Barry Hankerson

And the pivot was able to re- redefine her image, trans- uh, transitioning from, from a teen-oriented persona to, like, a more sophisticated, um, young adult capable of, like, broader, um, mainstream appeal.

So Blackground Records was established by, um, Barry Hankerson in '93 specifically to n- nature her talent because, um, when she was trying to get into the industry, a lot of record labels turned her down because she, they felt like she was too young and, um, needed more time to, um, grow and whatnot, so, and help trying to find her sound and whatnot.

And it provided, like, funding and support, and the evolution was basically helped the debut, uh, her debut album achieve commercial, uh, success and, um, whatnot as well.

So the, his al- his label emphasized developing a distinct, um, identity separate from prior, um, dependencies and whatnot.

Yeah.

So they were introduced by R. Kelly's manager and Gladys Knight's husband, Barry Hankerson, who was also Aaliyah's uncle.

Um, R. Kelly was hired by Aaliyah's uncle to be her mentor in the '90s, and he helped write and produce her album Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, and he named it, and he wrote it.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Like, when you rewatch this stuff, you're just like, "Are the adults in the room?"

It's absolutely insane, and Barry Hankerson could have, like, his own episode, honestly, with how many people he fucked over in the music industry-

Mm-hmm