Aaliyah’s uncle, Barry Hankerson, says that the late singer would’ve been pleased with the sample of Aaliyah’s “One in a Million” in Normani’s new hit “Wild Side.”
In an interview, Barry says his niece Aaliyah “always encouraged young women pursuing their musical and entertainment careers, to achieve their dreams.”
As the founder of Background Records and owner of all of Aaliyah’s masters, he says that “Aaliyah would be very supportive of a young Black woman that chose to emulate her music and style,” although it would’ve been “more honorable” if Normani got permission to use the sample.
According to Normani’s camp, however, the song doesn’t actually contain a sample.
While Barry says that he won’t get in the way of Normani’s song, we all know that money changes things. Remember — “Blurred Lines” wasn’t a direct sample either, but Marvin Gaye’s family took Pharrell and Robin Thicke to court and won $7.3 million.
A similar situation is also why Kandi Burruss and Tiny Harris were added as writers to Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You.”
The fact that Barry Hankerson is speaking on the song at all lets us know that he wants some type of credit/attention.
