Yesterday would have been Aaliyah's 40th birthday and many of her collaborators took the time to remember the late singer on social media. Some people, like Funk Flex, chose to use the occasion to be a little petty, coming at Dame Dash which ended up being a little uncalled for. Most people shined a light on her amazing career in the music industry and her family chose to remember her in a way that she probably would have appreciated: with poetry.
Rashad Haughton, Aaliyah's brother, wrote a poem in honor of his sister's 40th birthday, sharing it on the late singer's social pages. He wrote:
"The many were once as one/By way of mind and tongue/ Hands intertwined/Reached out for heaven/Atop a thing that was built.
When it fell upon itself/The words descended/Upon cold earth and became brittle, colorless and crumbled beneath our feet.
Now, a cypher of memories/ Unlock a chamber; Not of brick and mortar/But of glass and copper — Smooth and colt to touch.
Hallow voices ripple upstream/Yearning to rejoin the sea cry/ Universe, sacred womb/A truth revealed/Is a song set free/Gentle whisper of wind/Sow these seeds for me."
Aaliyah died when she was 22-years-old in a horrific plane crash. She was returning from a music video shoot when the accident took place.