Missy Elliott

AJ Vogt
Mar 20, 2016
2 min read

Missy Elliott is a hip hop recording artist, dancer and record producer. Melissa Arnette Elliott was born in 1971 in Portsmouth Virginia. Missy Elliott led a life that most rappers would speak about. In her younger life she struggled with abuse from her father, who was a U.S. Marine. Elliott not only feared for her life, but also for her mothers. Eventually the two ran away, and to this day she does not forgive her father for what he did.

Initially in Missy Elliott's career, she was in a girl group known as Sista in the early 1990s before going solo. Elliot has released six studio albums. In 1997 she released "Supa Dupa Fly." While working on this album, Missy Elliott wrote a lot of songs for other artists which would include Destiny's Child. The album was nominated for Best Rap Album in the 1998 Grammys, but unfortunately did not win. That same year, she even performed at the MTV VMAs.

Elliott then released her second album, "Da Real World" in 1999, which was just as successfull as her first album, selling 3 million copies world wide. Only two years later, Elliott released her third studio album called "Miss E... So Addictive." This album boasted some of her more popular songs including "Get Your Freak On." This album also featured songs in tribute for Missy's long time friend Aaliyah, who passed away in 2001.

Between 2002 to 2004 was huge for Missy Elliott. She released two more studio albums which were "Under Construction" and "This is Not a Test!" For "Under Construction" Elliott focused on sampling old school rap and funk, which was seen in her single from this album, "Work It." Under Construction was up for two grammys, Album of the Year and Best Rap Album, but did not win. During this two period, releasing two albums, Elliott worked with many popular artists including Ludacris, Jay Z, Madonna, Beyonce and Britney Spears.

After "This is Not a Test" Elliott released one more album. Beyond her albums, Missy Elliott was widely known for her music videos. Elliott was constantly co-producing videos for herself and other artists. A popular video and song, that used artists from multipl genres was "Lady Marmalade" in which Missy Elliot co-produced. Check out her music video for "Get Your Freak On" below.