In fact, Drake was not even suppose to be a part of it. It was Aaliyah's uncle and cousin that came to 40 about doing the project, because they felt his sound would be something Aaliyah would have done had she still been alive.
In a new interview with Vibe, 40, who executive produced Drake's 'Nothing Was the Same' album, claimed that things only turned ugly when Drake jumped on board. 40 agreed they could do it together after Drake showed strong interest to be involved. They tested the waters with 'Enough Said' featuring previously unheard Aaliyah vocals, and that was met with mixed reviews. It was Timbaland and DMX that were scathingly vocal with their criticism. They felt Drake should not be trying to work on an Aaliyah album without Missy and their help. Their claim was that they had more rights to be involved because they knew Aaliyah personally and he didn't. Not to mention Tim was her long-term producer.
40 says the negative response to Drake's involvement made him not want to do the album anymore. When Aaliyah's mother stepped in (while he was seven songs deep), and told him she didn't want the album to happen, it was a done deal and he removed himself from the project completely.
Initially, Tim actually did give 40 his blessing to produce the album but I think the negative reaction was down to Drake being a new-school artist and having so much power over the album when he had no personal ties to her whatsoever. Tim felt that was unjust so that was where the resentment came in. Otherwise, if it was just 40 doing the project on his lonesome, maybe, just maybe, the backlash would not have been so strong and we might have had a brand new Aaliyah album to enjoy. So yeah, be mad at Drake, lol.