It goes without saying that Aaliyah was incredibly talented, and that her life was tragically cut short far too soon. According, to Suge Knight, several of her peers recognized her gift ahead of her untimely passing, including 2Pac. During a recent interview with The Art Of Dialogue, he recalled the West Coast icon wanting to collaborate with her, and even wanting to sign her to Death Row.
Knight explained that the first time 2Pac heard of Aaliyah was when he took him to see a Gladys Knight show. “We had a thing,” he recalled. “I would always listen to oldies, and Pac would listen to rap. He didn’t like oldies, so I told him, ‘I gotta show you what oldies are about.’ So, I took 2Pac to go see Gladys Knight perform in Vegas.” Eventually, Aaliyah took the stage. Her skills left 'Pac impressed, to say the least.
2Pac & Aaliyah
“Aaliyah starts singing and 2Pac said, ‘Don’t get up! Don’t get up!’” Knight explained. “I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘Because Gladys Knight knows you, you’re gonna speak to Gladys Knight, and then you’re gonna talk to that little girl singing. And the next thing you know, you’re gonna be doing an album.’ He said, ‘I’m gonna go talk to her, you come later on, because I want to do an album with Aaliyah.’”
“He wasn’t thinking about signing nobody else," Knight continued. "He thought she was the biggest star and had the best voice ever. Me and that dude spent hours and hours and days and days together. Me, personally, I never seen him get so excited about no female artist. … He lost his mind over Aaliyah. He talked about her for days and days. I got tired of hearing him talking about that little girl. He said, ‘I got these songs I want do with her. I’m gonna do this song with her.’ … He was super, super, super excited.”
