The posthumous Aaliyah record that has been rumored since 2012 is no longer happening, according to Noah "40" Shebib. In an interview with Vibe, he revealed that he has officially left the project.
Shebib and Drake had been working on the record and had already released one song, "Enough Said." They even teased a second song in December. But Drake's affiliation with the project brought about a stigma that Shebib didn't want to be associated with.
In the interview with Vibe, Shebib explained that the project was his to begin with and that all things seemed to be going well until Drake got involved. "...That opportunity was mine. Drake said, 'Can I do it with you?' and I was like, 'Of course, we'll do it together,'" he told them. "The world reacting to Drake's involvement so negatively, I just wanted nothing to do with it."
He told them that it was a "very sad experience" for him. "I was naïve to the politics surrounding Aaliyah's legacy and a bit ignorant to Timabland's relationship and everybody else involved and how they'd feel," he said. "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."
Shebib had even received the go-ahead from Aaliyah's uncle and cousin via Blackground Records, but it was her mother than effectively shut the project down. "[Aaliyah's] mother saying, 'I don't want this out' was enough for me. I walked away very quickly."
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