Missy Elliott: 10 of her very best
By Nick Bond
With Missy Elliott making an all-too-rare live appearance headlining Bestival next month, we take a look back at 10 highlights from the rap and hip-hop innovator’s career. Aside from a few singles, guest appearances and the odd-show stealing cameo (snatching the Super Bowl halftime performance out from under headliner Katy Perry), Missy’s been criminally quiet since the release of her last album 10 years ago. Missy, come back: music needs you!
10. Pass That Dutch
Originally considered something of a disappointment as a lead single, time has been kind to Pass That Dutch: The beat is RELENTLESS. Also home to one of Missy’s most-quotable lyrics: “Freak him, freak her, whatever – your choice, didn’t come to judge, I came to get ya moist!”
9. Pussycat
A wonderfully filthy slow jam from 2002’s Under Construction. ‘Pussy don’t fail me now,’ indeed.
8. One Minute Man
Speaking of wonderfully filthy… Missy don’t want, she don’t need, she can’t stand no Minute Man.
7. Hit Em Wit Da Hee
Always keen to bridge musical gaps, this soulful 1998 single comes with a stonking big sample from Bjork’s single Joga in the middle (from 3:13 on).
6. Hot Boyz
…Because who can go past an ode to boys. HOT BOYZ.
5. Lose Control
When Missy and Ciara get together, magic happens.
4. Triple Threat
Pet peeve: When people say ‘Whatever happened to Missy Elliott?’, as though she hasn’t released a single thing since her last album The Cookbook in 2005. In fact, she dropped two slept-on ‘comeback’ singles in 2012, the better of which, Triple Threat, deserved a much wider audience.
3. Beep Me 911
Only her third single as lead artist, this 1997 stunner is Missy at her soulful best. Rapping, singing – she can do it all.
2. Work It
Her biggest global smash, this is Missy at her most endlessly quotable, from the reverse-chorus and elephant call to the rapid-fire, frequently hilarious verses.
1. Get Ur Freak On
Her mightiest song, this also contains our personal life mantra: “BOYS, BOYS, ALL TYPE O’ BOYS, BLACK/WHITE/PUERTO-RICAN/CHINESE BOYS.” Please, inscribe this on our tombstone.
info: Missy Elliott plays Bestival on the Isle of Wight, September 10-13.