Nine years ago this week, on August 25, 2001, Aaliyah perished in a small plane crash in the Bahamas. She and eight others had departed en route to Florida after wrapping a video for “Rock The Boat,” the second single slated from the self-titled album that she’d released about a month earlier.

The week after her death, Aaliyah rose from #19 to #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, as both fans and the curious (myself among them) picked up the disc. But my favorite Aaliyah song actually arrived the year before. “Try Again” was taken from the Romeo Must Die soundtrack, one of four tunes the R&B singer had contributed for the film in which she’d made her screen debut.

“Try Again” is sexy, steamy, and a little squirmy in the best possible way. The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 17, 2000, the first time an artist had hit the height based on airplay alone (the dark days before legal downloads). The tune remains one of the best productions Timbaland ever put to tape:

Many artists paid tribute this week to Aaliyah’s memory via Twitter. And the UK’s Soul Culture magazine issued Aaliyah Revisited, a covers EP available for free download featuring Sy Smith of Brand New Heavies, Basement Jaxx vocalist Vula, and others.

Purchase Aaliyah – “Try Again” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.