Drake’s Posthumous Aaliyah Album Put on Hold (@drake @ovo40)

Bad news for everyone looking forward to the posthumous Aaliyah album. It seems the resistance from Timbaland and the singer’s mother has been enough to shelve the project indefinitely.

Producer and OVO co-founder Noah “40” Shebib told VIBE magazine how he initially became involved with the album, and how he brought on Drake.

“Aaliyah’s label Blackground—the Hankersons, her uncle and cousin—came to me and said if she was around she’d want you to do this [posthumous] project.,” he recalled. “I’ve been obsessed with Aaliyah forever, and I know Drake has his relationship with her. But that opportunity was mine. Drake said, ‘Can I do it with you?’ and I was like, ‘Of course, we’ll do it together.'”

Despite there being plenty of those who supported Drake’s involvement, there were just as many who didn’t like the idea of the Toronto rapper taking the helm.

“The world reacting to Drake’s involvement so negatively, I just wanted nothing to do with it. That was a very sad experience for me. I was naïve to the politics surrounding Aaliyah’s legacy and a bit ignorant to Timbaland’s relationship and everybody else involved and how they’d feel,” Shebib told the magazine. “Tim said to me ‘Don’t stop, make the album.’ I think that was Tim taking the position of, ‘I’m not going to stop you. If you’re not going to do it, that’s your decision.’ But ultimately, I wasn’t comfortable and didn’t like the stigma. We released [“Enough Said”], but I was seven songs deep. [Aaliyah’s] mother saying “I don’t want this out” was enough for me.”

Source: hiphopwired.com