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Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1,
1971 in Portsmouth, Virginia), better known as Missy
Elliott, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, MC,
and record producer. Elliott was originally known as
Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott and sometimes with
only one "t". She dropped the
"Misdemeanor" from her stage name in 2002, and
now simply goes by "Missy Elliott". With
record sales of over 24 million (including U.S.,
worldwide, and single sales), she is the highest selling
female rapper of all time.
Elliott is known for a series of hits including
"The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", "Hit 'Em Wit
Da Hee", "Get Ur Freak On", "One
Minute Man", "Work It", "Pass That
Dutch" and "Lose Control". In addition
she has received recognition as one of the most
successful songwriters of the modern music era, having
crafted a number of hit records for artists such as
Aaliyah, Monica, Mary J. Blige, Fantasia, 702, Total,
Nelly Furtado, Ciara, Nicole Wray and Tweet, often with
production-partner and childhood friend Timbaland.
She was the fourth female rapper to ever go platinum,
behind Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown, and Da Brat. She is the
only female rapper to have six platinum albums. Missy
Elliott is also a critics' favorite, with two of her
singles ranked in the top five of the 2000s decade on
Acclaimedmusic.net (statistical scores based on many
lists and reviews).
Despite her close collaborators and producers being
involved in hip hop rivalries/feuds, Missy Elliott has
never taken part in any hip hop rivalry. Close
collaborators and producers who have been involved in
hip hop rivalries/feuds include Timbaland, Jay-Z, and
Lil' Kim.
Missy Elliott has produced songs mainly for females
including Monica, Destiny's Child, Whitney Houston,
Tweet, MC Lyte, Lil' Mo, Tamia, Mary J. Blige, and
herself, among others.
Early years: In the late-1980s, Missy Elliott,
LaShawn Shellman, Chonita Coleman, and Radiah Scott
formed an R&B group called Sista, for which Elliott
served as a singer and songwriter. She recruited her
neighborhood friend Timothy Mosley as the group's
producer and began making demo tracks. In 1991, Sista
caught the attention of Jodeci member/producer DeVante
Swing by performing Jodeci songs acapella for him
backstage after one of his group's concerts. In short
order, Sista moved to New York City, now signed to
Elektra Records through DeVante's Swing Mob imprint.
Elliott took Mosley (whom DeVante re-christened
Timbaland) and their friend Melvin "Magoo"
Barcliff along with her.
All 20-plus members of the Swing Mob, among them future
stars such as Ginuwine, Playa, and Tweet, lived in a
single two-story house in New York and were often at
work on material both for Jodeci and for their own
projects. While Elliott (credited as Melissa Elliott)
wrote and rapped on Raven-Symoné's debut album's lead
single "That's What Little Girls Are Made Of",
she also contributed songwriting duties, credited and
uncredited, to the final two Jodeci albums: 1993's Diary
of a Mad Band and 1995's The Show, The After Party, The
Hotel. Timbaland and DeVante produced a Sista LP, 4 All
the Sistas Around the World, completed in 1994. Though
videos were released for the original and remix versions
of the single "Brand New," the album was
shelved and never released. By 1995, Swing Mob had
folded and many of its members dispersed; Elliott,
Timbaland, Magoo, Ginuwine, and Playa remained together
and collaborated on each others' records for the rest of
the decade.
After Swing Mob: After leaving Swing Mob, Elliott
and Mosley (Timbaland) worked together as a
songwriting/production team, crafting tracks for acts
including SWV ("Can We?" 1997) and 702
("Steelo" and its remix), but the most notable
of them was Aaliyah. Elliott and Timbaland wrote and
produced nine tracks for Aaliyah's second album, One in
a Million (1996), among them the hit singles "If
Your Girl Only Knew," "One in a Million,"
"Hot Like Fire," and "4 Page
Letter." Elliott also contributed background vocals
and/or guest raps to nearly all of the tracks on which
she and Timbaland worked. One in a Million went
double-platinum and made stars out of the production
duo.
Elliott and Timbaland continued to work together for
other artists, later creating hits for artists such as
Total ("What About Us," 1997), Nicole Wray
("Make It Hot," 1998), and Destiny's Child
("Get on the Bus," 1998), as well as one final
hit for Aaliyah, "I Care 4 U" before her death
in 2001.
Elliott began her career as a featured vocalist rapping
on Sean "Puffy" Combs's Bad Boy remixes to
Gina Thompson's "The Things That You Do"
(which had a video featuring cameo appearances by
Notorious B.I.G and Puff Daddy), and MC Lyte's 1996
single "Cold Rock a Party." Combs had hoped to
sign Elliott to his Bad Boy record label. She instead
signed a deal with Elektra Records in 1996 to create her
own imprint, The Goldmind Inc., for which she would
record as a solo artist. Timbaland was again recruited
as her production partner, a role he would hold on most
Elliott solo releases.
Supa Dupa Fly and Da Real World: In the center of
a busy period making guest appearances and writing for
other artists, Elliott's debut album, Supa Dupa Fly, was
released in mid-1997. The year also saw Elliott perform
live at The MTV Video Music Awards show on a remix to
Lil' Kim's "Not Tonight" with fellow rappers
Da Brat and Angie Martinez and TLC-rapper Lisa
"Left Eye" Lopes.
In 1998, Elliott continued her successful career in the
background as a producer and writer on Total's single
"Trippin'," as well as working with several
others in the hip-hop and R&B communities. The same
year, Elliott also produced and made a guest appearance
on former Spice Girl Melanie B's, debut solo single
"I Want You Back," which topped the UK Singles
Chart.
Although a much darker album than her debut, Elliott's
second album was just as successful as the first:
selling 1.5 million copies and 3 million copies
worldwide. Da Real World (1999) included the singles
"All N My Grill," a collaboration with Nicole
Wray and Big Boi (from OutKast), a remix to "Hot
Boyz" and "She's a Bitch."
Miss E... So Addictive: Missy Elliott next
released Miss E... So Addictive in 2001. The album
spawned the massive pop and urban hits One Minute Man,
featuring Ludacris and Trina, and "Get Ur Freak
On", as well as the international club hit "4
My People" and the less commercially-successful
single *"Take Away"*. The double music video
for "Take Away/4 My People" was released in
the fall of 2001, shortly after the 9-11 terrorist
attacks and the tragic death of Elliott's good friend
Aaliyah in August. The "*Take Away*" video
contained images of and words about Aaliyah, and the
slow ballad acted as a tribute to her memory.
The remainder of the video was the more
upbeat "4 My People", contained scenes of
people dancing happily in front of American flags and
Elliott dressed in red, white and blue. Though
"Take Away" flopped at radio, "4 My
People" went on to become an American and European
club hit due to a popular techno Basement Jaxx remix in
2002.
Tweet's appearance on Elliott's "Take Away" as
well as her cameo at Elliott's house on MTV Cribs helped
to create a buzz about the new R&B singer. Tweet's
own debut single, "Oops (Oh My)", was
co-written by Elliott and released through Goldmind in
February 2002. The single was a top ten hit, thanks
partially to Elliott's songwriting and guest rap, and to
Timbaland's unusual production on the track. Tweet and
Elliott's numerous collaborations and public appearances
together during this time also began to fuel media
rumors that the two were having a secret lesbian tryst,
one of many media rumors about Elliott that she herself
would address in her subsequent work.
Under Construction: For her next outing, Elliott
and Timbaland focused on an old school sound, utilizing
many old school rap and funk samples, such as Run DMC's
"Peter Piper" and and Frankie Smith's
"Double Dutch Bus" (in "Work It" and
"Gossip Folks", respectively). Elliott's
fourth album, 2002's Under Construction (see 2002 in
music), included the aforementioned singles "Work
It", Elliott's biggest hit to date, and the
successful duet with Ludacris, "Gossip Folks."
In the latter, Elliott let her critics know what she
thought of recent media rumors about her, including her
rapid weight loss that had taken place during 2002 and
her alleged affairs with Timbaland, Tweet, and Trina.
As the "Work It" video had
done during 2002, "Gossip Folks" became one of
the most-played music videos on MTV, MTV2, MTV Jams, and
BET in 2003. It received significantly less attention
than "Work It" at urban radio, but was
embraced by the dance community, as well as the
mainstream, due to a Fatboy Slim remix. Although not
released as single and with no video,
"Pussycat", peaked at #77 on the Hot 100. The
album is known as the best selling female rap album ever
with 2.2 million copies sold in America and 4.5 million
copies sold world wide.
Under Construction also included a track called
"Back In The Day", a nostalgic ode to old
school hip hop music and fashion that featured guest
vocals from Jay-Z and Tweet. A video was shot and an
article on MTV.com was posted, but the video was never
released.
Early 2003, Elliott produced the "American Dream
Remix" (featuring Tweet's additional vocals) of
Madonna's single "American Life". In the
summer of 2003, Elliott was the featured rapper on
Timbaland & Magoo's long-awaited return single,
"Cop That Disc"; the song was a modest hit at
urban radio.
For the soundtrack to the Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Beyoncé
Knowles movie by the same name, Elliott produced
"Fighting Temptation" (featuring herself,
Beyoncé, Free & MC Lyte) which reached the #1 spot
in Japan but failed to chart in the US Hot 100.
This Is Not a Test!: A year after Elliott's most
successful album to date was released, Elliott felt
pressured by her label to release another album, hoping
to capitalize on her recent successs. Elliott's singles,
"Pass That Dutch" and "I'm Really
Hot", from her fifth album, This Is Not a Test!
(released November 2003), both rose the urban charts.
However, both were not as successful at pop radio in
comparison to many of her previous efforts. Elliott has
since stated that "This Is Not A Test! came out
extremely too quickly for me. I didn't want it to come
out when it did."
Also in 2003, Elliott was featured on Wyclef Jean's
"Party To Damascus" and Ghostface Killah's
"Tush" singles, the latter of which became a
minor 2004 dance hit, and had a pivotal role in the
motion picture Honey, starring Jessica Alba. The Gap
approached Elliott later in the year to co-star in a
commercial with Madonna, which received much media
attention GAP Advert. Elliott furthered her relationship
with the Material Girl by performing the controversial
2003 MTV Video Music Awards show opening alongside
Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.
In 2004, Elliott was featured on Ciara's hit single
"1, 2 Step", with her verse interpolating
Teena Marie 's smash hit, "Square Biz". The
two soon became close friends and rumors began to spread
of a lesbian relationship between the duo and also
between Elliott and America's Next Top Model winner Eva
Pigford, which all denied.
Elliott premiered her own reality show on the UPN
Network, The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott in
mid-2005. Although the series never made impressive
ratings, it did maintain a solid audience. The winner,
Jessica Betts, has yet to release an album or single,
which was the prize of the show.
The Cookbook: Following her less than usual sales
from her previous album, Elliott wanted to "wanted
to give people the unexpected" by utilizing
producers other than Timbaland and a "more to the
center" sound not as far left as her other music.
Her sixth solo album, The Cookbook was released in July
2005 and debuted at number two on the U.S. charts. Its
first single, "Lose Control", which featured
Ciara and Fatman Scoop, became a Top 10 hit in the early
summer (peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot
100), and the other album tracks featured guest
appearances from Mike Jones, Fantasia, M.I.A., Slick
Rick, Mary J. Blige, and Pharrell Williams.
The video for "Lose Control"
garnered Elliott six 2005 MTV VMA award nominations,
ultimately winning two awards in the categories Best
Dance Video and Best Hip-Hop Video in August. After the
VMA's, Elliott released "Teary Eyed" which
never saw chart action although the video charted on
MTV's Total Request Live for a few weeks, and BET's 106
& Park for a few days. Teary Eyed is one of the few
tracks that showcase Elliott with her talented ability
to also sing well. Elliott is known for her dance hits,
and is the only female rapper to have six consecutive
platinum studio albums.
In early September, Elliott tore her Achilles' tendon
while shooting the music video for her song "We Run
This", requiring surgery and a long recovery, thus
dampening promotion efforts for The Cookbook. In
November 2005, Elliott won Best Female Hip Hop Artist at
the 2005 American Music Awards, defeating colleagues
Lil' Kim and Trina. Also in November, Elliott's remixed
version of Ashlee Simpson's "L.O.V.E." (from
her second album, I Am Me) was included on the CD
single.
In December 2005, Elliott was nominated for 5 Grammy
Awards, including two for "Lose Control" (Best
Short Form Video, which she won, and Best Rap Song), one
for The Cookbook (Best Rap Album), one for writing
Fantasia's "Free Yourself" (Best R&B
Song), and one for "1, 2 Step" with Ciara
(Best Rap/Sung Collaboration). Elliott was also
nominated for Best International Female Artist at the
2006 BRIT Awards.
In early 2006, Elliott's single and video for "We
Run This" was released with heavy airplay on VH1,
MTV, and BET. It served as the lead single for the
soundtrack to the gymnastics-themed film Stick It.
Respect M.E.: Respect M.E., Elliott's first
greatest hits album, was released outside the United
States and Canada on September 4, 2006, but only in
South Africa, Australia, Europe, Japan, and Brazil. The
collection became her second top ten album in the UK and
her highest charting album to date, peaking at number
seven there. According to BPI it has been certified Gold
for sales of over 100,000 units in the UK and 500,000
copies world wide.
The album cover shows Missy Elliott riding a Friesian
horse with a dark, cloudy background. The M.E. can be
understood as either the word 'me', or could be
referring to Missy Elliott. "Respect M.E." is
also the name of her clothing line produced by adidas.
"Take Away" did not make the album cut, but
was replaced with the more successful Basement Jaxx
dance remix of "4 My People". Duet-singles
"Car Wash", with Christina Aguilera, and
"1, 2 Step" with Ciara, are also missing from
the album.
Current work: In mid-June of 2006, Universal
Pictures announced they had bought the life story of
Elliott and planned to bring it to the big screen.
Producers include Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal,
while the film is being written and directed by Diane
Houston. It's currently unclear whether Elliott will be
starring in the movie, with some media outlets
publishing her as the star of the movie, no official
word has been released.
One thing that's made clear about the
movie is that Timbaland won't be a part of it. When
Missy asked him to be part of it, he refused because he
thinks that it dramatises his character; "the movie
is about her life, her story, that goes deeper than
putting me into the movie".
In December 2006, Missy Elliott was nominated for a
Grammy Award in the Best Rap Solo Performance category
for "We Run This".
In the first quarter of 2007, Elliott's guest
appearances included the remix of Pretty Ricky's
"On The Hotline" with Jim Jones, Timbaland's
"Bounce" with Dr Dre & Justin Timberlake
from Timbaland Presents Shock Value, and Chilli of TLC's
"Straight Jack'", produced by Polow Da Don,
from her upcoming debut solo album.
Elliott is currently working on her own new material
with Timbaland and Danjahands, as well as Rich Harrison,
who stated he'll be working with her after working on
50's upcoming LP.
For other artists releasing in 2007, Elliott has worked
with Olivia Longott, Keyshia Cole ("Let it Go"
featuring Missy and Lil Kim has leaked), Whitney
Houston, Raven-Symone, and has recorded a duet with
Ruslana called "The Girl That Rules". Elliott
owns multiple homes in New Jersey, Miami, and Marietta,
Georgia. |
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