Damon Dash blames director Harold “Hype” Williams for the untimely death of R&B singer Aaliyah.
Aaliyah Dana Haughton died at age 22 in a plane crash on Aug 25, 2001 in the Bahamas.
Dash, Aaliyah’s boyfriend at the time, said she was supposed to be on another private jet sent by singer Lenny Kravitz – not the small plane that she went down on.
Dash said Hype Williams took the private jet, leaving Aaliyah to fly back home on a Cessna 402 twin-engine light aircraft.
Dash said Aaliyah was anxious to get back home after filming a music video for her single “Rock the Boat.” He said Aaliyah texted him with concerns about the small plane.
Williams reportedly overloaded the small aircraft with film equipment, lighting, and sound equipment. The equipment was over the plane’s weight limit, and the plane crashed seconds after takeoff.
Aaliyah reportedly survived the crash but she later succumbed to her injuries. Seven others died in the crash including Aaliyah’s make up artist and stylist.
In an interview with ET’s Kevin Frazier, Dash said that he heard Kravitz “had offered her a jet, and then Hype took the jet. That’s what really pissed me off about the whole situation.”
Ironically, Aaliyah’s body was flown back to the U.S. on the private jet she was supposed to fly home on.
When asked if he would ever talk to Hype Williams again, Dash responded “F**k him.”
Williams, 51, was the go-to music video director in the 1990s. He directed Kanye West‘s music videos for “Heartless”, “All of the Lights” and “Gold Digger.”
He also directed music videos for Busta Rhymes, TLC, Jamie Foxx, Pharrell, Missy Elliott, LL Cool J, Twista, and Beyonce, among others.
Williams is credited with pioneering camera techniques that are still utilized in music videos today.
His work earned him the Billboard Music Video Award for Best Director of the Year (1996), the NAACP Image Award (1997), MTV Video Music Award (1998) and the BET Award for Best Director (2006) for Kanye West’s “Gold Digger”.
However, Williams’ career took a hit after Aaliyah’s death, when he was blacklisted by the music industry for several years.
Watch Dash’s interview below.
