Missy Elliott & Timbaland Not Involved In Posthumous Aaliyah Album After All

Robbie Daw | August 14, 2012 9:18 am

Finding it hard to keep up on the Aaliyah/Drake/Timbaland posthumous album drama? Here’s another total curveball — Missy Elliott issued a statement yesterday (per Billboard) saying that she and Timbaland will not be involved in the project, despite reports to the contrary last week.

“Although Missy and Timbaland always strive to keep the memory of their close friend alive, we have not been contacted about the project nor are there any plans at this time to participate,” stated Elliott’s publicist Mona Scott-Young.

Drake and his producer pal Noah “40” Shebib are heading up the Aaliyah album, and last week there had been word that Drizzy wrangled in Timbaland to produce two tracks on the LP. Elliott’s press release goes on to address that, however — and to shoot it down.

“We’ve seen the reports surfacing that they have been confirmed to participate but that is not the case,” Scott-Young notes. “Both Missy and Timbaland are very sensitive to the loss still being felt by the family so we wanted to clear up any misinformation being circulated.”

Missy herself had the following to say: “Tim and I carry Aaliyah with us everyday, like so many of the people who love her. She will always live in our hearts. We have nothing but love and respect for her memory and for her loved ones left behind still grieving her loss. They are always in our prayers.”

Aaliyah’s brother Rashad Haughton issued his own statement last week, following Drake’s release of the track “Enough Said”, that read as follows: “There is no official album being released and supported by the Haughton family.”

The question now is, without Aaliyah’s family and longtime musical collaborators embracing this project, how much will fans take to it once the album is released?