Rediscover Aaliyah’s ‘I Care 4 U’ (2002) | Tribute (2024)

“Dearest sweet Aaliyah,” summoned rapper DMX, “I have trouble accepting the fact that you're gone, so I won't.”

If two decades after Aaliyah’s passing, you’re still in denial, feel no shame. Denial is the first of five stages of a grief known as the Kubler-Ross cycle. Anyone who fell under the spell of her beauty, allure, and confident cool can identify with the feeling. We’re all now living in a future much different than expected.

Before the debuts of mononymous teen R&B singers Brandy, Monica, and Usher, came that of their premier princess Aaliyah. Her opening two double-platinum entries Age Ain’t Nothin’ But a Number (1994) and One in a Million (1996) littered radio with hits like parade confetti. As she became a fashion muse and silver screen actress, her visibility rose. She was becoming larger-than-life when everything stopped—all at once.

Seven weeks after the release of Aaliyah (2001), a plane crash stilled the starlet on August 25, 2001 at the age of 22. Nearly sixteen months on from this tragedy, her label delivered I Care 4 U, a posthumous compilation to help her fans move forward. For me though, it only brought me to the next stage: anger.

As much consideration went into it, this project still rubbed me wrong. First, in the US, her exquisite face wasn’t on the cover. Instead, we got a vaguely funereal peach-and-coral corsage embossed with schmaltzy gold script. Second, Aaliyah deserved a comprehensive toast to her career, but this disc only featured a scant handful of her biggest hits (“Back and Forth,” “At Your Best (You Are Love),” “Are You That Somebody,” “Try Again,” and “One in a Million”). The omission of “If Your Girl Only Knew” was wildly confusing in light of the inclusion of a rowdy new remix of “Got To Give It Up” inexplicably missing both of its Slick Rick guest verses.

Scattershot sequencing was a separate problem. The placement of those hits served to accentuate the underwhelm of six vault tracks squeezed into the center like pasty filling in a generic Oreo cookie. This wasn’t right. That wasn’t right. When it came down to it, none of these gripes were the main issue. The truth was that I simply was not ready to acknowledge Aaliyah’s end.

So I welcomed the third stage, bargaining, where one negotiates to avoid reality. There were five years without a disc to follow-up One in a Million. If one imagines these new tunes as the product expected circa 1999, the listen goes much more smoothly. To that end, I Care 4 U is a delayed exposé of the precious creative process leading to her critically-acclaimed 2001 magnum opus. The title came from a Timbaland and Missy Elliott collaboration recorded too late to make the cut of One in a Million. As the simmering ‘70s throwback was Aaliyah’s personal favorite, it was a guaranteed spot on her next long-player.

In the meantime, R&B was rapidly changing circa Y2K. Our midriff-baring heroine tapped Teddy Bishop, Jazze Pha, Bryan-Michael Cox, Kevin Hicks, Eric Seats, Rapture Stewart, and of course, Timbaland to sharpen her sound. From those sessions came “All I Need” and “Don’t Worry,” the type of ticking, guitar-streaked uptempo Rodney Jerkins or Kevin “She’kspere” Briggs would have placed on Destiny’s Child’s The Writing’s on the Wall (1999). Aaliyah rides both vehicles well with the former showcasing the satisfying hum of her lower register, and the latter keeping cool with easy gospel harmonies.

The day after tracking “I Don’t Wanna” for the Next Friday (1999) and Romeo Must Die (2000) soundtracks with Jazze Pha, Aaliyah also cut the coy R&B negligée “Come Over.” She may have pruned it from her selections for sounding too much like an R. Kelly melody for Changing Faces. Unsurprisingly, it found a home on their next effort Visit Me (2000), using the very same track heard on I Care 4 U.

“Are You That Somebody” and “Try Again” earned late lyricist Stephen “Static Major” Garrett’s place as primary writer on Aaliyah’s eponymous last record. From its salon des refusés comes the oddity “Erica Kane” titled after Susan Lucci’s notorious All My Children character. In truth, it was a cautionary tale against the scourge of cocaine intended for Garrett’s singing trio Playa. Also trimmed from Aaliyah was “Don’t Know What To Tell Ya,” an exasperated attempt to calm an insecure lover (“Don't compare me to your last one / I can't help it, she was a fast one / A sassy one, I'm a classy one / I can't keep them from getting at me, hun”). Though it pales compared to edgy material like “I Can Be” and “Never No More” on Aaliyah, it glows on I Care 4 U and portends the dark textures Timbaland would later explore with Brandy on Afrodisiac (2004).

The most redemptive track on I Care 4 U is the lovelorn “Miss You.” Originally slated for co-writer Ginuwine’s 100% Ginuwine (1999), Aaliyah fell in love with the demo and insisted on recording it. Naturally, its rueful high-school heartbreak lyrics clashed with the mature evolution projected on Aaliyah. It was the perfect midtempo groove to channel her fans’ universal sorrow into a comforting two-step. A touching video featured clips of Aaliyah amidst cameos from Missy Elliott, Lil' Kim, Toni Braxton, Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah, and others lip syncing this final #1 single.

As the reality of Aaliyah’s loss inevitably settles in, one may move into the penultimate stage of depression. Time was not on our side for a robust posthumous release like The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death (1997). He was able to see his work to completion before being taken from the world. More commonly, an outsider finishes a process the artist began as with TLC’s 3D (2002) or Jeff Buckley’s (Sketches for) My Sweetheart The Drunk (1998). At the time of Aaliyah’s death though, she was promoting new music. There was no time to give any indication where her artistry would’ve headed. I Care 4 U can be a rearview mirror only, and nothing more.

It can, however, usher in the final stage: acceptance. Although grief is complex, music really helps. After years of digital exile, Blackground Records made Aaliyah’s catalog available on streaming services in 2021, even adding “We Need a Resolution” and “Rock the Boat” to the worldwide re-release of I Care 4 U. Taking it a step further this year, they also released “Poison,” an Aaliyah single with The Weeknd from the purported new project Unstoppable. After a mixed-to-unfavorable response, it has yet to materialize which is probably for the best. Despite the injustice of vita interruptus, eventually one album has to be her last. I Care 4 U is as soft and loving a place as any to take a deep breath, and let her rest.