Today marks a sad day in the music industry: the 10th anniversary of Aaliyah’s tragic death.

10 years ago today, Aaliyah Dana Haughton, the young R&B singer known worldwide as Aaliyah, was tragically killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas, putting a sad end to a promising career.

Just before her untimely passing, Aaliyah (born in Brooklyn, and raised in Detroit) had just released her third, self-titled album and had filmed the music video for the project’s second single “Rock the Boat.”

She was also in the middle of filming a new movie “Queen of the Damned,” following her blockbuster debut in “Romeo Must Die.” (FYI: Aaliyah was also in negotiations to star in the “Matrix” as well as “Honey” and a re-make of “Sparkle.”)

But all of that was cut short on August 25th 2001 when Aaliyah, who was 22 at the time, and members of her entourage died after their plane crashed shortly after take-off from the Bahamas following the “Rock the Boat” video shoot.

Though Aaliyah was only able to release three albums during her short time here with us, each one left a significant impact on the music scene then, and still shows its influences today.

Read below to see what her follow musicians and colleagues (some who knew her personally, some who didn’t) had to say about Aaliyah:

Brandy

“I met Aaliyah when I was about 15 [yrs old]. It was I think at a rehearsal for the Soul Train Awards and someone introduced us. I was so excited to meet her because she was the first girl on the scene. She came out before Monica and I did, she was our inspiration. At the time, record companies did not believe in kid acts and it was just inspiring to see someone that was winning and winning being themselves. When I met her I embraced her, I was so happy to meet her. I told her how much I loved her. She said the same thing about me and we connected. It was a great moment I’ll never forget.

“We [later] performed at a radio event together. I remember going on before her and I could see her in a section where they kept the artists and she was just bobbing her head, really being supportive. It felt like [there] was no competition, or any of that. She was just very, very supportive. Then when she got on to perform, the entire place was singing her songs word for word, and so I was I. I was trying to sing louder than everybody else so she can hear that I knew her stuff and that I was being just as supportive as she was to me.

“There was a moment when I won at, I think, [Soul Train] Lady of Soul [Music Awards]. She sent me flowers saying how proud she was and ‘congratulations.’ I just thought that was so angelic and sweet of her. People say that Aaliyah is angelic and that just made me feel like ‘wow, that’s a moment.’ Other artists supporting another artist when everybody’s trying to put you against each other, which was very special. I was like ‘whoa, that’s really big of her.’”

Monica

“The first time I met her, she was extremely quiet. You [weren't] going to get a lot of words out of Aaliyah in a first meeting. It takes a lot of time for her to warm up to people because she had this shyness… I’ve never seen [Missy Elliott] in the type of turmoil and pain that she was in after Aaliyah passed because there’s no replacing the type of friendship that her and Missy had.”

Ciara

“She was true to who she was and she didn’t seem to care about it. The core of her art is to me, heavily, heavily, urban based… It never felt like she was trying to reach across or do anything more than just keep that cool, soulful, heavy, urban core about it… I really respect that and I appreciate that.”

Estelle

“Her purity of voice was incredible… Her vocals and style is what had her stand out above and beyond everyone. When I listen to her voice now, I think, ‘She was killing it. She was a beast.’”

Keyshia Cole

“When I found out that she [had] passed that night, I just cried [while] on the tour bus. That’s amazing for someone to have that affect on other people’s lives. I think why it affected me so much without me knowing her is because she seemed to have a beautiful soul.

“[There was] something about her spirit. She connected before reality TV, before any of that happened in our era. It was something about her that made you connect to her. She seemed like she had a beautiful soul.”

Missy Elliott (via Twitter)

“Aaliyah til this very day u r still in your own lane! Ure music is timeless! We miss u!”

Drake (via Twitter)

“Rip baby girl… In my ear at every show letting me know the next move I should make. Love you.”

Damon Dash

“She was always working and shooting movies. She was always gone for like four months at a time, then come back and be gone for another month. She had to rehearse and I was doing my own thing, so it was really hard for us to get long stretches of time together. When you’re with someone like that you buy into a life of being separate, but again, I couldn’t help my feelings.

“The energy we created together for people to observe was kind of crazy. We’d be in a room full of people talking to each other and it felt like everyone was listening but it would be just us. It would be like we were the only ones in the room. It was like something was going down in history every time I was with her. Every time I was around her I felt it was the place to be.

“Our time together meant so much that when we got more time, we felt like that [engagement] would be next. She was one of the best people I ever met. Even with the pain I felt, I would do it all over again.”

Ginuwine

“The state of R&B in the ’90s, where she stood, she was second to none. She was pretty much the top female. It was a new sound, the production from Timbaland. Everyone had to pay attention. That was just a time I would love to go back to you. Everything was all about us, and it was all about Aaliyah. It would just set her apart from everyone in the ’90s…we came at a great time.”

DMX

“When I was on tour her and Joel Silver came to my dressing room to see if I wanted to be a part of the movie. Most people would have their people call, but she came herself.

“I’m like, ‘Is this a trick question? You have to ask me if I want to be in a movie with Aaliyah? Hell yeah.’ We [then] met up in Vancouver to [do] Romeo Must Die. She had a presence on TV that was incredible. It was sexy but kind of gangster.

“We did the [Back in One Piece] video in Mount Vernon and Yonkers. I got to bring Aaliyah to the hood. Not many people can say that. She was easy to talk to and down to earth. Aaliyah made you feel comfortable, with her and with yourself. That’s one hell of a combination.”

“Half these chicks that are doing it right now wouldn’t be doing it [if she were still here]. Aaliyah would be on top. As far as I’m concerned she’s still on top.

“Thank you,” DMX says she would tell Aaliyah if still here. “Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for memories. They’re all priceless.”

In a new interview with Radar Online, Linda Williams, Dash’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of his 19-year-old namesake, says Jay-Z’s former business partner has not only failed to pay court-ordered child support payments of $425 per week … but he also talked him out of going to college, all so that he wouldn’t have to pay at all!

Williams told RadarOnline.com: “I just want Damon Dash to do the right thing by his son and pay his support and help me get him in college. My son got into Five Towns College in Dix Hills, NY, on a $30,000 scholarship recently to do music, but his father did not want him to go even though it would not have cost him anything.

“He keeps telling him ‘tell your mom to drop the child support case and get out of court’ when my son just wants to be a normal teenager and go to college. His father recently set him up with some DJ gigs in New York, and I’m worried that he falls in with a bad crowd and gets involved with drugs and alcohol.

“My son loves music and ideally he could do both. He does not hate his father or anything like that, but he wants more guidance from him. His father has the money he just needs to do the right thing by his son.”

Dash currently owes Uncle Sam over $20 million in back taxes to New York and New Jersey … but Williams says he can still afford to pay child support.

“At our last court appearance he admitted that he was paying between $10,000 and $12,000 per month for his home in Upstate New York, plus he has an art gallery and recording studio in Manhattan, so he’s hardly broke,” she said.

What do you think? is Damon Dash a deadbeat dad or what?

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Hip-hop mogul Damon Dash says that he is open to linking up with his former BFF/business partner Jay-Z in the near future to help rebuild their old company Roc-A-Fella Records, despite the issues they’ve had with each other in the past.

Dame and Jigga fell out in 2004 following a number of big disagreements with their label. Jay-Z went on to take complete control of the label and became the president of Def Jam Records (Roc-A-Fella’s parent label) and has since gone on to become a hip-hop legend. Dame, on the other hand, has kept a low profile over the years, but now that he is back in charge at Roc-A-Fella, he wants to bring it back in a big way and says that he has no problems with possibly working with his old friend Jay-Z.

“If Jay wanna come through and do something, he can come holla at me,” Dash said. “I ain’t got no beefs with Jay. Just off the strength that it’s Roc-A-Fella, I could never tell Jay he can’t be a part of something he helped create,” the Harlem born CEO said. “So maybe it felt ridiculous that he said [me and Biggs couldn't be a part of Roc-A-Fella once we sold the company] and a Roc-A-Fella purists didn’t appreciate that. If I walked away from Roc-A-Fella, then that would be different. But the option should always be there. So the option is there for him. He helped build that. And I don’t hold grudges. I think one of the most important things in evolving is forgiveness. If he did something wrong or if I did something wrong, we’d have to forgive each other, or we’d still be children.”

MTV NEWS

Jim Jones and Dame Dash showed off their newfound bromance at the 10th New York International Latino Film Festival screening of “Red Apples Falling” Thursday night (Jul 30) at the SVA Theater in New York City.

When did these two get so tight? Maybe they’re both filling in the void their former best friends left behind. Jim fell out with Cam’ron, and Dame and Jay-Z aren’t cool anymore either. Birds of a feather flock together, huh?

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES / WENN

Jay-Z finally put that ridiculous rumor of him c*ck blocking Chris Brown‘s performance at the BET Awards to rest:

“That’s the silliest rumor I’ve ever heard,” Jay-Z said in a new interview with radio personality Tim Westwood. “First let me categorically deny that, that’s not even my style. I haven’t said anything live or behind the scenes. I don’t agree with what he did and that’s it. We’re all flawed human beings, all a person could do is apologize. Everyone should be allowed to make mistakes. But as far as not letting him perform on BET — that’s ridiculous, that’s stupid and that’s a sucker move. I wouldn’t do it. And people commenting on rumors — that’s a sucker move. I was really sitting back and watching all of them suckers comment on that,” Jay-Z continued. “You don’t comment on rumors. I was watching like, ‘look at them. That’s just so silly. They are all really stupid.’”

The “sucker” he’s referring to is his ex best friend Damon Dash, who had this to say earlier this month regarding Jay-Z allegedly preventing Chris from performing a Michael Jackson tribute at the show:

“Are you surprised?” asked Damon Dash. “Wasn’t I his best friend? Didn’t he do that to me? So you think he’s not going to do that to Chris Brown? He’s just being a little more flagrant about how he moves.”

He also commented on The Game’s diss track and exaggerated response to his mention in the Blueprint 3 intro:

“Tell me exactly what I said….(Tim: you mentioned his name, Jim Jones’ name, Dame Dash’s name…) I said I’m not talking about, this, this. I’m not…Is that a diss? ‘Oh, you hurt my feelings.’ Tell groupie to get over it…If that’s a diss, then wear that. Tell groupie to get over it.”

And this is why we love Jay-Z over here at GOT. And just so you know, we’re not gonna sit here and rub in your face the fact that we told you (twice) that Jay had nothing to do with Chris Brown not performing at the BET Awards. But we will say that we told you so! Hah!

SOURCES: MISS INFO / BILLBOARD

According to recent reports, Damon Dash‘s wife, Rachel Roy (a well-known fashion designer) has filed for divorce from the Roc-A-Fella empire’s co-founder. An electronic record of the case obtained by the New York Daily News states the reason as “non-monetary relief” The papers were filed in Manhattan Supreme Court earlier this month.

Dash and Roy, who put her own name on a women’s fashion line, got hitched in Mexico in January 2005. They met when Roy was working at Rocawear and have two daughters. The breakup is the latest legal mess for the has-been hip-hop titan, whose empire – which he once pegged at “about $50 million” in a New York magazine profile – has crumbled under massive debt, bad business deals and one suit after another. Dash, who in 2005 sold his stake in Rocawear to Jay-Z for $20 million, owes $2 million in state taxes, and a bank has started foreclosure proceedings on his two Tribeca condos.

A Manhattan judge even ordered the city to seize his luxury Chevrolet Tahoe SUV last year when he couldn’t make the $714.99 monthly payment. He’s also being sued by law firms and landlords for not paying his bills. The fall has been a spectacular one for Dash, who sipped Champagne on a yacht in Jay-Z’s video for “Big Pimpin’” – then emptied his bottle of bubbly onto bikini-clad beauties in a hot tub.

“He’s broke, he’s got nothing left,” a source said. Dash debuted last year as a theater producer with the “Hip-Hop Monologues,” an Off-Broadway account of the life of his latest protégé, rapper Jim Jones. The production is set to resume performances tonight at 37 Arts in Manhattan. While he may have been short on cash, Dash wasn’t short on confidence when he hyped the show in New York magazine and vowed to make a splashy return to the music business.

“And when I come back, I’m gonna change the economy as well,” he said.

PHOTO: WENN

“I’ve worked with musicians, artists and entertainers that in the eyes of the media are very wealthy,” said attorney Jason Gabbard. “But to borrow a phrase from my Kentucky homeland, they haven’t got a pot to piss in – they’re broke.”

Wow, looks like the recession’s hitting everyone these days!

Damon Dash, former Roc-a-fella CEO, is in hot water for allegedly exposing himself to an Atlanta woman, and requesting that she perform oral sex on him. Dame met the woman, Jamie Roberts, and introduced himself as “Jeremy McIntire” at a party in 2004 in Miami. Dash insists he has never even met his 24-year-old accuser.

“It’s quite obvious that this is a false allegation,” Dash said in a statement. “We know nothing about it.”

A complaint filed in Manhattan Supreme Court says the encounter left the woman – who admits to suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder – hearing Dash’s voice in her ear “giving her certain instructions to follow.” Roberts alleges she met someone introducing himself as “Jeremy McIntyre” at a Miami nightclub in March 2004, and agreed to rendezvous with him later at a marina near the club.

Roberts, who declined comment, also claims she never had a clue who Dash was until she spotted him on “Chappelle’s Show.” She is seeking $30,000 in damages. Dash was sued by an ex-model who accused him of a 2003 sexual assault in Brazil, and has had a long-running court battle with the mother of one of his children. [ NY DAILY NEWS ]

Uhm … this chick is bi-polar and schizophrenic? You can’t be serious!!

Damon Dash is reportedly in trouble with the IRS! He owes the state of New York over $2 million in taxes. But I’m sure he’ll be able to get that paid without him having to go to jail, seeing as he owns a $400,000 Maybach sedan with a chauffeur, several diamond-encrusted watches and over 1,000 pairs of sneakers. That’s a little over a million dollars, right? He can make up the rest of that ghetto myspace thing he’s working on. I hear they have like 23 members now.

But back to the story. You celebrities are gonna get enough of hiring these run-of-the-mill accountants who “forget” to file your taxes! I bet you their taxes are paid in full, and probably with YOUR money!