Issa Rae Pays Tribute to Aaliyah With “Legendary” Costume

Issues bought scary within the fourth episode of HBO Max’s ballroom competitors sequence, “Legendary,” however visitor choose Issa Rae got here ready. This week, every one of many homes put collectively a efficiency piece impressed by a traditional horror movie for the “Whorror Home” theme. The outcomes had been the proper mixture of spooky and dazzling. Nevertheless, Rae stole the present due to her tribute to the late Aaliyah’s function in “Queen of the Damned.”

Within the 2002 movie, which was primarily based on the novel of the identical identify by Anne Rice, Aaliyah performed Queen Akasha, the primary vampire. The regal function proved the R&B singer was a rising movie star due to the way in which she commanded the display screen. Sadly, Aaliyah died in a airplane crash on Aug. 25, 2001, just some months previous to the movie’s February 2002 launch.

20 years later, her efficiency lives on, and it is clearly nonetheless inspiring actors at the moment as evidenced by Rae’s homage to Queen Akasha on “Legendary.” From the second she walked throughout the stage, there was no mistaking who the “Insecure” creator was emulating. From her spectacular, bejeweled crown to her African queen–impressed jewellery and spot-on duplicate ensemble, Rae totally embodied the spirit of the character from head to toe.

Though Aaliyah by no means bought to see “Queen of the Damned,” her love for her character suggests she can be honored to see her efficiency remains to be enduring. In a 2001 interview with Leisure Tonight, the singer shared simply how excited she was to tackle such a robust function. “I had quite a lot of enjoyable doing [Queen of the Damned]. I used to be very excited to be a part of a vampire movie, as a result of I have been a lover of vampires since I used to be very younger,” she stated in Could 2001. “And never solely was this a vampire movie — it was Anne Rice.”

Simply as Aaliyah was a vampire fan, Rae is an Aaliyah fan. Previous to pulling off a flawless recreation of the singer’s Queen Akasha costume, Rae payed homage to Aaliyah’s fashion in 2020 when she donned a yellow cut-out costume for the Soul Prepare Awards. The double cut-out fashion was popularized within the late ’90s by the R&B singer, as identified by Essence.

It is clear that Aaliyah has been a serious affect on Rae, and by bringing Queen Akasha to life once more on “Legendary,” she subtly reminded the world simply how gifted the late actor and singer actually was.