Executives at Blackground Records, which released Aaliyah’s third album in July, say they have yet to discuss future plans regarding singles and videos tied to the CD. The first single, “We Need a Resolution,” went to No. 15 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart earlier this summer and its video has been in rotation on MTV. The album’s next single would probably have been “Rock the Boat,” the video that Aaliyah filmed last week in the Bahamas. Blackground, which distributes through Virgin, is a family-owned label run by Aaliyah’s uncle, Barry Hankerson. “We do have plans to release the next single and video,” Blackground publicist Carrie Davis told NEWSWEEK on Tuesday. “But when, I can’t tell you. We’ll make decisions, but we’re in the process of making funeral and memorial arrangements right now. We won’t have an update until the company sits down together.”
Aaliyah had also wrapped her first starring role in a movie. The 22-year-old, who made her film debut in last year’s “Romeo Must Die,” finished filming “Queen of the Damned” earlier this year. In the movie, based on an Anne Rice novel, Aaliyah plays a 6,000-year-old vampire. The late singer’s rep, Jill Fritzo, confirmed that the movie is still set for release in early 2002. At this point, there are no plans to move its release date.
And then there’s her role in the sequels to “The Matrix,” which are currently being shot back to back. Aaliyah was to play a character named Zee, and would have had a larger role in the third film. Some reports say she had yet to step in front of the cameras for the sequels, but Fritzo refuted that. “She started filming the two movies simultaneously back in May,” the rep said. Fritzo added she did not know how much of Aaliyah’s role had been completed. Publicists at Warner Bros., the studio behind “The Matrix” sequels, did not return calls Tuesday.
