Top 25 Hip-Hop Songs of the 2000s: #12 Aaliyah “Rock the Boat”

With the number 12 pick of our "Top 25 of the 2000s" countdown, RefinedHype.com and DJBooth.net are proud to select...Aaliyah's "Rock the Boar"!

Aaliyah was beauty personified. Her breathtaking looks aside, the young r&b star made some supremely beautiful music, and no song was more beautiful than "Rock the Boat". Coming off her self-titled two-times platinum, Grammy nominated 2001 album "Aaliyah", "Rock the Boat" was Aaliyah's most sultry song to date, a smooth slow jam that peaked at number 12 on the Billboard charts and has become perhaps the most enduring single from a woman whose life was cut tragically short.



Aaliyah is the decade's biggest "What If?" If Aaliyah had never got on that plane, how would we be talking about her now? "Rock the Boat" was Aaliyah's undeniable entrance into womanhood, a brilliantly crafted and beautifully delivered song that officially set Aaliyah's ceiling to "anything is possible." (Sorry, just got a Kevin Garnett flashback there.) Like everything, the passage of time dulls how good things actually were, but if Aaliyah had lived to continue the musical trajectory she was on with "Rock the Boat" it's entirely possible that we'd be talking about her as one of the best female r&b singers to ever live. The fact that Aaliyah's fatal plane crash occurred while returning from filming this video in the Bahamas only makes it more poignant.

Hope this doesn't ruin the moment, but I also have to point out that if you're making a "Best Baby Making Songs of the 2000s" list, which it occurs to me that I should absolutely do, this has to be a top three contender. All it takes are the opening notes and you're hooked, and then add Aaliyah's almost impossibly smooth delivery on top of that? Start popping the champagne, it's on. In the fashion of a true classic, you could play this song ten, twenty years from now and even if someone had no idea who Aaliyah was, even if they didn't speak English, they'd suddenly feel the need to get under the sheets. Now that's a great song! Rest in peace Aaliyah, you are truly missed.

For a complete list of the Top 25 picks so far click here.

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