Explaining Missy Elliott’s backwards ‘Work It’ verse
Missy Elliott is one of hip hop’s most cherished female MCs. Rising to prominence by the side of Timbaland in the mid-1990s, the rapper 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.
However, her career would not begin properly until her partnership with Timbaland. The two made music by working behind the scenes, writing and producing for R’n’B acts, such as Aaliyah, SWV, and Total. In 1997, Elliott released her debut album, Supa Dupa Fly, and her career skyrocketed.
Elliott’s first album would spawn her first top 20 hit, ‘Sock It 2 Me’. The album landed at number three on the Billboard 200, becoming the highest-charting debut LP for a female rapper. Continuing to work alongside her good friend Timbaland, Elliot would release her second record, Da Real World, in 1999, and by 2000, the album was quickly certified platinum by the RIAA.
In less than a decade, Missy Elliott became one of the greats of hip-hop and was integral in legitimising female rap alongside the likes of Queen Latifah and Lil’ Kim. That said, she released some seminal tracks at the turn of the millennium. From ‘Supa Dupa Fly’ to ‘I’m Really Hot’, it is indisputable that she has put out a lot of music.
Still, one of her biggest anthems was ‘Work It’. Released as a single for her 2002 album Under Construction, it debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and became three times platinum. The beat (produced by Timbaland) sampled Run-DMC’s ‘Peter Piper’ and Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three’s ‘Request Line’.
Still, one part of the track became iconic: the reverse vocal in the chorus section. For years, people didn’t know what the Virginia native was saying, and many believed she might have been saying something explicit, as parts of the track are quite cheeky. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
In fact, the addition of the reverse vocal was a complete accident. During an interview, Missy Elliott revealed that the quirky element resulted from an accident by the audio engineer she was working with. Opening up to the Associated Press, Elliott explained how it materialised, beginning, “The reverse thing, that was a mistake.”
She continued, “The engineer happened to hit something, and it just went backwards, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s kind of crazy’ because it went backwards on the beat. So after that happened, I said, ‘Yo, keep that in there, and I’m going to write around it.”
Missy Elliott was surprised at people’s assumptions about what she was potentially saying and revealed, “They thought I was saying all kinds of nasty stuff,” Elliott said. “No, actually, I’m not this time.”
The actual phrase that Missy Elliott rapped in her reverse section is identical to the line that precedes it: “Put my thing down flip it, and reverse it.” As such, it’s supposedly meant to come out as Ti esrever dna ti pilf, nwod gniht ym tup.”
Although it was not dirty, for some years, fans were under the assumption it was Missy Elliott asking, “Is your p*ssy getting wet yet?” However, she has debunked this several times now. The reverse section is the most iconic part of ‘Work It’. In fact, it’s so recognisable that Elliott recreated a backwards section at a later part of the song.