thinking of what i'd say or do if I saw her and there she was! She smiled and then Ginuwine and Peter Gunz and Lord Tariq, whom were coming out the Champs by the elevator and California Pizza Kitchen (true Atliens should know exactly where I'm talking about standing in Lenox!) called her name to look at something and she smiled again and walked towards Ginuwine...I sat there for a second and looked at Ginuwine and that was my encounter with babygirl! In the few seconds that I was around her she didn't seem rude and even though she was going to the hottest spot in Atlanta didn't feel like she had to get all dolled up but yet and still she still looked great...

Growing up I just LOVED Aaliyah for so many reasons...she could sing, she sung cool/hip songs, she could dance, and mostly because of the way she dressed! Aaliyah was a self proclaimed "tom-boy" and yet and still all the men wanted her! She made wearing baggy pants cute and always kept it eye catching by adding a cute top...She didn't feel like she had to go out and be naked to get attention...and even when she got out of that tom-boy stage and started dressing it up more, she still kept it really classy, and sexy without being too revealing! I remember in the "Are you that somebody" video when she does the dance sequence, she had on that black dress with that lonnnnggg split up her thigh...how many of you'll remember that dress? Man, I wanted that dress sooo bad! LOL...It wasn't anything special but something about the way Aaliyah wore it, made me want it...I even looked for that dress in the store for months...now that I think about it, I don't know where I planned on wearing something like that! But you couldn't tell me nothing then...LOL. OH, and don't get me started on when she became a model for Tommy Hilfiger!!! I remember they would always show her in the latest Tommy in 17 magazine, yes I had a 17 subscription!!! LOL. But, she had these Tommy pants on in one ad that I absolutely loved!!! I cute the picture out of the 17 and tacked it to my wall....and spent the WHOLE summer working before my 9th grade year so I could save up and buy these Aaliyah pants. They either came in all dark denim or you could get them with the different colored pants leg...one leg had TOMMY going up it in big red letters and the other leg had HILFIGER going up it in big red letters and they were made extra baggy...would you believe I spent $99 on these pants and only wore them like once or twice?!?! Thinking back on it, these pants were SUPER ugly and a TRUE waste of my hard earned money but I didn't know better. :-D Aaliyah was cool because she was liked, well liked at that. Men loved her and most wanted to be with her, and many women adored her and wanted to be like her...there aren't many, IF ANY, stars out now that are well liked the way Aaliyah seemed to be among her industry peers and fans a like!

Well, with all that said...7yrs later BabyGirl, you are still missed now more than ever...I cannot even imagine the pain your family and true close friends feel...but I definitely know how your true fans feel! R.I.P. Miss Aaliyah...you are missed!

Here's a short list of the people that miss you, your spirit and your music as much as I...this list does not include ALL references to Aaliyah posthumous, but some of the most notable ones:

• Usher covered Boyz II Men's "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye" as a tribute to Aaliyah


• Mary J. Blige makes reference to Aaliyah's death being a difficult and important point in her life in her song "MJB da MVP"


• Rapper Twista, mentions Aaliyah in "Hope", "Rest in peace to Aaliyah, Jam Master J"


• Brandy made musical and lyrical references to Aaliyah. She pays homage to Aaliyah on "Turn It Up" and "Should I Go" from her 2004 album Afrodisiac.


• Also rapper Jadakiss made the statement in his song "Why". "Why Aaliyah have to take that flight"


• R&B singer Ray J and Brandy made a lyrical reference to Aaliyah on "War Is Over" on Ray J's 2005 album Raydiation.


• Rapper Kanye West cites both Aaliyah's death and Left Eyes' in his song "Never Let Me Down"


• The movie "Queen of the Damned" was dedicated to Aaliyah post mortem, "In memory of Aaliyah 1979 - 2001" is displayed at the end of the movie, before the credits are displayed.


• Southern rappers Nappy Roots pay lyrical homage to Aaliyah with the lines "Shouts out to Aaliyah, lived a legendary career, on my wall I got ya picture, God pray with ya" on the track Blowin' Trees.


• Jay-Z recorded a tribute song to Aaliyah and other lost members of the hip-hop community over her song "Miss You"


• Rick Vocals dedicated his 1st single to Aaliyah.


• Edyta Górniak dedicated her second album "Invisible" in tribute to Aaliyah.


• Mýa, a close friend of Aaliyah, dedicated her song "After The Rain" (Moodring) to her and LeftEye.


• Destiny's Child, during their performance of Emotions at the 2001 Soul Train Lady Of Soul Awards, dedicated their song to Aaliyah.


• Aaliyah is mentioned on The Game's song, Dreams.


• Missy Elliott did a song called 'Can You Hear Me', ft. TLC


• T.I. mentions Aaliyah, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes , and Jam-Master Jay in his song "Rubberband Man" from his 2003 album Trap Muzik


• Producer Timbaland, a long time collaborator of Aaliyah's, used footage of her in his half-time set on the Justin Timberlake FutureSex/LoveShow 2007 tour.


• Aaliyah is mentioned in Gorillaz and D12's song 911 "We lost Aaliyah, lost our families, it takes no Tenges"


• Aaliyah is mentioned in Jay-Z freestyle to A Milli with the lines "Back, forth like Aaliyah - Rest In Peace!"


• Aaliyah is mentioned in the Nas featuring Quan song "Just a Moment"


• Aaliyah is mentioned in Fredro's Starr song 'Dyin for Rap' he makes reference to Aaliyah's Lips (lips like Aaliyah)


• In the song "Rock Bottom" by Pleasure (formerly of the group Pretty Ricky) featuring Lil Wayne, Lil Wayne uses the first verse of Aaliyah's 'I Don't Wanna'.


• TQ mentions Aaliyah in a couple of his songs ('Gone But Not Forgotten' and 'Paradise'), along with many other dead musicians.


• Missy Elliott also dedicated her song and video for "Take Away" to Aaliyah
  Now! 8 was dedicated to Aaliyah, with a portion of the album's profits going to the Aaliyah Memorial Fund.


• Bizzy Bone list several dead musicians at the end of his song Muddy Waters, Aaliyah is the 3rd last.


• Esham mentions Aaliyah in the song "No War". "Why Aaliyah have to die"

Random Fact -- Did you know that Aaliyah was cast to star in the movie Honey? She was set to play the main role, the one Jessica Alba played, but once she passed the role had to be re-cast. Oh man...that would've been a site to see!!!