Drake and his producer/best friend Noah “40” Shebib have decided to cancel the posthumous Aaliyah album they were reportedly working on that would of features vocals from the late R&B singer. The negative backlas for the project has seemingly become too much for either Drake or 40 to move forward. According to pitchfork.com:
“Back in 2012, news surfaced about a posthumous Aaliyah album executive-produced by Drake and his producer, Noah “40” Shebib. Drake shared one track, “Enough Said”, in 2012 and previewed another track in December. Now, in an interview with Vibe, 40 says he’s pulled the plug on the album.
“[40 said that] he ‘wasn’t comfortable and didn’t like the stigma” that came with the public’s perception of Drake’s involvement with the record. “The world reacting to Drake’s involvement so negatively, I just wanted nothing to do with it,” he said. ‘That was a very sad experience for me.'”
Interestingly 40 says that he had the blessing from Aaliyah’s longtime producer Timbaland, which runs contradictory to Tim’s comments during his Magna Carta interview. As reported by consequenceofsound.net:
“The producer said the experience was ‘sad’ and that despite some support from those close to Aaliyah, the bad vibes surrounding Drake’s involvement eventually caused Shebib to bow out. “[Timbaland] said to me, ‘Don’t stop, make the album.’ I think that was Tim taking the position of ‘I’m not going to stop you. If you’re not going to do it, that’s your decision.’”
40 says he was approached to do the album by Aaliyah’s label Blackground Records, which consists of her uncle and cousin, who said Aaliyah would have wanted to work with him if she was alive. However Shebib ultimately decided to scrap the project when Aaliyah’s mother said she didn’t want the project to come out.
Aaliyah was one of R&B’s most beloved young artists, when she died in a tragic plane crash in 2001. The news about the album comes just about a week before what would have been Aaliyah’s 35th birthday.
