After teasing that he would reveal previous unreleased music from the late Aaliyah, Timbaland dropped the surprise track, "Shakin'," on his latest mixtape King Stays King.
"Shakin'," a duet produced by the rapper, was also shared via Timbaland's personal twitter with a link to the track and a message "Aaliyah..This is for you baby."
Over five months ago, Timbaland took to social media to tease the Aaliyah track. He posted an angelic photo of the singer with a caption: "People ask me all the time do I have any babegirl music we haven't heard !!!!!well the answer is YES!!!!!!!!" Ever since, Aaliyah fans have been awaiting the day they'd hear new material from the Romeo Must Die actress.
Aaliyah.. This is for you baby. Download #KingStaysKing NOW! https://t.co/85JsmmixUu pic.twitter.com/flh58d1m8U
— Timbaland (@Timbaland) December 25, 2015
The "Rock the Boat" singer died on Aug. 25, 2002 in a plane wreckage leaving a music video shoot. Over her short-lived career, she managed to be a strong force in the hip hop and R&B community with a number of Timbaland-collaborated hits like "Try Again," "I Am Music" and "Are You That Somebody?"
"People always say, 'I'm going to do a song with Aaliyah.' It will never work. Chris Brown got a record, it won't work. Drake can go do a record with Aaliyah, it ain't gonna work. Aaliyah music only work with its soulmate, which is me," the producer told Revolt TV back in 2013. King Stays King, featuring Young Thug, Migos, Rich Homie Quan and Yo Gotti, is allegedly supposedly to be a preview of Timbaland's impending 2016 album, Textbook Timbo, Billboard notes.
Lifetime recently offered its own interpretation of the singer's life, Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B with Alexandra Shipp leading the film as Haughton. Although, perhaps Keke Palmer would've been an equally good choice to portray the actress--her impressive Halloween costume from this year says it all.
