Jet Li charged with stalking the real Aaliyah: Annie Mesquitta-Jackson since she starred with Li in "Romeo Must Die" Dana Haughton is not registered yet as Romeo Must Die has grown to become a fan-favorite and cult classic in the decades after its release. She contributed to the film's soundtrack, which spawned the single "Try Again". Maybe Jennifer would have more support if she werent wrong so often. [29] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic felt that the album had its "share of filler", but described the singles as "slyly seductive". Aaliyah started in music early on, performing in choirs. Her cousin Jomo Hankerson stated the family would prefer a "major studio release along the lines" of What's Love Got to Do with It, the biopic based on the life of Tina Turner. Aaliyah's brother Rashad Haughton and her cousin Jomo Hankerson were with her when she worked. Raised in Detroit, Michigan, the young. Binge-worthy entertainment news and celebrity interviews. Well, afterward the entire film was put together, with all the drama and tension in that last scene with Hans father, we thought it might be somewhat strange and awkward for Han to have just witnessed Chous suicide, then to come out and kiss Trish. [102], Aaliyah focused on her public image while protecting her private life. Li is an ex-cop investigating the murder of his brother, who had ties with the Chinese mafia in America. [87] Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote Aaliyah ranks among the "elite" artists of the R&B genre, as she "played a major role in popularizing the stuttering, futuristic production style that consumed hip-hop and urban soul in the late 1990s. [243][244], At the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, Aaliyah was honored by Janet Jackson, Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Ginuwine and her brother, Rashad, who all paid tribute to her. She obtained a few of them that were anything but complimentary, but not until she starred in Queen of the Damned did any of them get so bad that they could have ruined her career. 721 Smith Rd. A portion of the proceeds was donated to the Aaliyah Memorial Fund, a program that benefits the Revlon UCLA Women's Cancer Research Program and Harlem's Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. [19] She also has been referred to as a pop and R&B icon for her impact on those genres. [3][19] Aaliyah's debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, was released under her mononym "Aaliyah", by Jive and Blackground Records on May 24, 1994; it debuted at number 24 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 38,000 copies in its first week. But when Han gets the hang of it, he artfully brings down his opponents with a few twisting somersaults and leaping scissor-kicks. 4:40. Aaliyah died aged just 22 Credit: AP:Associated Press When did Aaliyah die? Meanwhile Han, a former Hong Kong cop whos taken the fall for his fathers misdeeds and gone to prison, breaks out and travels to California to throw himself in the middle of it all again. [23] In Canada, the album was certified gold by Music Canada for 50,000 copies in shipments. Romeo Must Die. [70] Before her death Aaliyah filmed some scenes for the sequels of The Matrix as the character Zee. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. Throughout its hour-and-a-half runtime, it doesnt feature any major love scenes between Li and Aaliyahs characters not even a kiss. [19], Aaliyah's songs have been said to have "crisp production" and "staccato arrangements" that "extend genre boundaries" while containing "old-school" soul music. Hankerson also expressed confusion over why "they were upset" with Aaliyah given her age at the time. [87][91] ABC News noted that her music was "evolving from the punchy pop-influenced hip hop and R&B to a more mature, introspective sound", on her third album. This 22-Year-Old R&B Singer Has Her Eyes On The Prize", "Aaliyah's true legacy is her rare gift for nuance", "U.S. investigators to probe Aaliyah crash", "Drake's tattoo to Timbaland's heart: Aaliyah still idolized after all these years", "Aaliyah Obituary: Remembering the R&B Star", "The story of R Kelly and Aaliyah from their secret teenage marriage to those pregnancy rumours", "R. Kelly And Aaliyah Secretly Married On This Day In 1994", "Timeline: The life and career of R. Kelly", "Former R. Kelly tour manager reluctantly testifies about the singer's marriage to Aaliyah", "Aaliyah's Ex Boyfriend Says She Wouldn't Talk About R. Kelly: 'It Was So Much Hurt for Her', "Kelly accused of sex with teenage girls", "Aaliyah's 'One In a Million' Turns 20: How Her Second Album Predicted R&B's Future", "Why Has the Public Forgiven R. Kelly for His Sordid, Predatory Past? Along the way, Han falls for Trish O'Day (Aaliyah), the daughter of the head of the rival gang, and the two set out to find justice together. But Li actually opened up about the lack of love scenes in the past. The 22-year-old Aaliyah had just wrapped shooting the music video for her hit single "Rock the Boat," and her team was eager to get back to the US. Alongside that anniversary comes a . [212] In a 2001 review of her third album, Ernest Hardy from Rolling Stone professed that Aaliyah's impact on R&B and pop has been enormous. [218], There has been continuing belief that Aaliyah would have achieved greater career success had it not been for her death. It performed well at the box office, drawing over $90 million from a $25 million budget. [40] During this time, Aaliyah participated in the Children's Benefit Concert, a charity concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York. [63] The song peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. We've seen the reports surfacing that they have been confirmed to participate but that is not the case. [73] Ehrlich also expressed that Aaliyah's "silky vocals are more agile than those of self-proclaimed queen of hip-hop soul Mary J. [114][116], Aaliyah reportedly developed an intimate relationship with Kelly during the recording of her debut album. 71 '50 Greatest Women of the Video Era', "Best of the 2000s Artists of the Decade", "Decade End Charts Billboard 200 Albums", "The Top 50 R&B / Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years", "NME's 100 Most Influential Artists: 50 1", "Hot 100 Turns 60! [252] In 2011, Essence ranked her at number 14 on its 50 Most Influential R&B Starts list. [44] She also contributed to the soundtrack album for the animated film Anastasia, performing a cover version of "Journey to the Past" that earned songwriters Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. [121] Smith also said he was "not proud" of his role in facilitating their marriage. No ego, no nervousness, no manipulation. The film was released in the United States on March 22, 2000. But today, I cant think of Romeo Must Die without thinking of Aaliyah and her catchy Grammy-nominated single Try Again, the lead single on the movies soundtrack, her whispered, sultry vocals overlaying its propulsive synth. Physically in the cold, mentally in the Caribbean. During an interview with Christopher John Farley, she was asked whether she was still in contact with him and would ever work with him again. [207] The mid-tempo track, "Poison", was released on December 17, 2021. 1:38:50. [12] As a child, Aaliyah traveled with Knight and worked with an agent in New York to audition for commercials and television programs, including Family Matters; she appeared on Star Search at age ten. Her cousin Jomo had a pet alligator, which Aaliyah felt was too much, remarking, "that was something I wasn't going to stroke. In 2000, Aaliyah made her acting debut in the surprise action hit Romeo Must Die, . Aaliyah and Li both received praise for their performances, as did the soundtrack, but the film as a whole fared worse with critics; the New York Times referred to the union between hip-hop and kung fu as a relatively chaste marriage. Like many films of its time, it plumbed Asian and Black subcultures without any outright goal of increasing representation onscreen. Babyface, Warren G, and Timbaland were in attendance too, as was Keanu Reeves, a year removed from The Matrix debut and Neos instantly iconic epiphany, I know kung fu. But center stage were two Hollywood newcomers: Chinese-born Singaporean martial-artist extraordinaire Jet Li and pop sensation Aaliyah, the nights Romeo and Juliet. Aaliyah Was Making Huge Plans for the Future Before Her Tragic Death, Meanwhile, the 2007 documentary Slanted Screen suggested there may have been a racial component to the decision not to include a kiss. [249] In December 2009, Billboard magazine ranked Aaliyah at number 70 on its Top Artists of the Decade,[250] while her album Aaliyah was ranked at number 181 on the magazine's Top 200 Albums of the Decade. But the union was hardly the result of a shotgun wedding. There have been plenty of rumors surrounding the reason behind this, including the far-out claim that Li was allergic to Aaliyahs lipstick. The singer, born Aaliyah Haughton, was just 22 years old and in the midst of shooting a music video for her third and final self . But more than that, my parents an interracial couple were martial artists, and so kung fu movies feel like home. I think it's very important to have an education, and even more important to have something to fall back on." It earned a measly 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.1 out of 10 on IMDB, though Aaliyahs performance received praise from critics. The sleek futurism of the music video how it flaunts Jet Lis moves, reflected in a hall of mirrors, and lingers on Aaliyah as she struts around in leather low-riders. Because Han cant hit a girl, he uses Trishs body to fend off his opponent, gripping her arms and legs in a more provocative manner than any intentionally romantic scene between them. In the decades since her death, Aaliyah's music has continued to achieve commercial success, aided by several posthumous releases. In 2000, she starred as Trish O'Day in Romeo Must . [14], Aaliyah's mother was a vocalist, and her uncle Hankerson was an entertainment lawyer who had been married to Gladys Knight. [16][104] She felt that it was "important to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack". 0:51. The video features dancing holographic versions of Aaliyah. She called herself a perfectionist and recalled always being a good student. [128] In 2019, Damon Dash revealed to Hip Hop Motivation that Aaliyah did not even speak of her relationship with Kelly in private; he tried multiple times to discuss it with her, but she would only say that Kelly was a "bad man". Brett Ratners Rush Hour (1998) had already positioned Hong Kongstyle action alongside Black comedy, pairing Jackie Chan with beloved Friday comedian Chris Tucker. It was on that day in 2001 that Lee's client. See the full gallery: 39 Things You Didn't Know About Aaliyah. We At It Again . Mov-ie Trailer. Jet Li and Aaliyah at the premiere of the 2000 movie, This password will be used to sign into all, All I Want to Think About Is Cher Kicking That Can Down the Street in, Brad Pitt, Baby Shampoo, a Unitard: The Story Behind That, Okay, TikTok, You Can Calm Down About Aubrey Plaza at the SAG Awards Now, Shakira Takes Some Pointers From Taylor Swift, The Surprisingly Contrarian Case Against Lying About Science, Ed Sheeran Completes His PEMDAS Era With New Album, ASTROs Rocky Leaves the Group After Ending Contract. @UrbanOutfitters. "[132] Aaliyah's mother, Diane Haughton, reflected that everything "that went wrong in her life" began with her relationship with Kelly. Aaliyah at the Premiere of Romeo Must Die (RARE) Junkbowling. Aaliyah - Romeo Must Die- -The Album - TV Commercial. Romeo Must Die contains the blueprint of a Shakespearean text chopped and screwed into a nearly unrecognizable object. "[57] Aaliyah enjoyed balancing her singing and acting careers. Yet traces of what made the kung fu movies of yore such treasured objects of empowerment are also present here in the ingenuity and grace with which Han evades his opponents, the fierce independence and unpretentious wisdom of Trish. Few Black female artists at the time had so successfully broached the mainstream; shades of Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard seemed to color Aaliyahs Hollywood breakthrough, and with it the promise of comparable superstardom. Aaliyahs Are You Feelin Me? (Boy are you feelin me?/ Cause Im feelin you) bumps in the background, but the songs lyrics are more suggestive than the couples PG-rated dance moves Trish running circles around Han swaying like an awkward teenager. So it was not really a decision by the powers that be to prevent an inter-racial relationship from happening on screen. When she was only ten years old, she captivated the audience of "Star Search," a show in which artists competed in different genres of entertainment, including comedy, dance, and singing. [136] Aaliyah's illegal marriage to Kelly was heavily featured in the court case. One in a Million was reissued on August 20,[194][195] despite Aaliyah's estate issuing a statement in response to Blackground 2.0's announcement, denouncing the "unscrupulous endeavor to release Aaliyah's music without any transparency or full accounting to the estate". Aaliyah made her acting debut alongside Jet Li and the late DMX in 2000's Romeo Must Die. [32], In 1996, Aaliyah left Jive Records and signed with Atlantic Records. Romeo Must Die (B.A) moidixmois. [129], Other allegations were made about Kelly regarding underage girls in the years after Aaliyah's death, and their marriage was used as an example of his involvement with them. [167] It grossed US$15.2 million in its first weekend, ranking number one at the box office. [48] She starred opposite martial artist Jet Li, playing a couple who fall in love amid their warring families. DMX. 04:18. Hankerson introduced her to R. Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number. [17] Aaliyah, who maintained a perfect 4.0 grade-point average when graduating from high school, felt education was important. He exclaimed, "Aaliyah music only work with its soulmate, which is me". From the perspective of todays CGI-saturated filmmaking, Romeos special effects and stunt work seem kitschy, but its the films flagrant dismissal of realism that I find so delightful. Soon after her death, the hit singles 'More Than a woman' and 'Rock The Boat' were released, from her third album. The pilot was later found to have traces of cocaine and alcohol in his body and was not qualified to fly the aircraft designated for the flight. [141][142] In the summer of 2000, Aaliyah was introduced to Dash by his accountant and they formed a friendship. She has sold 8.1 million albums in the US and an estimated 24 to 32 million albums worldwide. I need the songs to reflect me in one way or another". [157] Additionally, toxicology tests performed on Morales revealed traces of cocaine and alcohol in his system. "[150] Key indicated that Morales gave in to the passengers and that he had trouble starting one of the engines. "[127] Kelly later said that Aaliyah had opportunities to address their relationship after they separated professionally but chose not to. Aaliyah reflected: "I always wanted to maintain that, even in high school when I first started to travel. [92] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described her album Aaliyah as "a statement of maturity and a stunning artistic leap forward", and called it one of the strongest urban soul records of its time. Aaliyah. [3] She started performing at weddings, church choir, and charity events. Movies featuring interracial couples obviously existed before Romeo Must Die, but those that paired Black and Asian characters were few and often independently financed; consider Mira Nairs Mississippi Masala, Timothy Cheys Fakin Da Funk, or Chi Muoi Los Catfish in Black Bean Sauce. Starring Jet Li and the late Aaliyah, the two star in this modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet as their mob leader fathers rival it out in an increasingly violent mob war in the San Francisco Bay Area. [1] . Opening to Romeo Must Die 2000 DVD (HD) AlexanderWurmser2k. Hankerson shared that this will be the end of new music for the late star and added, "I think it's wonderful. One in a Million peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200,[21] and was certified double platinum by the RIAA on June 16, 1997, denoting shipments of two million copies. [22] The album went on to sell 3 million copies in the US[23] and over eight million copies worldwide. [187] In August 2017 MAC Cosmetics announced that an Aaliyah collection would be made available in the summer of 2018. [257] Rolling Stone ranked her at number 40 on their 200 Best Singers of All Time list. Ramirez argued that Aaliyah's second album One in a Million was "very much ahead of its time, with the bass and electro kind of R&B sounds that they produced", and that the sound, "really stood out" at its time, was being replicated. She reportedly lied about her age on the marriage license, claiming she was 18. . "[199] Aaliyah was reissued September 10, 2021. [124] In a 2014 interview, Aaliyah's cousin Jomo Hankerson said that she "got villainized" for her relationship with Kelly and the scandal over the marriage made it difficult to find producers for her second album. [3] The single "At Your Best (You Are Love)" was criticized by Billboard for being out of place on the album and for its length. [56] The soundtrack went on to sell 1.5 million copies in the United States. [48] Released on March 24, 2000, the movie grossed US$18.6 million in its first weekend, ranking number two at the box office. [216] The publication also mentioned that the forward-thinking music Aaliyah made with Timbaland and the experimental music being made by many underground alternative artists are "somewhat cut from the same cloth". 28 Feb 2023 05:39:16 The aircraft she was travelling in was badly overloaded and crashed shortly after take-off, killing . Her brother Rashad stated that the filming of "Rock the Boat" was the only time her family was not present during a video shoot. Across three albums and multiple hit singles, she turned her gentle soprano and laidback swagger into critical and .