The short-lived secret R&B group Missy Elliott was a member of
Missy Elliott was one of the most successful female MCs during her time as a mainstream commercial rapper. Before Nicki Minaj’s appearance, Elliott was running the mainstream and had numerous hits.
Hip-hop saw a surge in popularity during the 1990s, and Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott was integral to its appeal to women. In a male-dominated genre, she managed to cut through with humour and incredible lyricism. The Virginia rhymer’s breakout hit was her 1997 single, ‘The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)’. Following this, Elliott continued to become a phenomenon.
During the 2000s, with the help of her musical partner Timbaland, Elliott released smash hits such as ‘Get Ur Freak On’ and ‘Work It’ and became a musical force to be reckoned with. After two decades in the game, she became a definitive modern hip-hop and, in 2019, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and awarded the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
Although Elliott is a highly decorated rapper, few know that she didn’t even want to be one at the start of her career. In fact, the ‘I’m Really Hot’ rhymer began her musical journey as part of an all-female R&B quartet.
Missy began her musical career in the early 1990s as part of the R&B group Sista. The group only had one album entitled 4 All the Sistas Around Da World. However, the project was shelved for years and didn’t come out in 1994 when it was meant to. With Timbaland as the executive producer and a feature from Mary J Blige, it was a great album, and surprisingly, it landed on streaming services in 2017.
During a 1997 interview with Davey D for Davey D’s Hip-Hop Corner, Missy explained why she left the group, stating, “Well, I started when Devante’ from Jodeci found me when I was in a group called ‘Sista’. And um, then I started like writing songs for a lot of different people. But like when people really started seeing me at was the Gina Thompson record, ‘The Things You Do’. And from there, that like the launch of my career. From that song that Puffy did.”
Missy Elliot did a lot of writing for groups such as Ginuwine and SWV before she and Timbaland got signed as artists. Still when they officially became a musical duo, they were unstoppable and many of their tracks are still considered classics including, ‘Pass The Dutch’ and ‘Work It’.