June is Black Music Month, Countdown of Shamontiel's Top 30 African-American Artists

President George W. Bush had a lot of screw-ups during his eight-year term, but he did do a couple things right. One of them was proclaiming June as Black Music Month on May 31, 2002. June is here, and to celebrate Black Music Month, I'll be featuring one of my favorite artists each day, sharing my first or most personal memory of them, explain what their accomplishments are and why I felt they should make the Black Music Month Top 30 list. There will be some oldies, some newbies and some artists who are in between stages.

My June 16 selection is Aaliyah Dana Haughton.

Black Music Month Heat Factor "Why's this artist hot?": I wasn't into Aaliyah when she first came onto the scene, but as soon as she danced to "One in a Million," I started rethinking my indifference to her career. Female dancers can sometimes get swallowed up by the guys, but when she wrapped her arms around the guy in that video and strolled behind him, I thought, "Now that's power." In "Try Again," she was kicking, walking on walls, jumping, flipping and strolling with a cane, but she did it so smooth, I didn't even get the impression one single hair was out of place. In "We Need a Resolution" with dirt all over her body and a snake crawling around, she still looked like the epitome of cool. I loved watching her collabos with Missy Elliott, Timbaland and Magoo on songs like "Up Jumps the Boogie," but she always managed to steal the shine even when she wasn't singing. She just had that "it" factor.

First Memory, Most Personal Memory of the Artist: The first time I saw her was in my teenage years with a childhood friend of mine and her two cousins. The four of us went to the west side of Chicago for a free concert. I went to see some other group who I can't remember because of two reasons: 1) Aaliyah stole the show and it was the first time I'd paid attention to how talented she was 2) I hadn't eaten anything all day, it was over 90 degrees and I almost fainted. I had the bright idea to walk away from my group to stand in the front row and no one even knew who to tell to help me. I'll never forget how wild it was to almost black out with no water or food in sight. Even though that was quite a scary experience, I never forgot how well Aaliyah held her own onstage and didn't seem to notice that this wasn't the best neighborhood to be in. Super thugs were clapping for her and suddenly forgetting how hard they were supposed to be looking. It was one of those moments where I realized the power of womanhood from watching her and from forcing myself not to faint and struggling to a tree trunk to sit down.

In 1998, I saw her dance to "Are You That Somebody?" That sealed the deal for me. She managed to do some of the hardest moves, some of the sexiest moves and outdanced most of the fellas (and guys who can dance always get preferential treatment with me). Plus, she did it all with dignity. Aaliyah proved that you don't have to strip down to nothing to be sexy. Her beauty wasn't just in her face, it was all in her swagger.

Accomplishments from the Artist: Like too many brilliant artists, her shine while she was living was respectable, but her shine when she was killed in the August 25, 2001 plane crash was overwhelming. 2002's "I Care for You" stayed on the Billboard charts for 40 weeks, the self-titled 2001 album "Aaliyah" for 188 weeks, "Try Again" from the "Romeo Must Die" soundtrack in 2000 hung around for 32 weeks and "I Miss You"--her song which was uncomfortably suitable for how her fans felt after hearing about her death--stayed on the charts for 37 weeks. In her earlier years, her 1994 album "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number" went platinum almost immediately. "One in a Million" was double platinum, and "Four Page Letter" and "If Your Girl Only Knew" were also hits from her 1996 album "One in a Million" like one of the songs.

Although Aaliyah clearly knew she had a loyal fanbase, unfortunately she didn't get to see the huge success her last album became. The plane crashed after she filmed parts of her next video "Rock the Boat," so fans were a little melancholy watching the last memories of this brilliant 22-year-old singer. But one thing we knew for sure. She literally was one in a million.

Other Black Music Month Selections:

June 1 Trey Songz

June 2 Marvin Gaye

June 3 Rakim Allah

June 4 Brandy Norwood

June 5 Tina Turner

June 6 MC Lyte

June 7 Lyfe Jennings

June 8 Bill Withers

June 9 Wyclef Jean

June 10 Erykah Badu

June 11 Chaka Khan

June 12 Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott

June 13 Ne-Yo

June 14 Michael Jackson

June 15 Mos Def