Barry Hankerson Says He Was Upset About R.Kelly And Aaliyah’s Illegal Marriage

Aaliyah’s Uncle & Manager Barry Hankerson Speaks Out About Her Illegal Marriage To R Kelly

During an interview with The Rickey Smiley Show, Barry Hankerson addressed his involvement regarding Aaliyah’s music and his feelings about her illegal marriage to R. Kelly.

Hankerson called into the show on Thursday and said it wasn’t his plan to keep Aaliyah’s music off of streaming platforms.

“To be honest with you, I had never decided for it not to be out. It is just circumstances where when we took the music down in 2012, [the] business had totally changed from records, CDs to streaming and streaming has been devastating to artists, small labels because you’re not making enough money to stay in business,” Hankerson said.

He added that he had plans to launch a platform for the music but there wasn’t enough money to support the idea.

The manager and Blackground Records founder was also asked about R.Kelly and Aaliyah’s marriage. He recalled being very upset and added, “And really I found out, I wasn’t a hardcore criminal. I couldn’t kill nobody.”

“So, I took it, I’m a Muslim, and I went to Minster Farrakhan and we just prayed about it, resolved ourselves to let God handle him.  I think that’s what’s going on. Ain’t no sense in two lives getting destroyed.”

Hankerson reportedly introduced his niece to R.Kelly when she was 12. According to HotNewHipHop, Hankerson noted that he doesn’t keep up with R.Kelly’s trial and said he gets emotional when he learned about the details surrounding Aaliyah.

I just put a wall up to that. It’s just too emotional for me. It just brings back too many bad thoughts for my whole family. He impacted my whole family, you know. It’s just a bad thing. She was so sweet and so considerate and she loved to sing.”