Album of the Week: 'Aaliyah' by Aaliyah

It's crazy that it's nearing 11 years since the untimely death of R&B's princess. I was a kid, perhaps ten or eleven years old, when this album was released. I can remember everything about her. How much my sister idolized her, along with every R&B-loving young girl. How her career had really taken off since starring in a handful of movies. How she was continuing to peak and shatter expectations.

No one was able to wrap their head around her death. Such a bright future. Still, to this day, people compare her to the pop stars who hold up the music industry, wondering what she would be like now.

A month before her plane went down, Aaliyah dropped off an album that completely defined R&B music of the time. It was a slow progression to pop hear in songs like "Rock the Boat" and "More than a Woman" that sound eerie today because they were acting very telling of what direction R&B music would take.

I remember how she danced on this giant yacht and then over the beautiful water and how cool that was back that. She was doing the same thing Britney and Christina was doing, but managed to keep her R&B style. Songs like "Resolution" and "I Care" were a testament to that as she used her deeper tones to take a huge leap forward in vocal ability sounding more polished than ever before.

This album was during Aaliyah's true maturation phase. A lot of the tracks made me feel like a fog was going to spill from my CD player and she would appear, dancing sexily as the music played. Other tracks was more playful, like "Loose Rap" and "Extra Smooth" were she kept her more hood beginnings as the "Up Jumps The Boogie" lead vocalist. She had really mastered what a lot of artists were trying at the time...

According to Rolling Stone

Aaliyah is Control, Velvet Rope and Jagged Little Pill all rolled into one. It's the album Janet should have made with All for You, the manifesto that Beyonce thought she was penning with Survivor.

This album did so much while remain humble, somewhat tough to relate to at first, eventually a classic album that we use to immortalize her memory as a classic R&B star with a blinding future.

R.I.P, Aaliyah!