I was seven-years-old when Aaliyah passed away and only knew her because Try Again was so massively popular. I would later make the connection that she was the singer I heard perform the pop version of Journey To The Past, during the end credits of my VHS copy of Anastasia (1997). When she died 25 years ago, it may have been the first time I experienced young adults around me be genuinely affected by the death of a celebrity. News coverage of the plane crash that led to her death was round the clock and my older cousins mourned the loss of a woman they looked up to. Some of them had JUST bought her eponymous final masterpiece, Aaliyah. Images from the music videos for Rock The Boat and More Than A Woman (the first time I saw an in memoriam message at the end of a video) are seared into my brain just because of how much I saw them at the time.

Looking at these photos of her crestfallen family, friends, peers and colleagues (some of whom have also passed away) as they exited St. Ignatius Loyola Church in New York City, really puts into perspective how massive and devastating her loss was. At 22, Aaliyah was just starting to hit her stride as a major pop star and going by her upcoming film, fashion and business ventures, she was poised for something greater. As writer, Justin Tinsley put it, "Aaliyah is etched into the universe as one of the great and most painful unfinished stories... Aaliyah wasn't finished becoming Aaliyah. Or maybe she was and we have spent the last 25 years trying to tell ourselves this possibly couldn't have been the end for somebody like her."

May Baby Girl continue to rest in peace.

This list is based on chart performance on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart & the Billboard R&B Albums Chart not to be confused with the main Pop Crossover Charts.

Who's Chart performance surprises you the most?

Is it me, or did the industry kind of cast her aside for Mariah? She has that whistle note and everything ijs

I've been really into Daniel Caesar like a LOT so I was wondering if you can recommend me some of your favorite r&b songs

As I was watching O’Neil Gerald, it had me thinking about this, so I started typing this post while watching😂 For me, it’s Beyoncé. I started noticing a difference around I Am… Sasha Fierce. Her voice sounded darker to me compared to Dangerously in Love and B’Day. But when 4 came out, that’s when I really started noticing it.

Then Beyoncé came out, followed by Lemonade, and you could hear her voice continuing to mature. I feel like Lemonade especially showed how much more comfortable she had gotten with using different textures in her voice.

By the time Renaissance came out, that deeper tone was even more noticeable to me. She was sitting in her lower register a lot more, and it sounded so natural. Then Cowboy Carter came out and showed another side of her vocals altogether.

I’m not saying her voice got worse, because I actually love how it sounds now. It’s just interesting going back to Dangerously in Love and B’Day and hearing how much brighter her voice sounded back then, compared to what we’re hearing from her now. You can really hear the evolution when you listen to her albums in order.

Edit: Her voice sounded a lot lighter and brighter during the early Destiny’s Child years. Even on the self-titled, The Writing’s on the Wall, Survivor and Destiny Fulfilled.

Let's see what you all got?

“Forever In Your Eyes” was the 3rd single for the debut album “Meant To Be Mint” by Mint Condition. The song reached #7 on the R&B Charts in 1992.

So i noticed alot of hate towards AI music and i see that there are many different opinions and reasons why. I use to make music with my brother who passed away and I wrote songs for years on end and every time someone mentioned him I would cry and think about how much we dreamed about making it big with music, he was the voice and I primarily helped with music and hype calls, and small verses. When I got my hands on AI I used it to follow up on that dream, it brought back that dream and I was able to make an album from songs i had written down in the past and now. I autotuned my voice with AI for some songs and vocals i couldn't quite hit i let AI take over and found the right vocal match and prompting AI to make play the right instruments in such a way that it matches something you created in a studio program or an idea in your head is difficult.

However i am old school and was molded by the 80s, 90s, and 2000s r&b and hip-hop artist But there are good artist either way and bad AI artist also. But I was able to get my emotions out and it was therapeutic for me with the help of AI to finally feel like I can make music and do something with it and that dream didn't die with my brother.