“I Care 4 U” offers support to a guy stinging from a breakup. Healthy self-respect oozes from several girl-power songs. Aaliyah doesn’t put up with unfaithful cads (“You Got Nerve”), mind games (“I Refuse”), self-impressed hunks (“Extra Smooth”), gossip and envy (“Loose Rap”), or physical abuse (“Never No More”).
The singer tutors her boyfriend on how to please her sexually on “Rock the Boat” (“Work it in the middle/Change positions for me . . . Now stroke it, baby . . . Explore my body”). That cut also states, “I feel like I’m on dope,” equating a drug high with an erotic one. “More Than a Woman,” “We Need a Resolution” and “It’s Whatever” all imply sexual carryings on. Angry with an unfaithful partner, a girl seems to threaten his ilk, saying, “We’ll burn you, we’ll cut you, we’ll kill you” (“What If”). While a few tracks find Aaliyah intolerant of cheating partners, she has no qualms about being the “other woman” on “I Can Be.” The disc also includes several profanities and instances of alcohol use.
Tragically killed in a plane crash on August 25, 22-year-old Aaliyah Dana Haughton was just coming into her own as an R&B star and actress (Romeo Must Die). The publicity surrounding her untimely death may cause previously indifferent teens to check out her latest disc-a mixed bag at best. In the end, the artist’s principled stands pale in comparison to her liberal sexual standards.