There was a dramatic energy shift that took place just over seven minutes into the 2015 Super Bowl Halftime show. The aerial shot of Katy Perry’s candy-coated, beachy set for “California Girls” quickly cut to a dark, smoky silhouette. Missy Elliott’s profile was as distinctive as the first six notes of her 2001 hit “Get Ur Freak On,” which rang throughout the stadium just before the stage exploded into a collection of dancers and pyrotechnics. Elliott quickly took command of one of the biggest venues in the world, a feat that only time-tested performers can manage. It wasn’t exactly a homecoming—after all, she did briefly take the stage with Pharrell during the 2014 BET Awards—but it felt like a triumphant return to a space befitting her legacy. It would become the most-watched halftime show in history.
And yet, there’s still a dichotomy between the enormity of her moment and the reality of the overall show: Despite an overwhelming catalog of music and a deep bench of former collaborators, Elliott was not the headliner that night. Perry isn’t to blame for that any more than those who have won Video Music Awards over Elliott prior to “Work It” are at fault for her many snubs. Despite her history of hits, five Grammy wins, and the winding roster of Grammy-winning artists she has written and produced for—Janet Jackson, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, and Whitney Houston, to name a few—she has never performed on the Grammy stage.
But it appears that the industry is beginning to catch up by atoning for some of its more glaring oversights throughout the years. In January, the Songwriters Hall Of Fame inducted Elliott, making her the first female hip-hop artist to receive the honor. Last night, MTV finally recognized her with the Video Vanguard Award, a moment that Justin Timberlake and Ciara rightfully dubbed “overdue” and that her fans have spent years heavily campaigning for, including last year’s honoree Jennifer Lopez. The long wait is indicative of an industry that has voiced respect for the legend, but been very slow to fully celebrate her contribution to the music landscape over the past two decades.
Though the feeling of accolades owed may still linger, her greatest reward is likely her immovable cultural presence, despite not having released an album since 2005’s The Cookbook. Her style predates some of the most widely cited innovators in pop music today: N.E.R.D., Lady Gaga, Janelle Monáe, Rihanna, Lizzo, Tierra Whack, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B.—all of whom have named Elliott as one of their biggest inspirations. Elements of their playful, sometimes futuristic work can be traced back to Elliott, whose vision was eras ahead from the moment she first peered daringly into a fish-eyed lens in 1997’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly).” And yet, Elliott still feels obligated to reclaim her influence in music as a woman who has been largely overlooked.
Fast forward to August 23 when Elliott, to everyone’s surprise, dropped Iconology, a five-song EP that stands as a woefully brief, but solid provocation of her place in music history. “Throw It Back,” the collection’s centerpiece, comes equipped with an unrelenting bass line, an amelodic hook, and verses set to remind us just how long she’s been embedded in the fabric of hip-hop and pop. Quippy nudges like “What you doin’ now / I’ve done for a while” and “I did records for Tweet / Before y’all could even tweet” (likely a kind, but knowing nod to the younger crowd who still may question who she is) might be easy for some to write off as the braggadocio typical of hip-hop. In reality, they serve as further reassertion of her lasting impact on the industry as a whole, setting the bar for how artists approach sound and visual presentation.
The rest of Iconology works to further cement her indelible imprint on popular entertainment. “Dripdemeanor,” the tantalizing, slow-tempo groove is her latest entry in a catalog of sex-positive calls to action. The high-octane, ironically named “Cool Off” goes hard with a quick pace that hearkens to a sound popularized in the late ’80s and ’90s, when dance was the only objective. And just in case anyone managed to forget that she was also a vocalist, Elliott provides both instrumental and a capella versions of “Why I Still Love You,” a bluesy doo-wop tune about the most frustrating brand of love. While it would have been ideal to have just a few more tracks to cling to after going 14 years without an album, Iconology is a collection that is so unmistakably Missy Elliott, a luminary who doesn’t show signs of stopping anytime soon.
38 Comments
I wonder if any black AV club commenters who grew up as Missy Elliot fans would be willing to share why she connected with them?
As someone who is a Missy fan, but who is not black, I think she was a breath of fresh air after the gangster rap phase of the early to mid 90s to have someone come out who was so unapologetically weird and spooky and goofy and somehow still cool in spite of (or because of?) all of that. The reason I direct the question to black fans is because of my own experiences, as a Latino kid in the 90s, that I would be ostracized by other Latino kids for liking weird music, celebrities, or hell, even stuff that wasn’t really weird, it just wasn’t listened to by most other kids in my community. Yes, I was that 15 year old kid who loved Bjork. I’m wondering if the experience was similar?
Oh, also I love the new EP. I have to admit, I’m so used to Missy and Timbaland as collaborators that maybe I was surprised to not hear those big, juicy beats, but the hooks and the beats and the clever lyrics are still there. It’s maybe just a bit more subtle production wise.
Also, Tierra Whack is a young, modern rapper that gives me those same kind of vibes. Someone who really leans into her creative, weird side and has the talent and skill to back it up.
I love Tierra Whack and I never thought about it before, but you’re spot on with how she has a similar vibe. While we’re on the subject of young up-and-coming artists, Jean Deaux has a song that reminds me a lot of Missy—the beat sounds like a cousin to the one in “Get Ur Freak On,” the backwards vocals of course remind me of “Work It,” and she has Missy’s playful swagger. As a whole, her sound/style/vibe is not as similar as Tierra Whack’s is, but I’ve been dying to talk about how much this song seems influenced by Missy Elliott.
Hey, thanks for the recommendation. I totally hear the Missy influence, I think it’s that Japanese-sounding “bouncy” percussion and the backwards vocals of course. Spotify tells me she’s collaborated with Kehlani and Ravyn Lenae, too, so I’m gonna be checking the rest of her music out.
Her music never read as ‘weird’ to me even during the heyday of gangsta rap in the late 90s. She, along with Timbaland and the Neptunes (seriously, how did so much talent come out of Hampton Roads at the same time?) were just cool. Aaliyah’s One In A Million and Ginuwine’s The Bachelor had already come out and she had guested on MC Lyte’s “Cold Rock A Party” so by the time Supa Dupa Fly was released, that sound was already on the radio. I can still remember listening to Timbaland’s Welcome to Our World which she is featured on frequently on repeat sophomore year of high school.
Don’t forget about The Clipse and Teddy Riley.I’m from Hampton Roads. We are the Sugar Ray Leonard of hip hop locales. Lightweight, but pound for pound one of the all time greats. You couldn’t listen to rap or pop radio for half an hour in the ‘00s without hearing 3 songs that were written, produced, rapped on, or wholly performed by someone from this area. And they were probably the best songs in that hypothetical half hour.
For those unaware, most of these people were living and collaborating together for a period of time, it could almost be considered bohemian.
black guy here, she connected cuz she was dope. Her songs were catchy as hell and Timbaland was out of his mind good with his production then. Also she wrote a bunch of songs and featured before she got really huge, so she kind had a built in audience waiting.
Ha, thanks. Yeah, maybe I’m over thinking it.I started thinking about it after watching this YouTube video essay about her:
Re: weirdness, when Lizzo released her song with Missy, she posted about how she looked up to her and made her feel represented as a chubby, weird, black girl, so ymmv? Her look for “The Rain” video (you know which one I’m talking about) is weird as hell but also iconic and cool, and her videos always seemed out there to me in a way I appreciated.
Nah, not overthinking just curious. Don’t know unless you ask.
I guess this is the first time I ever thought about explaining why I liked Missy. I would have thought it was self apparent. She was one of the best ever. That’s all there was to it.
I fucking love your story and am so glad you shared it.Y’know, one of my best friends is a HUGE Public Enemy fan. He got to shake Chuck D’s hand once and said something along the lines of “look, I know I’m a white Canadian kid and it makes no sense, but your music changed my life.”
As a white Canadian “kid” (38), reading this article and these amazing comments makes me want to listen to Missy’s music, now. My hiphop appreciate is limited to like, Blackstar, Mos, Taleb Kweli, Common, Pigeon John… I could dig this.
I’m a white guy from the suburbs of Southern California, and I’ve long said that I should be sending Father’s Day cards to Chuck D because he taught me so many valuable lessons at such a young and impressionable age. I got to fist bump him from the very front row of a show during ‘Can’t Truss It’, and he looked me right in the eye. There he was, the Hard Rhymer, a foot from me and bumping my fist. I remember it like it was yesterday.Missy’s great because she’s a true original and an artist in the most literal sense of the word. To put it in context, she’s Chuck D and Flav rolled into one – the incredible MC as well as the clown that everyone can’t stop looking at. Long live the queen.
Black people don’t really do the making fun of people for liking weird music thing. Maybe some do, but as a whole, she’s Black, she was doing hip-hop…her music wasn’t considered “weird” and everybody liked her. The beats were hot and she was interesting. Also, we still liked the gansta rappers too.
I loved the video for “Throw It Back” so much, there were so many layers. Missy, standing in front of the Herdon House in Atlanta where the first American black millionare lived, as the pink carpet rolls out in front of her should be on bedroom walls everywhere.
I can’t help but wonder if the media finally find it acceptable to acknowledge her now that she has lost some weight. Its bullshit if true, but its the only thing that has changed about her. She is still as epic in every other respect as she always was.
Tripping on that, I also think part of it is she wasn’t overtly sexual, or at least not in the way that Britney or even Aaliyah and Beyonce were. My favorite Missy song was always “One Minute Man”, because it makes her message clear. “I’m not here to please you, you’d better step up so you can please me!” Even now, that’s still hard for a lot of mainstream critics and fans to deal with.
That song is so good and easily has Luda’s best guest verse ever.
She is absolutely not here for the male gaze, which is one of the reasons I love her. I don’t judge other artists that do cater to it, but I have a deep, abiding respect and fondness for those women performers who eschew those expectations.
Another thing that’s helped Missy’s music age remarkably well? Her lack of rap beefs. Did Dre really have to spend half of The Chronic telling Eazy E to eat a dick? Did Eminem really have to take all those potshots at Limp Bizkit? It really dates everything and makes everyone look thin-skinned. Missy thankfully didn’t bother with any of that.
Only one I can think of is off “Partytime”: Forget about it like the world forgot Sisqo.
…I mean, she’s not wrong…
She was acknowledged back in the day. She was very famous and successful.
Given how popular Lizzo has become, I’m not entirely sure it’s about Missy’s weight. I feel like there’s definitely some late 90s/early 00s nostalgia coming into play, and people are remembering just how badass and talented Missy was back in the day.
I
feel like Missy generally gets the appropriate credit as an artist/performer –
she sold approximately a bazillion albums in her heyday, and any list of the
greatest music videos that doesn’t include several Missy entries is one you can
safely disregard. Where I think she deserves much, much more credit is as a
producer/songwriter. I mean, she and Timbaland really were a team in the studio
in the 90s, especially on the Aaliyah album, and then Timbo went on to be one of the go-to producers in pop
music for a good decade, and she rarely got mentioned as his collaborator, but
rather as one of “his” artists. But there are few Timbaland productions that
are better than the stuff he did with Aaliyah and with Missy, so it’s not hard
to guess what the missing ingredient is elsewhere.
There was a (clearly uninformed) commenter on the VMAs article who basically tried to write her off as a hack who depends on the talent of others, so I have to agree she’s underrated as a writer/producer.
A music-adjacent award that has been won by Jennifer Lopez has exactly no meaning, unless it pertains to sales.
“doesn’t show signs of stopping anytime soon.”
Really, she stopped putting out music for FOURTEEN YEARS. Signs point to stopping soon!
She didn’t release any albums but she’s still been releasing singles, writing, and guesting on other artists’ songs.
She stopped because she had Graves Disease which you should look up. It took her down for a while until she had it under control. If you didn’t know that then the door is over there GTF out. Disrespectful little shit.
Elliot was a huge star while she was active. She was praised plenty.
I think it’s telling that a rapper sings better, and commands an audience better, then ANY of the current pretender pop stars.Hail the middle-aged woman.
I’m watching the 2015 Super Bowl show now to see what that was all about. Turns out it’s the one with the sharks. As someone with no interest in Super Bowls, I heard all about Katy and her shark. Not a peep about Missy until four years later.
Yeah, I was watching the show at a party and was just waiting for the “And then Missy blew Katy off the stage” stories the next day and . . . and am still waiting.
Her first album came out a month after my 21st birthday. I’d barely started going out to clubs and when I first heard her and it was one of those moments where I just had to stop and listen. I went out the next day and bought it. It’s still one of best albums I’ve ever heard start to finish. Blessed be our lady Missy.
she got her start being produced by devante (of jodeci fame). she sang with a group called sista.
Flava Flav said it best 31 years ago: “Who gives a fuck about a goddamn Grammy?!?” The Grammys award sales and longevity, not talent. Missy should be thankful she’s never played the Grammy stage. It means she’s doing something right.
I was so insanely excited when I heard about this – Beyonce who? I bow only to Missy Elliott. 😀
(Which I admit is a little like saying “John Mayer who? I bow only to Blink-182″… they don’t really overlap in genre. But I stand by it anyway!!)