Missy Elliott’s legacy is as one of hip-hop’s most cherished female MCs. Rising to prominence by the side of Timbaland in the mid-1990s, the rapper (real name Melissa Elliott) is loved for her funny lyrics, provocative raps and outlandish music videos that leave her listeners mindblown. Known as one of hip hop’s first mainstream female MCs, Missy is definitely one of the greats.
With the Virginia rapper rising to fame during the mid-1990s, her career would not begin properly until her departure from the Swing Mob with Timbaland. Together, the two continued to make music, working behind the scenes writing and producing for R’n’B acts, such as Aaliyah, SWV and Total.
Elliott did feature on some of these tracks. However, in 1997, when Elliott released her debut album, Supa Dupa Fly, her career skyrocketed and she became a name known worldwide.
Elliott’s first album would give the rapper her first top 20 hit with ‘Sock It 2 Me’. The album landed at number three on the Billboard 200, becoming the highest-charting album debut for a female rapper.
Continuing to work alongside her good friend Timbaland, Elliot would release her second album, Da Real World, in 1999, and by 2000, the album was quickly certified platinum by the RIAA.
Missy Elliot would be a permanent figure in the mainstream throughout the noughties, and she has been recognised as a boundary breaker. Elliott was the first female rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award in 2019.
Three years prior, Elliott was involved in a legendary music video to showcase the Fall 2016 Marc Jacobs Womenswear collection and was chosen by Hype Williams and Jaconbs as the campaign’s centre point.
Taking to Instagram, Jacobs wrote, “From the moment I heard ‘The Rain’ back in 1997, I was entranced by the genius rhythms and brilliant rhymes of Missy Elliott. Missy’s music has kept me and my design team happily energized through countless weekdays, weeknights and weekends during those long hours of sketching, fitting, styling, and doing looks.”
Ina n interview with fashion magazine Vogue about her unique style and taste in music, Elliott unveiled some of her favourite old-school and contemporary hip-hop tracks. You can hear a collection of Missy Elliott’s favourite songs below.