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Drake isn’t the only Canadian with an affinity for the late R&B songstress Aaliyah. Drake’s ex-girlfriend, Canadian-born singer, Keshia Chante has always been the front-runner to play Aaliyah in her biopic, but since the movie has been on pause, Chante took it upon herself to dress the part for a photoshoot with Matt Barnes.

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Aaliyah’s brother Rashad always takes a strong stance on anything involving his late sister. From the posthumous album to the biopic, Rashad maintains that no one can play her and the family supports none of the music involving Aaliyah after her death. I understand his passion for preserving Aaliyah’s legacy, however being closed off from people celebrating her isn’t the way to go.

If the biopic is as well done the way the movie “Ray” was, then Aaliyah’s family has nothing to worry over. Check out what Chante had to say about the making of the Aaliyah biopic in an interview with Chris Yandek:

“And from my understanding, there are people trying to create a movie and Aaliyah’s family are still mourning her loss and aren’t ready to share her story and create a film. So there’s a bit of back and forth thing with her family and with creative people. And I know that they would bless a movie being created, they’re just not 100 percent comfortable and unfortunately from my understanding they don’t have complete control of her estate. So a movie could technically be made without them green lighting it and I kind of think that’s unfortunate. So I want her family to be on board and to be happy with it. It’s still kind of lingering in the air.”

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 She goes on to say:

And for me, I’ve always wanted to kind of talk about it, it’s just really, it’s uncomfortable. I don’t want to disrespect her family. I know that they’re, they don’t like it. They don’t like when they get calls from people, like, ‘Oh, I heard this about your daughter. I heard this.’ Because it’s painful for them. So I know that the lawyer and even them and even my team who have kind of like you know, it’s happy, it’s better for everyone to not really speak on it and I’m just feel like you know, I’m not supposed to speak on it, but I know in this situation, yeah, it’ kind of, it’s a long time coming and I know people really want to know what’s going on. So yeah, I definitely think this was the perfect time to tell you.”

Check out more of Keshia Chante’s Aaliyah Shots Below:

 More On Aaliyah Below:

Missy Elliott On New Aaliyah Album: “No One Told Me”

Drake Confirms He’s Working On Aaliyah’s Posthumous Album [VIDEO]

Listen To This Aaliyah-Inspired Playlist!

Check Out This Aaliyah Gallery!

For 2024’s iteration of MadameNoire and HelloBeautiful’s annual series Women to Know, we knew we wanted to celebrate the people who help make the joys of film and television possible. To create art is to create magic. This year, we spotlight Hollywood Executive’s changing the face of cinema.