Remembering Aaliyah after 12 years...

If Aaliyah was still alive today, I think she'd have been in a lane of her own. She was already experimenting with a new direction with her music and taking R&B to a place that none of her peers had dreamed of.

 Even listening to her last album now, sonically, the project was so ahead of its time. I've been seeing a lot of statements about Beyoncé and Ashanti not being as big had Aaliyah not have died at the premature age of 22. No one knows that for sure and it's just as stupid as saying "Michael Jackson died so Chris Brown could live".

But with Bey, it would certainly have made great competition and at some point I believe they'd have collaborated. I truly believe that. Besides, Aaliyah meant more to me because she dominated the scene in the mid 90s during my early years in high school. This is when her music and dance moves were largely replicated in the playground or at the school talent show. The older generation had Janet (who I embraced just as strongly). But we had Aaliyah. She was... ours.

Aaliyah still had her fans from back in the day and I feel they'd have stuck by her, just as much as I did. Even after her passing 12 years ago today, I'm still coming to terms with it. When someone not that much older than you dies, and they largely impacted your childhood through their swag, style and music, you never get over it. Not fully. R.I.P.