Roc-a-Fella co-founder Dame Dash and Aaliyah had a close working relationship. During the late-1990s, Aaliyah was one of the most prominent R’n’B singers in the world and (alongside Timbaland) created legendary tracks.
During the late-’90s and early 2000s, celebrity couples were popping up left, right and centre. From Nas and Kelis to Jay-Z and Beyoncé, a multitude of celebrity relationships were beginning to form. Among them were Aaliyah and Damon Dash.
However, their relationship was short-lived as the ‘More Than A Woman’ vocalist perished in 2001 following a plane crash in the Bahamas. However, Dash once revealed that her death was wholly avoidable and shockingly blamed one well-known music video director.
Following the video shoot for her 2001 single ‘Rock The Boat,‘ Aaliyah’s Cessna 404, with her luggage exceeding the plane’s weight limit, crashed and burned only 200ft above the ground. However, Dash, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, alleged that the only reason the ‘Try Again’ singer had to fly in a puny Cessna 404 was Hype Williams.
Dash accused Williams of flying to the US before the vocalist in the robust Cessna 202 that was meant for her. Recalling what happened, the entrepreneur unveiled, “When she actually saw the plane … she said ‘I don’t like this plane,’”
He continued, “I was like, ‘Well, don’t get on it.’ She was like, ‘Well, I got to because I got work to do.’ She got on the plane, and she always had a very serious fear of planes in general, so she had to overcome a fear to get on that plane on the way there. But what I was really more tight about was that I had heard that Lenny Kravitz had offered her a jet and that Hype had taken the jet. So, that’s what really pissed me off about the situation when I heard about that. You can ask Hype about that.”
The Roc-A-Fella co-founder revealed to Entertainment Weekly that he has previously confronted Hype Williams about the incident. However, he didn’t disclose any information out of respect for Aaliyah’s family. When asked why he wouldn’t elaborate on his exchange with Williams, Dash replied, “Because of my respect for Aaliyah and her family… Everyone’s respectful of her memory. No one really speaks on it… So in respect for her memory, I don’t say a lot of things.”
You can watch the industry mogul allude to Hype Williams as the cause of Aaliyah’s death in the video below.
