Barry Hankerson is the uncle and of Aaliyah. Before he stepped foot into the industry scene, he was a professional bomber. He was also an entertainment lawyer. He was married to Gladys Knight. The two played important roles in launching Aaliyah's career (as well as ending it, particularly Barry) as the marriage was how she met Knight and was allowed to have many of her earliest performances. Hankerson would later say that he found Blackground Records strictly to help Aaliyah's career launch. He introduced R. Kelly to a then twelve-year-old Aaliyah. He was fully aware of R. Kelly's predatory proclivities. The label is now defunct and practically has been since its first year of operation.
He relaunched Blackground Records in 2021 and re-released albums made by the artists previously under his label, with none of the artists receiving royalties, including Aaliyah's immediate family (Rashad and Diane). He announced in August 2021 that an Aaliyah posthumous album, titled, Unstoppable would be released "In a matter of weeks". Barry then stated that the album would be released in late January of 2022, Featuring Drake, The Weeknd, Future, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, Future, and Snoop Dogg. He later said that the album would be released at a later date after receiving backlash towards the album. As of 2023, there has been no updates regarding the album since. Do not hold your breath for the album to see the light of day. It was recently revealed that he signed a contract five days before Aaliyah's death stating that he was not responsible for anything that went wrong while she was filming "Rock the Boat". He has no business skills. He has no clue what he is doing. He has also run out of ham. Hankerson has two sons, Shanga-Ali Hankerson (ex-convict) and Jomo Hankerson.