Tonight, Melissa “Missy” Elliott will obtain the Amazon Music Visionary Icon Award at this 12 months’s Tradition Creators brunch. Forward of the consideration, let’s have a look again at how the rapper from Virginia turned considered one of music’s most groundbreaking and influential legends.
Practically three many years in the past, Missy—or Misdemeanor—arrived on the music scene as a solo artist with what remains to be thought-about one of many biggest lead singles in hip hop historical past.
“The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly),” launched in Could 1997, was not simply an auditory miracle; because of the artistry of Missy and her longtime collaborator, Timbaland, it was additionally a revolt. In an business that has lengthy suffered from each colorist beliefs and fatphobia, Missy’s declaration that she was “supa, dupa fly,” whereas being in a physique usually relegated to being behind the scenes, was each political and mandatory. The visuals for the observe opened the door to Missy reimagining what ladies emcees had been capable of be in movies. They might be, directly, horny, entertaining, humorous, and funky. Missy’s “trash bag couture” set off by fingerwaves and moody deep purple lipstick stays one of the iconic seems in music video historical past.
Although “The Rain” confirmed the world that Missy was greater than sufficient to face on her personal as an artist, she’d already mastered making folks transfer by penning among the hottest R&B songs within the early 90s. Her work with the late nice Aaliyah on 1996’s One In A Million etched her sound into the material of the style, whereas her vivid storytelling and skill to make music out of the experiences, hurts, and pains of Black ladies made Missy the popular pen of artists like Whole, SWV, and Future’s Little one.
“By the point I had carried out some [prominent] options, and Sylvia Rhone [then-CEO of Elektra Records] stated ‘We’ll give a label in the event you give us an album’,” Missy informed Selection in 2021. “So I went to Tim and stated “Let’s hurry up and do that album to allow them to give me my label,” and we completed [the million-plus-selling “Supa Dupa Fly”] in two weeks!”
Below her Goldmind Label imprint, Missy continued to show herself a visionary not just for her personal artwork however for artists trying to make successful that will put them on the charts. Throughout the 5 years the place she launched her freshman, sophomore—1999’s The Actual World—and junior—2001’s Miss E..So Addictive—albums, the Virginia native additionally managed to put in writing and produce a dozen hits for others, together with the remake of Labelle’s “Woman Marmalade” which went primary on the Billboard charts in 2001.
Missy continued her solo brilliance on Da Actual World and Miss E…, mixing new sounds and constructing a contemporary audio panorama with each new observe. She tackled matters like sexuality, heartbreak, independence, and feminism with professional precision whereas persevering with to push the bounds of what hip hop may do. Songs like “All In My Grill” and “She’s a B***” gave new that means to ladies’s empowerment, whereas “One Minute Man” and “Get Ur Freak On” additional proved that she may by no means be boxed in, with the latter notching her a Grammy Award for Finest Rap Solo Efficiency.
“Ms Elliott is likely one of the true geniuses of the shape,” stated The Economist of Missy in 2023. “She is to rap what Prince was to R’n’B, each by way of her affect upon the style and her potential to weave in kinds and strands from outdoors it.”
By the 2002 launch of her fourth studio album, Below Building, Missy had cemented herself as one of many biggest visible storytellers within the business, however she was solely getting began.
The lead single from the album, “Work It,” would ship Missy mania into overdrive. The track debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts, and its accompanying visuals earned her the MTV Video Music Award honor of “Video of the Yr.” “Work It”-s huge reputation might have endeared her to a much bigger viewers, however hip hop had already caught on to what Missy was placing down.
Her movement, musicality, and lyricism, mixed with uncooked vocals, a penchant for a ridiculously catchy hook, and an ear for locating contemporary methods to method sampling, helped Missy attain vanguard ranges by the halfway mark of the brand new millennium. She led the pack for feminine rapper document gross sales with 8 million worldwide and racked up Grammy nominations for each Album of the Yr and Finest Rap Album. Her video for “Gossip People,” the second single from Below Building, broke viewing data on MTV, MTV2, and BET.
Whereas a lot of hip hop was following the blueprint set by 90s luxurious rap tradition, Missy gave artists permission to push the envelope within the sales space and in entrance of the digicam.
“That was my favourite rapper and that will be why I used to be making so many sounds,” Lil Wayne stated of Missy’s affect on his earlier data. “So the ‘Block Burner’ track was my finest favourite track as a result of my favourite artist was Missy Elliott.”
Although the long-lasting artist would later lament the stress she felt to launch her 2004 album, This Is A Take a look at!, the challenge was nonetheless licensed platinum, spurning out dance cuts like “Move That Dutch” and “I’m Actually Sizzling.” That very same 12 months, she helped newcomer Ciara proceed her chart dominance by showing on”1,2 Step,” the second single from her debut album Goodies. The observe would earn them a Grammy nomination for Finest Rap/Sung Collaboration.
After the success of 2005’s Cookbook, an album that noticed her step away from her ordinary collaborators in the hunt for a brand new sound, and the meteoric achievements of its lead single “Lose Management,” together with a Grammy for Finest Quick Kind Video, Missy took a well-deserved break from being one of many greatest rap acts in music. Nonetheless, she didn’t depart the studio. As an alternative, she once more turned to her writing and manufacturing abilities to assist different ladies discover chart dominance.
And she or he did so in true Missy trend. From 2005 to 2010, she churned out epic singles, together with Keyshia Cole’s “Let It Go,” Jazmine Sullivan’s “Want U Unhealthy,” Fantasia’s “Free Your self,” and Monica’s “All the things To Me,” all of which had been nominated for Grammys after reaching the highest of the Billboard lists. Although by no means reaching the milestone herself, Missy has the Midas contact for serving to different ladies attain No. 1, with lots of them crediting her potential to be greater than only a producer but additionally a sister.
“Missy is likely one of the biggest producers of our time, however to me she’s a sister first. I used to be studying the whole lot that I wanted to study whereas working along with her,” Monica informed Fader in 2016. “When me and Missy are engaged on music, we’re not occasions, clocks, and who stated we must be in a sure place. We did issues on our personal phrases and talked about life and what was taking place. That’s what makes it particular. No person was controlling it however us and our true feelings.”
In 2015, Missy’s star energy was broadcast to the world as she took to the Tremendous Bowl XLIX stage to carry out a medley of her greatest hits as a particular visitor of Katy Perry. A brand new technology of music lovers witnessed the genius of Missy and saved coming again for extra because the efficiency rapidly turned the most-watched halftime occasion within the league’s historical past, on the time, bringing in 118.5 million views.
The record-breaking would proceed in years to come back with Missy turning into the primary feminine rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Corridor of Fame in 2019, whereas additionally undertaking the identical feat on the MTV Video Music Awards, taking dwelling the Michael Jackson Vanguard honors. Two years later, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame forward of her hometown’s unveiling of Missy Elliott Blvd. And in 2023, she turned the primary feminine rapper (and solely third rap artist in historical past) to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame.
As we speak, Missy’s affect could be seen in each artist daring to outline themselves on their very own phrases, however significantly in feminine rappers who’ve made the business bend to their will. From the sexually liberated Cardi B and Yung Miami to the daring and daring lyricism of Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion, Missy’s genius permeates all through music.
“A number of your s*** was enormous for me,” Doja Cat informed Missy in a sit-down for Interview Journal. “After I was little, I used to be in entrance of my TV each single day dancing to your movies. I used to be like, ‘That is my Beyoncé.’”
Relating to Missy Elliott, no matter the way you flip it or reverse it, in each lane, she’s a dwelling legend.
