Young Guru says that Aaliyah had been planning to record a remix of Beanie Sigel and Freeway’s “Roc the Mic” days after her tragic death in 2001. Guru explained that Aaliyah had loved Just Blaze’s production on the track so much that she wanted to appear on it herself.
Guru recalled the story during a recent appearance on Math Hoffa’s My Expert Opinion podcast.
“When Aaliyah died, Aaliyah was supposed to be coming to us, flying to us,” he explained. “She had already called Just [Blaze] and was supposed to be doing a remix with Just. The first time I ever seen Hip Hop [Kyambo Joshua] cry."
He continued: “She had left us — she had heard ‘Roc the Mic’ when we did it. We was about to go to the strip club and Freeway was complaining, ‘Yo, we been down here for a week and you giving all the beats to Beans and [Memphis] Bleek.’ He looking at Just like, ‘Yo, I can’t get nothing?'
"Just is real quick on the ASR-X… A little longer, like 10 minutes maybe… Aaliyah had heard ‘Roc the Mic’ and she made a point to say something to Hip Hop and was like, ‘That’s the one.'”
Aaliyah was killed in a plane crash in August of 2001, before "Roc the Mic” was officially released. The track ended up being the lead single for the 2002 album, State Property.
Check out Guru's appearance on My Expert Opinion below.
[Via]