Aaliyah’s last two albums are going to be available on streaming services to mark the 20th anniversary of her tragic death, her uncle and former manager has announced.
Barry Hankerson said 1996’s One in a Million will be available on Aug. 20, followed by her 2001 self-titled release. Both had been kept off of digital platforms during years of legal wrangling.
Aaliyah was killed in August 2001 when the small plane she was in crashed shortly after taking off from Bahamas, where she had filmed a music video. She was 22.
This week, Aaliyah’s estate said in a statement on Instagram that it was not happy about the upcoming releases.
“This unscrupulous endeavour to release Aaliyah’s music without any transparency or full accounting to the estate compels our hearts to express a word – forgiveness,” it read.
“We have always been confused as to why there is such a tenacity in causing more pain alongside what we already have to cope with for the rest of our lives.”