Missy Elliot and Timbaland Deny Involvement in Drake's Posthumous Aaliyah Album

Hip-Hop artist Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot and music producer Timbaland are not affiliated with rap star Drake and Canadian hip-hop producer Noah "40" Shebib's posthumous Aaliyah project, according to an Elliot representative.

Elliot and Timbaland were longtime friends and music collaborators with Aaliyah, an R&B singer who died in a 2001 airplane crash. 

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(Photo : Reuters)
Legendary R&B singer, Aaliyah

"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," said Mona Scott-Young, longtime manager for Missy Elliott, in a press release to Billboard magazine. "We've seen the reports surfacing that they have been confirmed to participate but that is not the case. 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."

In the press release, Elliot said:  "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." 

The statement comes only a few days after Blackground, the company that released Aaliyah's "Enough Said" featuring Drake, confirmed to Billboard that Timbaland and Elliott would participate in the album's creation.

"Timbaland will be involved with this project. One of the records that we had that was never released was a Missy record that we obviously are going to be refreshing," Aaliyah's cousin Jomo Hankerson said.

 However, he did not clarify if Timbaland had already produced songs for the project.

"This record ['Enough Said'] really kind of came sooner than we thought it was going to come, so it's really the beginning of the creative process for us. We've got a record out while we're still creating the project. A lot of that is still up in the air, but I can tell you that Timbaland will definitely be involved, Missy will definitely be involved."