Former music govt Barry Hankerson is without end tethered to the legacy of his niece, the late singer Aaliyah, and the scandals of her private life.
The Background Data co-founder is liable for introducing the then-teenager, his niece, to R. Kelly, whom he managed as she started to chart her personal music profession. The 15-year-old vocalist was shortly paired with the “12 Play” crooner to assist write and produce her debut album, “Age Ain’t Nothing however a Quantity,” which was launched in 1994.
Round that very same time, rumors about him and Aaliyah being romantically concerned surfaced as they made public appearances in matching outfits, and Kelly, 27, took an apparent curiosity within the singer’s private and enterprise affairs.
They skirted across the matter by describing themselves as “deep buddies,” which solely additional fueled hypothesis. In August of 1994, Kelly reportedly married Aaliyah in Chicago after mendacity about her being 18 years previous. It has been speculated that Hankerson helped to orchestrate the union that was annulled months later in February by Aaliyah’s mother and father.
The underage marriage is one in all a number of controversies that will observe Kelly. In 2002, The Chicago Instances reported that he was seen in a intercourse tape with an underage lady. Kelly was charged with filming little one pornography however was acquitted throughout a month-long trial in 2008.
In a brand new “Artwork of Dialogue” interview printed on Dec. 9, creator Ali “Zoe” Adam claims that the tape grew to become publicized on the behest of Hankerson.
“There was plenty of points with Barry Hankerson and Aaliyah, Gold bless the lifeless, and Barry Hankerson felt some form of manner so he knew already, ‘Hey, that man acquired some s–t in his duffel bag. Get that and get it to me, man.’ So we tried to get him,” Zoe alleged.
A primary try at recovering the belongings was made in 2005 when Kelly was set to movie a music video with rapper The Recreation. The bag was in the end snatched from the disgraced singer after a efficiency in Fort Myers.
Zoe recalled, “Acquired the bag, VHS, s—t, I bear in mind I look and stated man what the f—okay. The f—okay mistaken with this n—ga? Man, I don’t know what’s occurring however hand this s—t to Barry Hankerson.” He additional claimed, “And Barry like s—t, boy, that s—t was bootleg out all over the place. It was bootleg out all over the place.”
When requested explicitly if Hankerson was the “mastermind” behind the leak, Zoe stated, “To let it’s recognized, yeah, I’d guess you’ll be able to take a look at like that. However you recognize, plenty of issues occur with, you recognize, contracts honoring issues and doubtless making an attempt to cowl it up for him and similar to sick and drained. Like, man, I ain’t overlaying this s—t up no extra, man. … I don’t know … I do know I acquired it and I handed it [over].”
Within the YouTube feedback, somebody forged doubt on his story writing, “The dates ain’t including up. He stated that he tried to get the tape at R Kelly and the Recreation’s video shoot. That video got here out in 2005. R Kelly tape was leaked in 2002.”
One other commenter quipped, “Kelly acquired extorted by like 3 totally different folks as a result of these tapes being stolen and used to get cash from him.”
A 3rd response learn, “It’s some bizarre males on this world .. That’s it that’s all.. Soooo her uncle launched the tapes as a substitute of going to the police?!” Another person merely said, “Aaliyahs uncle is a SERIOUS man.”
Further doubt of Zoe’s account might be attributed to a lady, recognized as Van Allen, who testified that she took the tape in 2000. She claimed to have seen recordings of herself in addition to an underage lady having intercourse with the Chicago native when he left a bag unattended throughout a studio session. When he stood trial in a 2022 federal case, Allen admitted to taking the footage.
She additionally recounted one in all Kelly’s managers threatening to kill her in 2007 after studying she has possession of the incriminating recording. “He stated that I failed [the lie-detector], and that they need to have murked me from the start,” she instructed prosecutors. Allen additionally testified about what she noticed within the 2008 trial.
The notorious tape, which noticed Kelly urinate on the 14-year-old lady, has lengthy been the laughingstock of jokes in regards to the canceled songwriter. Dave Chappelle was one in all a number of individuals who made a mockery of the indecent interplay on “The Chappelle Present.”
The skit noticed him popularize a parody music the place he sang, “I wish to p—s on you” and “Your physique, your physique is a porta-potty. … The one factor to make my life full is once I flip your face into a rest room seat.” Chappelle donned a bald cap, a black scarf tied round his head, and a leather-based vest outfit, very like Kelly’s staple efficiency costume in the course of the Nineteen Nineties.
The once-celebrated artist was offended by the joke and confronted the comic. In line with the comedic icon, “He stated, ‘How are you gonna do the video of me peeing on [girls] like that?’ … and I stated, ‘The way you gonna do the video?’”
Kelly is at present serving a 30-year sentence after being convicted in separate racketeering and intercourse crimes circumstances in 2023.
