Blige, and Save the Last Dance, tells me over the phone from Los Angeles. “The whole concept was Hype’s,” Robinson, who has done choreography for Sia, Mary J. Director Hype Williams contacted Lee and Robinson separately to discuss his vision for the video. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the music video’s release, I spoke with Lee, the choreographer Fatima Robinson, and actress Nadine Ellis, who was one of the dancers in “Rock the Boat,” who shared their memories from the making of that iconic video.Īlthough Lee put finishing touches on costuming at the 11th hour, preparation for shooting “Rock the Boat” began weeks before. All of the significance attached to the video aside, it is simply terrific. It transports you to another place, puts you right onto an island with white sand beaches, sunlight dappling the wave crests-and it bears the nostalgic, defining features of late nineties/early aughts music videos: backup dancers, matching outfits, close-up shots of Aaliyah’s face framed by huge hoop earrings that practically sit on her shoulders. But “Rock the Boat” is a perfect video, because the song’s easy, laid-back vibe is captured visually in marvelous fashion. But for me, the symbolism behind “Rock the Boat” isn’t what makes it special. This was the last work she would ever create, and heartbreaking proof that she was really gone. When the video was released posthumously, it predictably generated tons of buzz. Her tragic and untimely passing-Aaliyah was just 22 years old, and members of her crew, including her makeup artist Christopher Maldonado and hairstylist Eric Foreman, were in their twenties as well-became the reason to remember “Rock the Boat.” The shoot would go down in history as the singer’s final one she and eight others perished in a plane crash while flying back to the United States following production in the Bahamas. That evening in Florida, he was hours away from filming the first scenes for Aaliyah’s “Rock the Boat” video. Jackson-was the lead stylist for Aaliyah, having worked on the looks for nearly every hit music video she’d made until that point, from “More Than a Woman” to “Are You That Somebody?” At the time, Lee-who has gone on to work with Celine Dion, Pharrell Williams, and Samuel L. On August 21, 2001, the stylist Derek Lee was holed up in a Miami hotel room, brushing and splattering streaks of bleach onto 15 pairs of jeans.
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