by Timaya Pulliam ’23

20 years after R&B singer Aaliyah’s passing and 25 years after the album One In A Million debuted, the singer’s album is finally available for streaming. This is a long time coming, especially as disagreements continue between Aaliyah’s estate and her uncle, Barry Hankerson. Hankerson owns the majority of the talent’s catalog as well as Blackground Records 2.0, the label in which Aaliyah was signed.

This leaves many in the entertainment industry in a quandary. The decision to stream Aaliyah’s work against the wishes of her estate may set a precedent in the entertainment world for years to come. After a decade of lawsuits over unreleased material, breaches of contract, and several false starts, Hankerson found an opportunity he believed would be in the best interest of both parties. He partnered with a small company, EMPIRE, founded by the musician and producer Ghazi, Hankerson was sure EMPIRE would represent Aaliyah, her estate, and his company properly.

Hankerson explained that the idea was to move from an old brick-and-mortar platform to a newer platform.  He believed this would bridge the gap between old and new fans.  “So to be able to bridge it into Instagram and Facebook and Snapchat and Twitter, and TikTok, and so on and so forth, is going to be fascinating to watch generations access it … We’ll see how impactful that will become,” said Hankerson.

Aaliyah suffered a catastrophic death in an airplane accident on August 5 in 2001 in the Bahamas. On her way back to the United States after filming her “Rock the Boat” music video, the plane burst into flames shortly after its take-off, killing eight people on board.

Her estate, run by her mother, Diane Haughton, and brother, Rashad Haughton, has objected to her songs being streamed.  With the lack of control that the singer’s estate has, it remains at constant odds with Hankerson and Blackground Records 2.0. The most recent dispute between the two over Aaliyah’s 1996 album, One In A Million, was exacerbated when Blackground Records 2.0 failed to inform Aaliyah’s estate of any decisions made about the album.

“The Estate was not made aware of the impending release of the catalog until after the deal was complete and plans were in place,” the estate’s attorney Paul LiCalsi stated.

“The Estate has demanded that Blackground provide a full account of its past earnings, and full disclosure of the terms of its new deal to distribute Aaliyah’s long embargoed music,” he added.

Though Aaliyah’s estate’s wishes are for the singer’s music to not be released on streaming services, Hankerson has yet to respect these wishes. Aaliyah’s album, One In A Million, arrived on all streaming platforms on August 20, along with the soundtrack to the 2000 film Romeo Must Die on September 3 and more of her work is soon to come.