MISSY ELLIOTT

Melissa Arnette Elliott is a creative firestarter. Rapper, singer, dancer, producer and tastemaker, the polymath artist has defined the look, sound and energy of pop music over the course of nearly three decades. Her groundbreaking 1997 debut, Supa Dupa Fly, is considered one of the best hip-hop records ever; her list of production and songwriting credits include Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake and Whitney Houston; and she’s sold millions of albums and singles worldwide. With innovative rhyming, offbeat humour and a gift for strong songwriting, Elliott has fundamentally altered how we view and listen to hip-hip, soul and pop music.

1971 to 1992

Melissa Arnette Elliott is born in Portsmouth, VA on July 1, 1971. The only child of Patricia and Ronnie Elliott, she grew up in poverty in a trailer park home. Her parents foster Missy’s love of music at an early age: she sings in church choirs, listens to Aretha Franklin and the Jackson Five, and makes up songs that she performs in front of family and friends. Missy displays above-average intelligence, despite showing little enthusiasm for studies. She advances two years ahead in school, only to purposefully fail to be sent back to her former class, as to not feel socially isolated.

Missy’s penchant for singing and performing blossoms in the later years of high school, where she forms an R&B group named Fayze, featuring three school friends — La’Shawn Shellman, Chonita Coleman and Radiah Scott — and a childhood friend and emerging producer named Timothy Mosley, also known as Timbaland. As teens, Missy frequently visits Tim’s house, Timbaland’s mother Leatrice Pierre will tell Vibe in 2004. “They were working diligently on their music upstairs, every weekend, sometimes in the evenings. Missy used to say to me, ‘We’re going to keep working on it until we get to the top.’”

Missy completes high school in 1990 with the goal of becoming involved in the music business. “I always said that if I became famous, I would take my mom away from all that and take care of her, so she would never have to fear anyone anymore, and that’s exactly what I did,” Elliott will say in the 2018 book Black Girls Rock!: Owning Our Magic. Rocking Our Truth., edited by Beverly Bond. Despite having big dreams, Elliott describes herself has being shy and lacking confidence. Instead of going to college, she’s determined to give music a try: “I always have been an entertainer, whether it’s been joking or performing for people. And I always thought I had a talent, because I could rap and I could sing and I did write. I just felt like I had to do this, and if it didn’t work, then I would go to college,” she’ll tell Rolling Stone in 1997.

Fayze catch the attention of producer DeVante Swing, a member of R&B group Jodeci, by performing an impromptu a cappella session backstage after a Jodeci concert. Fayze are signed by Swing to his Elektra Records imprint and renamed Sista. The group, including Mosley, move to New York.

1993 to 1995

Living in New York City, Missy is a key part of Swing’s “Swing Mob” — a 20-plus collective that includes R&B group Playa, and solo artists Tweet and Ginuwine. They all reside in a two-story house, developing songs for Jodeci — Missy develops credited and uncredited content for Jodeci albums Diary of a Mad Band (1993) and The Show, the After Party, the Hotel (1995) — and their own respective projects. A Sista album, 4 All the Sistas Around da World, co-produced by DeVante and Timbaland, is recorded in 1994. Sista has a single, “It’s Alright” (featuring rapper Craig Mack), placed on the soundtrack to the 1995 film Dangerous Minds.

Ultimately, the Swing Mob collective folds and members leave to pursue their own projects. Missy continues to work with Timbaland, along with Ginuwine, Playa, and longtime friend and collaborator Magoo, in a loose affiliation dubbed the Superfriends. “When I was recording, I’d always sit in with other producers who did tracks and observe what needed to happen during the production. I would hear the notes and say ‘Hey, change this part’ or ‘This needs chords right here.’ I realized then that I wasn’t just an artist,” Elliott will say in Black Girls Rock!

1996 to 1998

Missy and Timbaland collaborate as a songwriting/ production team, developing a unique electro-funk sound that incorporates playful lyrics, jittery time signatures, stop-start syncopation and elements of rock, pop and world music. “Radio didn’t grasp me and Tim’s records in the beginning,” she’ll admit in a 1999 interview with Vibe. The team produce songs for R&B acts including Las Vegas trio 702, New York City-based SWV and the late Detroit-based singer Aaliyah Dana Haughton. Working with Aaliyah is hugely successful: her 1996 double-platinum album, One in a Million, features nine tracks produced by Elliott and Timbaland. Their signature sound and asymmetrical grooves are copied by other producers at the time, a fact Elliott will reference in the opening minutes of sophomore album Da Real World: “You just an imitator, stealing our beats like you’re the one who made them.” Elliott also lends background vocals and raps on Aaliyah’s album, establishing her as a force both behind and in front of the production boards.

As a rapper, Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott contributes guest rap vocals for Gina Thompson’s 1996 remix of single “The Things That You Do” — produced by Sean “Puffy” Combs’ Bad Boy label — solidifying her trademark “hee-hee-hee-hee-how” rap flow.

Standing at 5’2” and being full-figured means that industry execs prefer that she stick to songwriting and producing, instead of rapping. In 1993, “That’s What Little Girls Are Made Of,” the

debut mainstream single from Raven-Symoné, is released. Written and produced by Elliott (credited as Melissa Elliott), the track features a rap verse she performs, but the music video features a thinner and lighter-skinned actress who lip-syncs the part. On VH1’s Behind the Music, Elliott will recall she was not informed of the video shoot; it was later explained she “didn’t quite fit the image that [they] were looking for.”

“Missy is always going to be Missy. I’m not going to show up in a two-piece bathing suit,” she’ll tell New York Daily News, adding, “What a blessing to be known for being different.”

As a producer, Elliott’s collaboration with Timbaland results in work with late ’90s R&B artists Nicole Wray, Total and Destiny’s Child. She signs with Elektra Records, where she also signs and produces her own artists under her own record label imprint — dubbed The Goldmind Inc. — while recording as a solo artist.

Her debut, Supa Dupa Fly, is released in 1997; the project, which includes singles like “The Rain” and “Sock It 2 Me” is recorded in a week at her Virginia Beach studio. The album — which incorporates Elliott’s singing and rapping over dancehall, pop and R&B-inspired beats — includes guest spots by Busta Rhymes, Da Brat, Aaliyah and Ginuwine. It goes platinum on the strength of its songwriting and “bump’n’grind electronica” compositions (coproduced with Timbaland) and Hype Williamsproduced videos.

“The Rain” will be named one of the 100 greatest hip-hop songs by Rolling Stone, while the corresponding video — featuring Elliott in a now-iconic plastic bag jumpsuit — establishes her as a visionary artist. “The outfit was a symbol of power. It was bold and different. I’ve always seen myself as an innovator and a creative unlike any other,” she’ll tell Elle in 2017. The highly innovative, certified platinum

Supa Dupa Fly debuts at #3 on the Billboard 200, lands at the top of the Billboard Top R&B/ Hip-Hop Albums chart, and sells 1.2 million copies in the U.S. alone.

Elliott will note in a 2011 interview with Los

Angeles Times that she has always been vocal about eschewing outdated models of beauty and power: “It’s funny, because for females in general, not just in music but the corporate ladder as well, anything we do has always been harder for us.”

1999 to 2001

Despite an innovative look and style that transcends genre and gender, detractors note her lyrical content — which contain liberal amounts of profanity, including use of the word “bitch” — mark her as a negative force in hip-hop. “A bitch is what they call a woman who knows what she wants,” Elliott counters in a 1999 interview with Ebony. “Females in this business aren’t taken as seriously as we should be. We often assume a character and give off what one would call a ‘diva’ or ‘bitch’ attitude.”

Elliott delivers her followup album, Da Real World (originally titled She’s a Bitch), in 1999. Featuring singles “All n My Grill,” “Hot Boyz” and “She’s a Bitch.” Da Real World — with guest spots by Eminem, Redman, Lil’ Kim and Aaliyah — debuts at #10 on the Billboard 200. The album incorporates an even more futuristic production style, in collaboration with Timbaland. While considered a success — selling six million copies worldwide — Da Real World is deemed a darker, more profane and less playful work than her debut, and doesn’t live up to sales expectations. “I was in ‘prove your point’ mode when I made that album. You know like, can she do it again? I was more intense. It could have been a lot better,” she tells Vibe in 2001.

Her third album, Miss E…So Addictive, is released in 2001. Elliott tells Vibe that she is determined to be more “hands-on” with the album. “I’m probably more involved with the business of things now than I am as an artist. Two years ago, I don’t think I was educated

“Missy is always going to be Missy. I’m not going to show up in a two-piece bathing suit. What a blessing to be known for being different.”

about the business.”

With singles including “One Minute Man,” “Take Away” and “Get UR Freak On,” the album is another hit. Videos, including the Dave Mayer-directed and Grammy-nominated “Get UR Freak On,” feature Elliott’s now-trademark energy and a catchy bhangra-inspired beat.

Three months after the album is released, Aaliyah dies in a plane crash. “I’m constantly talking about her,” she will tell Los Angeles Times in 2011. “I still watch her videos and listen to her music. This is constant, all the time. Every day is something that brings us together. She’s a major part in our lives, and in music.”

2002 to 2004

In 2002, Elliott releases the 14-track Under Construction, which sells more than two million copies. Elliott refers to the project as her most personal to date: “Ever since Aaliyah passed, I view life in a more valuable way,” she says on opening track “Intro/ Go to the Floor.” The album, which featured songs like “Work It” and “Cop That Shit,” is Grammy-nominated for Best Rap Album and Album of the Year.

Under pressure from her record label, Elliott releases This Is Not a Test! in November 2003. Despite going platinum, singles “Pass That Dutch” and “I’m Really Hot” don’t make much of an impact.

2005 to 2006

In July 2005, Elliott releases sixth solo album The Cookbook. The album receives five Grammy nominations, including for Best Rap Album and Best Short Form Video. Elliott wins Best Female Hip Hop Artist at the 2005 American Music Awards, and is nominated for Best International Female Artist at the 2006 BRIT Awards. Elliott develops and is featured in a 2005 reality show called The Road to Stardom With Missy Elliott, where aspiring performers compete to become hip-hop stars. The ten-episode series lasts one season.

2007 to 2014

She starts work on a new album — titled Block Party, originally named FANonmenal — with collaborators Timbaland, T-Pain and Swizz Beatz. Singles “Ching-a-Ling” and “Best, Best” are released in 2008, but the record is put on hold.

In 2011, Elliott is diagnosed with Graves disease, an autoimmune disorder that affects the thyroid. In 2012, Elliott releases two singles, “Triple Threat” and “9th Inning,” before going on a self-imposed hiatus. “I work behind the scenes. I’ve been writing and producing, which I’ve been doing since the early ’90s. Because I’m not out there talking about it, a lot of people don’t know the stuff I’m doing,” she tells Los Angeles Times in 2011.

“I needed a break. But in that break, I felt like I lost time,” she’ll tell I-D in 2015. “I ended up getting sick, but then, yeah, it was a time where I felt like ‘Do I still have it’? Especially when you see a whole new slew, a whole new generation of kids, come through and the music is not like how it was. I felt like, ‘How do I fit in?’ I’m battling. But then I never fit in! The whole time, I’ve never fit in.”

2015 to 2019

Elliott appears as a surprise performer during the 2015 Super Bowl halftime show headlined by Katy Perry. A mini-medley of Elliott hits “Lose Control,” “Work It” and “Get UR Freak On” revives sales and renews interest in new music from Elliott.

November 2015 sees the release of song “WTF ( Where They From)” and an accompanying video. In 2016, Elliott releases a new single, “Pep Rally.” In March 2016, Elliott is featured on a collaborative song with Kelly Clarkson, Zendaya and Janelle Monae, “This Is for My Girls,” a track assembled by First Lady Michelle Obama for her educational program, “Let Girls Learn.”

In January 2017, Elliott releases the single “I’m Better” — produced by new collaborator Lamb — along with a corresponding video codirected with Dave Meyers.

In a 2016 appearance on The Strombo Show, she notes she has unreleased music by Prince that he gave to her during a meeting. In 2017, she announces that she intends to release a documentary that details her career. Also in 2017, a petition is signed to replace a Confederate monument with a Missy Elliott statue in her hometown of Portsmouth, VA. In a 2017 interview with FACT, she admits she has recorded “at least five, six albums of music,” but doesn’t announce a release date. “Those fans are brutal and they will stone me if I told a date, and it didn’t drop on that date,” she says.

In summer 2018, Elliott unveils a teaser track called “ID” with producer Skrillex, and makes a guest appearance on pop singer Ariana Grande’s song “Borderline,” off her album Sweetener. In fall 2018, she teases on social media that she hopes to release an album in 2019, her first since 2005’s The Cookbook. “For so long, I was hesitant to put out music in fear no one would get it because people said music has changed… 2019 let me get y’all asses dancing again.”

In November of 2018, Elliott is nominated to the class of 2019 for the Songwriters Hall of Fame, becoming the third rapper inducted, after JAY-Z and Jermaine Dupri, and the first woman rapper to accomplish this feat.

In early 2019, rapper Lizzo announces on social media and on Beats1 that her upcoming album will feature a collaboration with Elliott.

“I want all of you women in here to know that you’re beautiful,” a visibly emotional Elliott says while accepting the 2018 Essence Visionary Award. “Because there are going to be times that people tell you [that] you can’t do it or you don’t look the part. But I am a walking testimony.”