Aaliyah - The Aaliyah Duets [Unfinished/Unreleased, 2007–2012]

Celebrating her legacy 25 years on, here is a fan-gathered upload of Babygirl's unfinished compilation "The Aaliyah Duets" (2007 – 2012). A little history on this shelved posthumous effort... in October 2001, a second posthumous album was announced by Aaliyah’s brother Rashad (World Entertainment News Network, WENN).

Missy Elliott relayed to BBC’s Radio 1 in December of 2001 that she was unaware of the project, stating: "I don’t know about a tribute album, you know, not to my knowledge. But if they are gonna do it I’m quite sure that me and Timbaland will be the first to know aside from her mother and her brother. Anything that is a tribute and in keeping her legacy alive I’ll be a part of it anyway.”

By fall 2002, Missy & Aaliyah's immediate family met agreeable terms and confirmed that a duets album was on the way; Missy told MTV, “You gonna hear a new Aaliyah album... right now we're working on getting the artists together. She has a lot of songs she didn't put on the Aaliyah album, so hopefully we're going to get the artists to come in and sing the other verse on a song and keep one of her verses so it'll be like a collaboration thing. I don't have an exact time frame on it because it's a lot of artists we're trying to get for it, but it'll be soon.”

Additionally, talks of Rashad restoring Aaliyah's shelved 'Queen of the Damned' soundtrack material was in consideration.

Early 2005 welcomed an array of unreleased Aaliyah tracks via internet. Among them included "Where Could He Be" (feat. Missy Elliott & Tweet) being sent to radio as a "buzz single" for the "Duets". Soon as the song picked up heavier airplay (peaking at 120 on Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs), Aaliyah's label demanded stations to remove the song, insisting it had got out way too early before its intended release; the song consequentially never saw the light of day again.

Making matters worse, the anticipated "Aaliyah Duets" would suffer long delays due to lawsuit battles between Aaliyah's immediate fam & her uncle Barry over the control of the deceased singer’s estate. Further lawsuits extended into the late 2000s from Aaliyah's ex-labelmates Toni Braxton, Timbaland and JoJo.

It wouldn’t be until March 4, 2012, when producer J-Dub revealed in a now-deleted tweet that the duet project was revived; however, Rashad refuted the claims releasing an official statement online that read: "No album is being released or supported by the Aaliyah family”. Later that month, Drake was in negotiations with the label to seek sole involvement of producing a posthumous Aaliyah album.

The following month, Timbaland recounted to sources, "If Drake do it, it should be with me and him and Missy. The best decision, what the fans would want to see, is all three of us. It can’t be something to make money off of ’cause I think it’s wrong to make money off the dead.”

In August 2012, "Enough Said" (feat. Drake) was officially released to the public; however, the track faced an amount of criticism from music reviewers alongside Ginuwine and the late DMX, questioning the absence of Missy Elliott and Timbaland's involvement in the song. In the following days of the song’s release, Aaliyah's cousin Jomo alleged Missy & Tim would still be involved in the album; however, it would only be two tracks.

On August 13, 2012, Missy Elliott's manager Mona Scott refuted Jomo's claims, quoting “Although Missy and Timbaland always strive to keep the memory of their close friend alive, we have not been contacted about the project nor are there any plans at this time to participate [...] both are very sensitive to the loss still being felt by the family so we wanted to clear up any misinformation being circulated.”

Further confusion ensued when Rashad announced via official Aaliyah Facebook page: "There is no legitimate album being released and supported by the Aaliyah family."

On September 18, 2012, Missy Elliott broke her silence and shared to Hot 97: "I have to respect [Aaliyah’s] family, and until they come and say they’re ready to do an Aaliyah album then I don’t really want to get into that because it’s very sensitive [...] very, very touchy. Unless her parents came in and conducted that."

By November 2012, the whereabouts of the posthumous "Aaliyah Duets" album fell under the shadows once more. And to this very day, the unfinished LP remains locked away in the vault.

Track-listing is as follows:

1.)    Time, Part 1 (Intro) ft. Timbaland

2.)    More than a Woman (AudioSavage Mix) ft. Whitney Houston, Pharrell

3.)    Tellin’ Lies 2 Me (feat. Chi-Chi)

4.)    Are U That Somebody? (feat. M.I.A. & Mr. Vegas)

5.)    Don’t Think They Know (feat. Digital Black of Playa)

6.)    Don’t Let Me Fool Ya (feat. Playa)

7.)    Danc’n (feat. E.T. Selfish & Digital Black of Playa)

8.)    Quit Hatin’ (feat. Timbaland)

9.)    Rock the Boat (feat. Mary J. Blige & Sean Paul)

10.)  4 Page Letter (feat. Ginuwine)

11.)  Queen Bee (feat. Lil’ Kim)

12.)  Night Riders (9^th Wonder Mix) ft. Boot Camp Clik

13.)  We Need a Resolution (feat. 2Pac)

14.)  Girlfriends (feat. Yaushameen Michael of Southernaire All-Stars)

15.)  If Your Girl Only Knew (feat. Jay Z & Foxy Brown)

16.)  Where Could He Be? (feat. Missy Elliott & Tweet)

17.)  Death of a Playa (feat. Rashad Haughton)

18.)  Round-N-Round (feat. Ne-Yo)

19.)  One in a Million (feat. Kelis)

20.)  Try Again (sk8brd kee’s Neptunes Mix)

21.)  Best Friend (feat. Missy Elliott & J. Cole)

22.)  Charge It to the Game (feat. Playa)

23.)  La-La-La (feat. Barry White)

24.)  Rock the Boat (Unfinished, Official 2001 Remix)

25.)  Giving Up

26.)  Shit'z Gon’ Change

27.)  Committed (Demo) ft. Changing Faces

28.)  F**kin’ Around w/ U

29.)  Ain’t Never (feat. Outsiderz 4 Life)

30.)  Time, Part 2 (Outro) ft. Future, Snoop Dogg

31.) Steady Ground (feat. Static Major of Playa)