Chloe x Halle continue to display their unbelievable talent with their latest cover medley, in which they've flawlessly mashed up Lauryn Hill, TLC, and Aaliyah with their new single, "Do It." The songstress sisters shared the video to Instagram, indicating that these were just a handful of the artists whose music had serve as inspiration for their upcoming sophomore album, Ungodly Hour, dropping tomorrow (June 12th).

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in honor of our album coming out this friday, here is a mashup of songs from a few of the artists who’ve inspired us ??

A post shared by chloe x halle (@chloexhalle) on Jun 10, 2020 at 5:31pm PDT

In the clip, Chloe pays keyboard while she and her younger sister, Halle, harmonize with ease. They begin with some of Ms. Lauryn Hill's "Ex-Factor" before interjecting a snippet of Aaliyah's "More Than A Woman." They then shift gears by taking on TLC's "Creep," blending it with their latest single, "Do It," which dropped last month.

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Last Monday (June 1st), Chloe x Halle announced that they would be postponing the release of Ungodly Hour in light of recent events. The album was originally slated to drop last Friday, June 5th, but they decided to delay it until June 12th "in solidarity of all the beautiful black lives lost." The duo explained their reasoning in a video posted to their social media channels. 

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we’ll be postponing our album to June 12th in solidarity of all the beautiful black lives lost ✊??

A post shared by chloe x halle (@chloexhalle) on Jun 1, 2020 at 6:11pm PDT

We'd like to think that some of our favorite albums are readily available on the streaming platform of our choice, but that just isn't the case. We still don't have Aaliyah's catalog and Dr. Dre's classic The Chronic will become widely available on April 20. Back in 2016, Future shared his mixtape, Purple Reign. It was the Atlanta rapper's 16th mixtape that hosted no features and had production credits from Metro Boomin, Southside, Zaytoven, DJ Spniz, and more. The 12-track effort's artwork pays homage to late music icon Prince's album of the same name, and for years the project was only available on select platforms.

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Now, fans will be able to stream wherever they like, and they took to social media to share their enthusiasm. The news of Purple Reign became the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter as fans took a walk down memory lane. The rapper has been slowly, but surely, releasing his projects on all platforms and his supporters can't get enough—especially after seeing that Future added his track "News or Something" to the end.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the project, give it a listen below. For avid future fans, enjoy the memories. Peep a few enthusiastic reactions from fans, as well.

Her style may have been heavily influenced by the late singer Aaliyah when she was growing up, but Bia has created her own lane. The rapper’s star has been rising for quite some time, especially after she was signed to Pharrell Williams’s i am OTHER record label. However, her career came to a bit of a standstill in the years to follow after she was shelved. Now that she’s able to spread her wings, we’ve seen much more of the Massachusetts native. 

Russ added Bia to his single “Best on Earth,” a hit song that not only introduced Bia to a larger audience but also received a co-sign from Rihanna. “I would say that was one of the best days for me of my career,” the rapper told HipHopDX. “Because Rihanna, she is one of my favorite people in the world. And to have a co-sign like that from a peer, it already means a lot. But to have co-sign, like that from your favorite person. Like one of the people that you look to for inspiration or one of the people that you feel like set the bar. It was overwhelming for me. It just hit different.”

Bia calls herself a “real student of rap” who studies the styles and flows of those to be considered icons as well as her peers. “When it comes to rap and flow, I’ve always been heavy on rap. I’m a flow type of person,” Bia added. “I love Big Sean’s flow. I love Nicki Minaj. She influenced me a lot. I love Bankroll Fresh. Bankroll Fresh to this day is one of my favorite rappers of all time. People ask me, ‘Who was my biggest inspiration?’ They always think it was Big Sean and I always tell people it was Bankroll Fresh. I’m a real student of rap. I just love rap. I love music. I’m onto sh*t at least a year or two before it pops.” Check out Bia sharing a sexy clip of herself as she raps along to her latest single “Cover Girl”  and watch her interview with us on Between the Lines below.

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21 Savage had a solo karaoke party over Instagram live on Sunday, belting out some absolute R&B classics from artists like Beyoncé, Usher, Aaliyah, and many more. The coronavirus quarantine has many people jumping on IG live to keep themselves and their followers entertained, and 21 Savage definitely knows what his audience wants to see. The rapper did not hold back one bit while he showed off his impressive repertoire of R&B hits from over the years. Included in this collection are Beyoncé's "Me, Myself & I" as well as Destiny's Child's "Cater 2 U," and you don't want to miss his emotional rendition of Usher's "Burn." Check out all the different songs he tackled from artists like Brandy, Chris Brown, and Pharrell, and prepare to be blown away.

"Me Myself and I" - Beyoncé

As new artists step into the music scene, they’re often compared to other established artists topping the charts. Tinashe shares that she is no different and throughout her career, people have attempted to size her up against other singers. The Songs for You crooner recently chatted with Just the Sip, and during the talk about her career, Tinashe shared that she was pitted against “every black girl.”

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“First, it was the superstars, which was like, whoa,” she said. “How are you guys gonna pit me against these people? It would be: Tinashe, the new Aaliyah. Tinashe, the next Beyoncé. I would be like, you guys are setting me up left and right. These people are icons.” After the “icons” were other artists who just fell into the same look and style.

“It started off there, and then it was everyone. I literally could name six different people at one point that has been Tinashe versus Jhené [Aiko], Tinashe versus FKA twigs, Tinashe versus all the R&B girls. Literally any black girl…Cassie. All the ‘whisper’ singers, whatever that means.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Tinashe touched on her public breakup with Ben Simmons. The singer said that she doesn’t regret being vocal about how she felt following their split because it helped her inspire the changes she needed to make in her personal and professional life. Check out Tinashe’s clip with Just the Sip below.

Aaliyah is without a doubt still missed almost two decades after her tragic death in 2001, and Yara Shahidi proved that by honoring the Princess Of R&B in the upcoming spring finale of Freeform’s hit series grown-ish.

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Most people are well aware that Baby Girl was one of the premiere brand ambassadors for Tommy Hilfiger in the 1990s, seen above with lead designer Andy Hilfiger at a Tommy Hilfiger American Tour event for the clothing label back in 1997. Yara decided to give the show’s lead character Zoey a full Tommy Girl makeover as the character celebrates her 21st birthday in the episode with a 90s-themed party. Many of the other characters don costumes from that influential era as well, including Trevor Jackson as Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, Chloe Bailey as Janet Jackson in Poetic Justice and Ryan Destiny pairing up with Luka Sabbat as denim-rocking ex-power couple Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Looks like it’ll be a good one!

Check out Yara Shahidi’s Aaliyah tribute below, in addition to a clip from the grown-ish spring finale that inspired the Tommy Girl look, and let us know if you think the actress nailed it or should dust herself off and try again:

Considering the number of artists he worked with in the studio, it’s surprising for some to hear that Timbaland still gets nervous when working with certain artists. Last week, the superproducer shot a behind-the-scenes segment for the Tamron Hall Show where he revealed which entertainer made him the most uncomfortable while in the studio.

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“Imma tell you a person who really made me nervous was Floyd Mayweather, ’cause he’s a [perfectionist],” he said. “He came in the studio one time, he leaned over me, ‘You ain’t nothin’.” You know, like with that kinda boxing mentality. He pushed me, and I’m like, just making it, just stayed in my zone. I was like, ‘This must be happening for a reason.”

Timbaland added that Floyd was openly telling him that the beats were “wack” but the producer just took it in stride. “That was—I think he made me the [most nervous], the most terrified in my life.” The clip wasn’t singularly dedicated to Timbaland’s intimidating studio session with the boxing champ. The Virginia artist was pelted with other questions regarding his long-running career.

He revealed that his first hit song was Aaliyah‘s “If Your Girl Only Knew,” said his first collaboration was with Nelly Furtado, shared that the first concert he ever attended was a Prince show, and disclosed that the first beat he ever fell in love with was “Paul Revere” by Beastie Boys. Check out more from Timbaland backstage with the Tamron Hall Show below.

In August 1994, a 27-year-old R. Kelly wed 15-year-old Aaliyah in one of the most controversial moments in the disgraced singer’s career and, given all the information that has leaked out about him, that’s saying a lot. Had she not passed away during a tragic plane crash years after, Aaliyah would have been celebrating her forty-first birthday last week. The star has been brought up numerous times in the midst of R. Kelly’s dramatic unfolding in court, including in brand new documents that appear to point to the specific reason why Kelly would get married to an underage Aaliyah in the first place.

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According to The Blast, R. Kelly is currently demanding to know the identity of two “Jane Does” in his legal cases. Prosecutors are against providing him with that knowledge and they’re pointing to his past to explain why. In relation to Jane Doe #1, Aaliyah’s identity was suggested in court documents, which appear to explain why Kelly wanted to marry her.

“As early as 1994, the defendant took steps to prevent law enforcement from discovering and investigating his crimes,” reportedly state prosecutors in new court documents. “As alleged in the EDNY indictment, in August 1994, the defendant and others bribed a government employee to create false identification for Jane Doe #1. Witnesses have advised the government that the defendant engaged in this bribery scheme to obtain a marriage license so he could quickly and secretly marry Jane Doe #1 to avoid criminal charges for engaging in a sexual relationship with Jane Doe #1, who was a minor at the time. Specifically, the defendant believed that his marriage to Jane Doe #1 would prevent her from being able to testify against him in the event he were prosecuted for his criminal sexual relationship with her.”

R. Kelly is not currently allowed to know the identity of either Jane Doe but it should be pretty clear for him to figure this one out.

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Even with a new fiancé and a baby on the way, Damon Dash is still head over heels in love with former girlfriend and late R&B icon Aaliyah. On what would’ve been her 41st birthday yesterday (Jan. 16), Dame made sure to let all his Instagram followers know that his affection for the “One In A Million” singer will go on and on and on. 

“Happy birthday…will always love you,” Dash wrote as a caption on a pic of the pair at the premiere of Nicole Kidman’s 2001 thriller The Others in New York City, following up by writing, “never knew what being in love was like till I meet you…now I know how to recognize it when it’s real…” Dame and Aaliyah began dating in summer 2000 after a heavily-photographed July 4th weekend party at the Hamptons mansion he shared with former business partner Jay-Z. It was rumored that Hov and Baby Girl may have been in the talking phase during the time, but that’s never been confirmed other than Dame himself saying that Jay was “trying to get to Aaliyah.” While Dame hasn’t really had the best of luck with press lately, from going at Jay-Z (yet again) and suing WeTV to even beefing with his own daughter, it’s good to see him showing us the best side of his personality. 

Watch this clip of Dame and Aaliyah during the good ol’ days, having a night out on the town in 2001 at another movie premiere for Planet Of The Apes. Happy birthday, Queen:

Yesterday (January 16), music fans everywhere celebrated what would've been the 41st birthday for late singer/actress Aaliyah. Many people who actually knew her IRL, like close friend/collaborator Missy Elliott and her then-boyfriend at the time Damon Dash, all expressed heartfelt messages on social media to show how much they missed the Princess of R&B. In addition to the aforementioned all-stars, Beyoncé also decided shared a quick HBD message to her former contemporary in the R&B world.