Music

Drake's Aaliyah album scrapped by producer Noah "40" Shebib

by Tyler Munro

Last we heard about Drake’s long-planned posthumous Aaliyah album was that her longtime collaborators Missy Elliott, Timbaland and especially DMX were incredibly opposed to it.

“Your balls ain’t that big, son,” said the frequently jailed MC. And whether or not that proved to be true, it looks like the album has officially been scrapped by Drake collaborator and producer Noah “40” Shebib, who says he wasn’t comfortable going forward with it.

“The world reacting to Drake’s involvement so negatively, I just wanted nothing to do with it,” said Shebib in an interview with Vibe. “That was a very sad experience for me.”

He explained that he was approached to do the album by Aaliyah’s label, which is run by her uncle and cousin.

“[They] came to me and said if she was around she’d want you to do this project,” said Shebib, ignoring the fact that the project wouldn’t exist if she was still around.

“I’ve been obsessed with Aaliyah forever, and I know Drake has his relationship with her. But that opportunity was mine,” he continued. “Drake said ‘Can I do it with you?’ and I was like, ‘of course, we’ll do it together.'”

Shebib went onto say he was naive to the politics surrounding her legacy and ignorant to her relationship with Timbaland. While Timbaland didn’t ask him to stop work on the album, he didn’t exactly endorse it, either.

In the end, Shebib decided to scrap the project when Aaliyah’s mother said “I don’t want this out.”

“That was enough for me,” he said.

Drake’s obsession with Aaliyah includes having her portrait tattooed on his lower left shoulder