Aaliyah: 'Are You That Nobody' DJ Lonnie B Shares His Memories

Beautiful post from @djlonnieb Thank you for sharing your memories with us! :o)

@djlonnieb: "40 to 40 #Day8 "Are You That Nobody" My brother Danja Mowf wrote a verse for DJ Reese's mixtape [50 Tongues 100 Lungs]. 49 MCs rapped over hard core NYC hip hop instrumentals. Being a creative genius, Danja chose to do something different. He rapped over the Aaliyah "Are you that somebody instrumental". The verse was so dope that he attached it to the beginning of the song to get it on the radio. Skillz heard it before Mowf sent it in and wrote a verse as well. At that time Skillz was signed to Timbaland so everyone thought it was an official remix. That Friday, Mike Street played it on the radio and the phone lines went crazy. That Sunday, I wrote my verse and Danja added me to the song. Our song was playing in Richmond & Norfolk but when DJ Enuff started playing it in New York on HOT 97, I KNEW IT WAS ABOUT TO GET REAL. Clue put it on his mixtape and that's where Missy Elliot heard it. All three of us were on cloud 9! Missy called Danja at 4am because she was interested in signing him after hearing his verses. Wait wait wait ....Danja only had one verse?? What did she mean verses?? Apparently, Missy thought Danja Mowf was the first and last guy. That's when I realized that I never said my name in my verse so everyone thought it was just Danja Mowf & Skillz on the song. Don't get me wrong, I was happy for Danja because he deserved it but I was heart broken because NO ONE KNEW I EXISTED. I am not saying if I said my name it would have been different but I didn't even put my name out there. I hated not being recognized for something as epic as the Aaliyah remix. Truthfully, I hated myself until the Supafriendz got a chance to perform the song with Aaliyah. I remember stepping on stage to start my verse. When I looked to my left, I noticed Aaliyah was saying my verse with me!!!! So, I may not have said my name on the track but at least for that moment she knew it was me. #ilovehersmile #RIPAaliyah #LB40to40 #Supafriendz #RIPJusto"

As long as Aaliyah knew who you were, that's all that matters! It can be quite tough within the music industry to be recognised, especially for something as iconic as this. Here at the The Aaliyah Archives we speak your name, and always give credit, where credit is due. :o)