Following Aaliyah's death on August 25, 2001, Blackground decided to release a posthumous record in collaboration with Universal Music Group.

I Care 4 U received mixed reviews from critics, based on the assessment of the previously unreleased songs and the compilation's breadth in general.

Commercially, the album was a success, debuting at number three on the US Billboard 200 and being certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

[17][14] It was originally recorded for Aaliyah at the Sony Music Studios in New York City, but did not make the album's final cut.

Altogether, Natalie Nichols from the Los Angeles Times categorized the albums material as a "minimalist blend of hip-hop, funk, soul and dance-music".

Its title track received heavy airplay throughout 2002, which helped promote the album, as well as the digital release of the lead single "Miss You" in October 2002 prior to it being serviced to US radio the following month.

A lawsuit against Craze Productions was filed by Reservoir Media Management, a marketing partner of Blackground Records at the time, and the jury agreed with them in September 2015.

In a positive review for Entertainment Weekly, Craig Seymour said I Care 4 U showcased Aaliyah's "interpretive talent" and ability to inspire her songwriters,[39] while Graham Smith from musicOMH deemed it "a fine introduction to a much missed artiste", particularly because of the six previously-unreleased songs.

[44] Uncut said Aaliyah's "silvery and subtle reconfigurations of R&B" were showcased on the compiled singles,[43] which AllMusic's John Bush felt reminded listeners of her vocal talent.

[37] Robert Christgau was somewhat less enthusiastic, viewing I Care 4 U as an incomplete compilation whose inconsistent mix of career highlights was nonetheless rectified by the quality of the new tracks, particularly "Erica Kane".

[45] In The Village Voice, he wrote: From 'Age Ain't Nothing but a Number' when she was 15 to 'More Than a Woman' just before she died (the latter included, the former discreetly not), she was lithe and dulcet in a way that signified neither jailbait nor hottie—an ingénue whose selling point was sincerity, not innocence and the obverse it implies.

[45]In a more critical review, Slant Magazine's Sal Cinqeumani was not impressed by the new songs on what he said was "neither a posthumous album of all-new material nor a proper greatest hits package" but "a half-assed attempt at satiating the Aaliyah fan's need for both".

[42] Rolling Stone magazine's Arion Berger also felt the album's second half of newer songs was somewhat inferior to Timbaland's "impressive" productions on the first half,[41] while Natalie Nichols of the Los Angeles Times panned the previously-unreleased songs as "merely soothing sonic wallpaper, with Aaliyah's pretty yet personality-free voice often treated like just another element in the mix".

[18] In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Keith Harris felt Aaliyah's catalogue warranted a more comprehensive compilation, although he believed the new songs proved she was maturing creatively before her death.

[58] On January 15, 2003, I Care 4 U was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and as of September 27, 2005 has sold over 1.6 million copies in the United States.