Twenty-five years after Aaliyah's tragic death, an ugly family battle over money and music rights has taken a deeply personal turn-with the singer's uncle now suggesting that his own son failed her before the fatal flight.
Barry Hankerson, Aaliyah's uncle, former manager and founder of Blackground Records, has alleged in court documents that his son, Jomo Hankerson, was paid to coordinate travel for Aaliyah and her entourage during the 2001 filming of her "Rock the Boat" music video in the Bahamas.
According to TMZ, Barry claims Jomo "failed in his responsibility" to manage those arrangements. He further alleges that the crash "may have been avoided" if Jomo had completed the travel-coordination duties for which he was compensated.
It is an extraordinary accusation to make against one's own son-and it has dragged one of music's most painful tragedies into an already bitter fight over royalties, recording masters and more than $1.2 million.
The claim is not a new official finding about the cause of the crash, nor has it been established in court. It is Barry's allegation in an ongoing legal dispute, and Jomo denies wrongdoing.
Aaliyah, who was only 22, died on August 25, 2001, after completing work on the "Rock the Boat" video. The Cessna 402B carrying the singer, eight other people and their luggage crashed shortly after taking off from Marsh Harbour Airport in the Bahamas. Everyone aboard was killed.
Investigators determined that the aircraft was overloaded and improperly balanced. The pilot, Luis Morales III, was reportedly not authorized to fly that aircraft and had cocaine and alcohol in his system. Barry's new allegation does not replace those findings; rather, it claims that better travel planning might have kept Aaliyah from boarding the doomed aircraft in the first place.
Barry reportedly says his relationship with Jomo has never been the same since Aaliyah's death. Yet the accusation has emerged not in a case examining the crash, but in a bruising financial dispute between father and son.
Jomo is suing Barry and Blackground Records over an alleged settlement involving recording masters and publishing rights connected to Aaliyah, Toni Braxton, DMX and Timbaland. He claims he is entitled to 12 percent of the money Barry received from those music assets and is seeking more than $1.2 million in damages.
Jomo also alleges that his father used Blackground Records to conceal earnings and manufacture unrelated expenses to pressure him into accepting less money than he believes he is owed.
Barry denies those accusations. He argues that the purported settlement is invalid because it was allegedly executed through fraud. He has also accused Jomo of threatening to release previously unheard Aaliyah recordings if his financial demands were not satisfied-another claim Jomo denies.
That makes this far more than an ordinary royalties dispute. The fight now involves Aaliyah's masters, unreleased music, accusations of hidden money and a devastating allegation about the final journey of one of R&B's most beloved stars.
Aaliyah's catalog has long been surrounded by complicated business disputes. Much of her music remained unavailable on major streaming platforms for years before portions of it were released digitally through Blackground Records 2.0 beginning in 2021. The handling of her recordings has repeatedly generated controversy among fans and members of her family.
Now the legal battle threatens to place the attention back on the circumstances of her death rather than the musical legacy she left behind.
Aaliyah helped reshape contemporary R&B with recordings including "Try Again," "Are You That Somebody?," "More Than a Woman" and "Rock the Boat." Her influence continues to be heard in a generation of singers who followed her atmospheric, understated approach to pop and R&B.
But behind that celebrated legacy, a family war is growing increasingly vicious. What began as an argument over percentages and music assets has now become a fight involving blame, grief and the haunting question of whether a different travel arrangement might have changed history.
Both Barry and Jomo Hankerson deny the allegations against them, and the lawsuit remains ongoing. No court has determined that Jomo bears responsibility for Aaliyah's death.
