Lifetime and Wendy Williams (Executive Producer) decided to go against the grain and make this Aaliyah bipoic entitled, Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B (Alexandra Shipp, Elise Neal), against not only the fans wishes but her family’s wishes, Missy’s wishes, Timbaland’s wishes, pretty much anybody who could provide quality insight on Aaliyah’s life wishes. The film didn’t leave the firey trenches of Twitter and Instagram unscathed though. #LifetimeBiopics was the trending topic for the evening while Timbaland took to his Instagram and dropped a few of these gems:
Aaliyah Haughton is played by Drumline 2 actress Alexandra Shipp, which was offered to her after Shake It Up actress Zendaya Coleman gracefully bowed out after she received a tremendous amount of backlash for accepting the role. Shipp has not only taken on the role that Coleman was to play originally, she also has taken on that backlash.
There’s a whole lot wrong with this biopic, aside from the disapproval from her family. No Aaliyah catalogue was granted so they were reduced to using a few of the samples she did including Marvin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” and the Isley Brothers’ “At Your Best.” Insult to injury: the theme song is by culture vulture Iggy Azealea.
I highlight a few of these other atrocities below. Hilarious atrocities.
1. Missy Misdemeanor Elliot
(Photo Credit: Christos Kalohoridis – © 2014 – Lifetime Television)
No finger waves? Harpo, who this woman?
2. Timbaland
(Photo Credit: Christos Kalohoridis – © 2014 – Lifetime Television)
I don’t know who this guy was supposed to be but apparently this was Timbaland.
3. The “Got To Give It Up” Performance
Let’s see, we have “Are You That Somebody” Aaliyah, shaky vocals, barely there dance moves, shall I go on? Everything was painfully chronologically incorrect. They didn’t even get the 90’s bright orange bubble jacket she wore in the video right.
4. Dame Dash’s height, stature and most importantly, his swag
(Photo Credit: Christos Kalohoridis – © 2014 – Lifetime Television)
When they introduced Dame Dash I sat there confused for a second. He was tall (at least 6’2), lanky, and corny. His placement was awkward and something like an extra in a music video the way the scenes were filmed. And where was his belly? We were waiting for this:
Insulting!
5.There is no number 5 because I fell asleep after her “Journey to the Past” performance.
A part of me feels like Lifetime knew this movie would be bad and did it anyway because they knew people would tune in just to see how bad it was. All about the money. Well, Lifetime got two things right: People watching just to see how bad it was and dubbing Babygirl, princess of R&B. And to think they’re doing Whitney Houston’s biopic next.
What are some parts of the movie that you noticed were “off”? Sound off below.
0
Catrise J is the owner of Vault of 1520 and Content Creator for Dirty Glove Bastard (DGB). Catrise is a self described “free-spirit” and always shares what’s on her mind. She enjoys Hip Hop, nature, reading, 420 and 90’s R&B. Her idols include Angie Martinez, Tupac, Oprah, and Warren Buffet. You can connect with Catrise on social media.
