Aaliyah: I Am Legend

I had just turned 18, two weeks before, and I had just finished my first day of school during my freshman year of college. It was a rough summer for me, after finishing high school. I could write a book about, and I did, but thats not what this post is about. It was evening, and I flipped through the channels on one of those box TVs from back in the day. As I flipped past MTV, I saw a clip of Aaliyah in an animal print dress flash followed by the MTV News title card. Then, The Real World returned, but I wanted to know why Aaliyah was on MTV News. Aaliyah was not a household name at the time, and while it wouldn't have been surprising to see her on BET, an MTV news clip about her just didn't make sense. She was a star, but not a big enough star that MTV would be reporting on her during primetime television, unless something terrible had happened. I immediately got a sinking feeling in my gut that something terrible had happened.

Long before the days of immediate cell phone news, you had to wait to get your news updates. Of course, you could listen to the radio, or get online to search for news but I didn't have a computer at the time and I didn't have a radio either. I was watching TV in the kitchen, so I waited to find out why Aaliyah was on MTV News. Moments later, during an episode of The Real World, the words scrolled down the bottom of the screen. Aaliyah had died in a plane crash in The Bahamas. It rocked my entire world.

I had never met Aaliyah but I was obsessed with her since I was a little boy and she came out of nowhere with her soft and beautiful voice. I followed every moment of her career and wallpapered my bedroom wall with any picture or poster I could find. I sat alone in the movie theater and watched Romeo Must Die, bought the soundtrack, and then rushed to Best Buy to get the DVD. People knew I loved her too, and sometimes people made fun of me for it, but I didn't care. When Aaliyah died, I was heartbroken, confused, and too young to make sense of what had happened. It was devastating to me and so many of her fans. My tough summer had just gotten tougher.

The aftermath of her death was predictable, her album assumed the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 and we awaited the video footage of her last video "Rock the Boat." Her death was different though than most music industry deaths. She was very young and this wasn't a celebrity who was in the public eye for her personal life. After her controversial marriage to R. Kelly at age 14, Aaliyah kept quite about her personal life during her career. Her death was the most publicity she had ever gotten.

As the reality that Aaliyah was dead sunk in, I was bothered by many of the details that followed. Aaliyah died because her plane was over weight with equipment, and her pilot tested positive for drugs. What had happened here? The whole thing was crazy. Everyone felt some sort of way. I remember watching Mary J. Blige on 106 & Park and she referred to her death as "spiritual murder"(fast forward to 4:03 in video). Enter Damon Dash to make things even weirder. Dash professed his love for Aaliyah and got a lot of publicity for claiming that he and Aaliyah were going to get married. Funny thing is, as big of a fan as I was, I never knew about this relationship between Aaliyah and Dash.

Fast Forward some years and the internet explodes with the introduction of smartphones. Everyone can get on YouTube, read news, and google any and everything imaginable right from the palm of their hands. I found myself intrigued with the conspiracy theories about The Illuminati sacrifices and the evil music industry. That was when I became obsessed with Aaliyah all over again. This time, not because of her art but because of her legend. I enjoy conspiracy theories as much as anyone but I put my investigation on the back burner out of respect for Aaliyah. Some years later though, I was puzzled by an interview that Dame Dash gave, in which he didn't make eye contact with the camera and kept his head down as he talked about Aaliyah. That struck me as strange and reignited my curiosity. Regardless, it won't bring her back and her death will continue to be a major loss. As time goes on, I'm pretty sure that we can expect to see an Aaliyah Renaissance and she will become even more iconic and appreciated. Visit aaliyah.com for videos, pictures, and all things Aaliyah!