Timbaland worked conclusively with Aaliyah prior to her death during 2001, and therefore has often been associated with guarding her discography, but now the producer has declared that he'll be mastering new material from the performer that has yet to reach the public's ears. The Aaliyah-affiliate made a very loud/excited statement on the subject matter via Instagram this weekend.
"Attention!!!!! People ask me all the time do I have any babegirl <sic> music we haven't heard !!!!!well the answer is YES!!!!!!!! TIMBO x BABEGIRL !!!!! Sneak peak coming !!!!!!!" he posted, using a total of 31 exclamation points for emphasis. He also added an image of the singer's face in the clouds, looking more godlike than angelic.
Timbaland worked with Aaliyah for her last two albums, One In A Million and her self-titled release. There have been surprisingly few compilation albums of the performer's music, compared with other performers who died at a young age (such as Tupac Shakur or the vocalist's occasional collaborator, the Notorious B.I.G.). Part of that has been the hesitance of Timbaland and the listening public to mess with her legacy.
The most famous example occurred several years when rapper Drake had plans to release a collection of unheard Aaliyah tracks, featuring added vocals from himself and others. Chris Brown also released a track featuring overdubs of his vocals with the deceased star. Timbaland badmouthed the efforts (Drake's never saw the light of day), although ego may have been the primary inspiration...not protection of her legacy.
"In music, people always say, 'I'ma do a song with Aaliyah,'" he said in a 2013 interview. "It will never work. A lot of these rappers out here are awful. Chris Brown got a record; it won't work. Drake could do a record with Aaliyah; it ain't going to work. Aaliyah music only work with its soul-mate, which is me."
Well now's his time to prove it. Timbaland already pushed some buttons by producing a remix of his onetime collaborator's "One In A Million," performed by Tink.
A photo posted by Timbo the King (@timbaland) on Aug 8, 2015 at 3:02pm PDT
