March 31, 2022 • 33 mins
As one of the best selling female rappers of all time, Missy Elliot climbed to the top on her own terms. Growing up as an only child, Missy faced poverty, despair, and abuse. She used music as an outlet to escape and eventually created the group “Fayze” where she signed with Swing Mob. Missy’s music dreams were coming true; in the early 90s she was able to collaborate with Timbaland & Magoo and Raven-Symoné. However, struggles with her body image and creativity resulted in her departure from Fayze. Her next big opportunity came from Aaliyah and Timbaland. The three were inseparable through their unique style of music. Her success continued with the release of “The Things You That You Do” with Gina Thompson and “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)”, plus getting signed with her own label, The Goldmind. Now, Missy has created a legacy by producing for big name artists, performing at the Super Bowl, and being inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame. As an artist, writer, and producer, Missy Elliot changed the game for women in hip hop by staying true to herself and opening the door for innovation. Watch Behind the Music now on Paramount+.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
She's a hip hop visionary whose innovative style sparked a revolution.
Missy Elliot's road to superstardom seemed inconceivable, and as a
young MC, she faced the harsh realities of an image
conscious industry. Defiant, Missy climbed to the top on her
own terms. Missy's creative genius brought her fame and fortune,
(00:22):
but when she lost the close friend, none of that matter. Distraught,
Missy then came face to face with her own mortality.
Tenacious and unyielding, Missy refused to give up. And now
the woman they call Misdemeanor tells it like it is.
This is Missy Elliott, the story behind the music. It's
(00:49):
January two thousand eleven. Missy Elliot is back in the
studio with longtime collaborator and close friend Timberland, mixing take
Your Clothes Off, a track from her highly anticipated new album.
The second verse in the Dummy put it big in
the third verse, Let's see if she like it. People
(01:13):
always be like, where you've been? I ain't seen you
in a minute. I've been working on my album and
making sure it's hot. You know it was a tam
I know the world waiting I know that for sure.
It's taken five long years for Missy to gather the
(01:35):
right material, but the self proclaimed perfectionists finally ready to
share her new sound with the world. I think of
myself as a visionary. I feel like I've always been
ahead of my time. I have a way of imagining
things and bringing it to life. If I saw that vision,
(01:56):
I said, I'm gonna make it happy. That vision began
in the old town of Portsmouth, Virginia, in nineteen seventy one,
where Melyssa Arnette Elliott was born on July one and
only child. She grew up amidst poverty and despair. Growing up,
we didn't have much. I remember having mice in the
(02:17):
house and my father taken some newspaper and beating me
because mice was running on me while I was sleep.
When Missy was small, we had butter bread in the
morning and the butter bread for dinner. We didn't have
running water. We were going in a pot that set
(02:37):
by her bed because we didn't have a bathroom. Unfortunately,
poverty was only one of her childhood problems. When Missy
was just eight years old, her sixteen year old cousin
began sexually abusing her each day he wanted me to
come to the house after school. It became sexual, which
for me, eight years old, I had no clue of
(03:00):
what that was, but I knew something was wrong being molested,
and especially at at such a young age, it don't disappear,
is you remember like it was yesterday. While Missy was
repeatedly molested for over a year, she didn't tell a soul,
not even her mother. Was already dealing with a different brutality.
(03:24):
My father. He was abusive to my mother. Me and
my mother were very very close, and so watching my
father be abusive to my mother was like beating me.
When you're battered, you always started thinking was it me?
Is it something that I'm doing? Is it something that
(03:46):
I'm saying? The trigger the fight. I was scared because
I never knew when I would come home with my
mother be dead. It was just the fear. With no
siblings to lean on, Missy created her own escape from
the cave us everything that I went through as a kid.
It was like music was my outlet. I would just
(04:06):
make up songs. She would get the microphone and she
was singing and dance. It was just a part of her.
I always had this wild imagination. I said, one day,
I'm gonna be famous and I'm gonna rescue my mother.
You know, I'm gonna get my mother out of this situation.
But when Missy was four teens, her greatest fear nearly
(04:27):
became a reality. One night, Um, Missy saw that the
fight was just beyond measures. My husband said, this is set.
I'm gonna kill you. It's over. He pulled the gun
out in front of me. I was screaming, Dad, he
(04:51):
please don't kill my mother, Please don't kill my mother.
Terrified and desperate, Missy ran to her uncle's house for help.
I was so tired of being beaten over and over.
I just said, fine, just do it. And at that
time my brother came in and I grew grasp him
(05:14):
with the gun, and my brother got the gun away
from him. I never forget it, like it was the
most scariest time in my life. Patricia had finally reached
her limit and abruptly left her husband. She and Missy
started a new life on the other side of town.
It was like, I'm free. I'm finally making a choice
(05:38):
that I never thought I could do. I said, it's
going to change. As for the rest of our lives
free of the pain and drama. Missy began to thrive
at Manor High School. She became so popular she was
even voted class clown. I was very outgoing. I used
to talk talk talk talk, talk, talk talk. They thought
(05:59):
I needed some medicine. The principal will always see me
in the hallway and I'll be beating on the lockers, rapping,
and everybody be around. He'd be like, Melissa, go to class.
Then I'll be like, made me back at lunch. I
got another wrap. Missy began to take music more seriously,
and at the age of eighteen, she formed a hip
(06:19):
hop inspired R and D group called Phazy Missy's Rolling.
The group was she was a rapper, you know she sang,
she wrote, it was the core. She was the center.
Phazy quickly became a local sensation, even landing on local
radio with the track Missy wrote called First Move. But
the momentum really kicked in when Missy was introduced to
(06:42):
a kid from the next town over and aspiring DJ
and producer named Tip Mosley with I first let Missy.
It was so incredible. We brought some about each other.
We will feed off each other I might be like, oh,
I like that sound right there, and then he might
be like, I like that flow, but you should change
(07:02):
it right head. Yeah, it was just like wow, it
was It was definitely God's gift to put us together together.
We would you know, we was unstoppable. With Timberland's beats,
Missy took her skills to the next level, earning a
nickname from another local rapper and friend, Melvin Magoo. Bar
Cliff What I said, it was your name? Should you
(07:24):
miss the mean? Because of her ability to write, wrap
and produce, was like almost like a crime, just that simple.
That's the dopest female in the game. I said, Well,
I'm sold, misdemean it is. By the spring of Missy
had graduated high school and was determined to make a
career in use it. When her favorite group Josie was
(07:46):
in town for a concert, she hatched a plan. Javante Swagg,
the group's leader, also owned a record company, and Missy
was held bent to get a record deal. She came
up with this grand idea that we should kind of
dress up as a female noticing. We'll go in and
you know, they won't have any choice but to you know,
to sign us. After talking her way backstage, Phazy suddenly
(08:08):
found themselves face to face with Davante. At the moment
of truth, we was like this our only shot, and
so we performed like it was Apollo Night, phases like
I'm gonna fly y'all up next Thursday and sign y'all.
But we couldn't believe it. It was amazing. We were
(08:29):
going to be the girl Joxi. Those work Davante's exact words.
In twenty year old Missy Elliott's musical dreams were becoming reality.
Her group Phasey had just landed a deal with Swing
Mob Records, a label loaned by Jodices Davante. Swing was
the biggest thing ever because we felt like we were
(08:50):
superstars locally, but now we're closer to becoming famous. Under
Davante's watchful eye, Missy was being groomed for stardom. First,
he changed the group's name to System and moved them
to Rochester, New York. There they would rehearse and record
with DeVante's other artists, including Genuine and Tweet and Missy's
(09:11):
old friends Timberland and Magoo. Davante's vision was to create
a music compound where everyone on his label, he could
collaborate in a project he called Debasement the eight train
and read to music. Missing might spit iran genuine might
come along and they might join and we all harmonize.
And that was a typic of the day in the
(09:31):
basement crew and everybody was always working, and it was
always creating something. It was like a magical time to work.
Devanta was a genius. He could hear harmonies. He could
tell you what the thing and what sound right, what
didn't sound right. He was a young berry Wardy Devonte
Hasten compute against Missy who could write the song fastest,
and that's what I think kind of homes her skills.
(09:53):
For Missy, the hard work was paying off. Sisters. First
single attract Missy wrote called brand New, was on the radio.
Then she scored a chance to work with young Raven
Simone writing and producing a song for her That's what
little girls are made of. I was gotta strutted. I mean,
this is a little Raven Simone from the Cosby So
(10:14):
and the record came out Hot It's Hot thanks to
Missy's guest rap. The song was a surprise hit in
but the success was better Sweet They didn't put her
in the video. They put a light skin skinny girl
in the video. Was her voice, but everybody else saw
another face. Nobody even told me they shot the video.
(10:35):
I heard later it was like he didn't quite fit
the image that we were looking forward. I was like,
are they trying to say unfat? That's immediately I'm like, oh,
they hating on the big girls. I said every curse word.
I was distraught. Missy had been blindsided by the music
(10:58):
industry cynical standards abut, but she took comfort in some
sound advice from a new friend, Queen of hip hop soul,
Mary J. Blige. When we first met Grey J Blige,
she pulled me to the side as he said, don't
worry about your size or anything. You won't be a star.
Hold your head up. That always stuck with me. I
(11:19):
was like, you are extremely talented, and everything that's trying
to pull you back, you want to surpass it. When
I saw I Miss Ellie, I saw nothing but a star.
But Mrs Next opportunity wouldn't come so easy. As the
Basement's creative atmosphere was becoming increasingly claustrophobic, Davante was very controlling,
wanted to know everyone's move who you were talking to,
(11:42):
why you were talking to them, what was the conversation about.
It was almost like we felt mentally abused. In the
fall of the friction within the basement group progressively worse
until finally things boiled over after a dispute with his
artists over a con tracked issue Davante called an urgent medic.
(12:03):
The scene reportedly turned physical. He came in the room,
he was throwing chairs. Me and Missy almost got hit
in our head with a chair because it was thrown
over our head. His bodyguards went down the row and
like really smack all the guys and like Colin Darret
them hit him back. There wasn't nothing that we did
to deserve that, none of us. A dog didn't deserve
(12:25):
what went on in that room that day. For Missy,
the scene was all too familiar. I went through watching
my father do this with my mother. I remember telling
Timberland that I'm gonna leave then I'm never coming back.
The next day, Missy walked away from the basement, leaving
behind her group or deal with Davante and three years
(12:48):
of blood, sweat and beats. Missy came home. Her dreams
are shattered. It was such a trying time in my life.
It's like starting all over again. It's back to Squire one.
After a few months of soul searching, Missy pulled it
together and moved to New York City with a new focus.
(13:09):
I said, you know, I wanna just be a writer
and I want to produce. I don't want to be
an artists. Maybe I don't have the look and I
don't have to worry about being judged. It didn't take
long for Missy to land her next big opportunity. Atlantic
Records hired Missy and Timberland to write and produce an
album for Butting R and B Sensation a Leader, and
(13:31):
from the moment they met, a lasting friendship was born.
You're thinking Devo and she's come in, like, why is
the heat down? And give me my tea? But here
is this young girl. She's smile as she gives us hugs.
It made us feel so comfortable for really just took
a life of its own, the three of them creating me.
(13:53):
Her and Tim were in so while Missy was easing
into a career working behind the scenes, everything would change.
After a chance and Pounders with Shaun Puffy cons puffy
that me threw Davonte. He remembered that I rapped, so
when he seen me in the studio, he came in
and he like, yo, money, don't you don't you still wrap?
(14:15):
And I'm like, you know, halfway scared to say yeah.
He say, Yo, come onvie, how I want you to
listen to this track. I want you to get on
this track. So he played the Jannah Thompson record. I
was like, oh my goodness, this is my chance. So
you know, he left me alone. I wrote the rap
and I'm so nervous, but I got in there and
(14:36):
rapped like it was my last time ever being able
to wrap. I don't know where the hell he how
came from, but it it worked. As soon as I said,
he was like, oh, like puppy. He liked that. Lie
the Things You Do hit the air in July of
ninety six. The song was an instant hit at thanks
(14:57):
to her signature Wrap. Missy was back in the in
the days, were freaking out. They were going did you
hear that? He he he he he it was who
is that? One month later, A Leah's album One in
a Million was released to rate reviews. The sound of
the beats, the sound of the production, the writing. Everything
(15:17):
had its own unique flavor, and it was a dramatic
contrast to what was on the radio at the time.
Lightning had struck twice and overnight Missy was hip hop's
new it girl. Everybody wanted to be attached to the
hottest new artist, and I was ready to be in
business with her no matter what it took. Sylvia wrote,
CEO of Electro Rect signed Missy to an unprecedented deal
(15:41):
that included having her own label where she could work
with other artists. But there was one condition. First, Missy
had to make an album of her own. Sylvia, she
really saw something in me. Is she like this? Be you?
And let's make a hot record. Miss She jumped right
into the studio with Timberland. Just two weeks later, they
(16:04):
had created the tracks which changed the face of hip hop.
Coming Up, Missy turns the hip hop world on its
ear when Behind the Music continues In the summer of seven,
(16:28):
after signing a lucrative deal with Electric Records, Missy Elliott
turned the hip hop world on its head when she
dropped her debut album, Super Duper Fly. I thought I
had something that was unique. I wanted to break down
all barriers, and I wanted to be a risk take it.
Missy came and did something that made us black. I
(16:48):
thought super Duper Fly was super duperd innovative and amazing.
Timberland's drum sounds, his patterns, Missy's style of wrapping, the
way she kind of incorpored in all these different sounds,
everything about it was different. Super Ducal Flies shot to
number three on the Billboard Charts, the highest debut for
any female rapper in history. But it was the Hype
(17:10):
Williams directed music video for Missy's first single, The Rain,
that truly changed the game. Part cartoon, it was hip hop,
it was science fiction, it was the Jetsons, and it's
just beyond. In an error where female rappers were expected
to emulate the raunchy look of Little Kim and Foxy Brown, Missy,
who had never forgotten being left out of Raven Simone's video,
(17:33):
created The Rain a defiant response to an industry where
image is everything. She was saying me, I'm super fly,
super duly she really felt so fly. We came up
with this idea of being in a big plastic garbage bag. Basically,
I said I'm gonna show them. I'm gonna make a
record and it's gonna be big, and I'm gonna be
(17:56):
big too, and I mean literally, I'm I'm gonna stay
my side, have a big record, and that's that. Overnight,
Missy had changed the game for women in hip hop
by making it big while staying true to herself. I'm
up there with Fox and Brown, Little Kim and Lauren Hill.
I'm like, Okay, I could get used to this. This
(18:17):
is cool. You thought just the cute skinny girls was
on the cover, So it's like, okay, big girls rock.
She could be three hundred pounds right now. We wouldn't
care because we didn't love Missy for her weight. We
love Missy because she was doing something different and innovative.
On the heels of Super Duper Fly, Missy had also
become one of the most sought after producers in hip hop,
(18:40):
and in one month got three remarkable offers. I remember
I got a call from Mariah Carey. She like, I
want to work with two. I'm gonna fly to Virginia.
I'm like, now a lot of these people playing on
my phone. Then I got a call from Whitney Houston
when she called. Of course, I didn't believe it, and
I made her sing and she's started singing. I was like,
(19:01):
oh no, that's what I was. I wanted this great.
Then here goes Janet Jackson and if I can recall,
I think I hung up on her because I didn't
believe it was Janet Jacksly. It's crazy. All in one month. Yeah,
I was in heaven. Just twenty six years old. Missy
(19:21):
was on top of the world and was also a millionaire.
As a child, she dreamed of rescuing her mother. Now
she made good on her promise. I said, you know,
I'm gonna get my mother a big old house. She
went through so much, she's so deserving of it. I
was like, how we all? Oh brod, I was like,
this is big money. Oh my god, be jumping around.
(19:44):
We were like the Jefferson's being able to do for
your mother is everything in. Missy released her sophomore effort,
The Real World. The video for She's a Bit. She
pushed the envelope once again, some unting Missy's cutting edge credibility.
The video, I really think that's gonna top the rain
(20:05):
because we're just going you know, on bull right now.
So as obvious, something going a little bit extra than
than the rain, and I got a couple of more
other scenes that's a little bit daring. Once the video
was shot, I was like, five years from now. People
would look at this and be like they was ahead
of their time in so many ways. The real world
(20:27):
would go on to sell over one million records, and
after two smash albums, Missy appeared to have it all,
but privately, she was still haunted by the demons of
her past. The sexual abuse she suffered as a child
was a painful secret she could no longer keep to herself.
I feel like I had to be a teacher. I
(20:48):
wanted people to know that I went through challenges in
my life, and I went through issues that probably other
people might have thought that that would hinder them from
becoming anything. You can overcome so many obstacles, and I
feel like I had the voice, so I needed to
say it. Missy also read public about the domestic abuse
(21:10):
she watched her mother endure all those years ago. She
became a spokesperson for Break the Cycle, a nonprofit organization
dedicated to helping battered women. When Missy went open about
the abuse, I was like, this is our secret. You
don't tell the world what happened. And it was like, Mom,
(21:30):
we have to we have to let people know that
we made it. She said, that's how you deal with it. Mom.
You you get it out in the open. I have
to get these scars off of me. You need to
get these scars off of you. Having those conversations was
very therapeutic. It was a major release. I can breathe
(21:54):
them and I feel good about it. After two huge albums,
Missy Elliott was on hire, a prolific writer, producer, and
solo artist whose distinctive style had changed the face of
hip hop, but she was just getting started. In two
thousand one, Missy produced a star studied remake of Lady
Marmalade for the movie of Mulan Rouge featuring Pink Little,
(22:17):
Kim Maya and Christina Aguilera. Wheking on Lady Marmalade was
so hot to be able to produce four major artists.
I was on the high. I thought it was really fun,
a chance to work with Missing I was just like,
how can I not do this. They looked at it like,
we'll see how the track record, We've heard the work
(22:39):
that she's done before. We trusted her with this whole thing,
and we did it and it was amazing, amazing, Thanks
the flawless execution and a saucy music video, Lady Marmalade
was a tremendous hit, earning Missy her first Grammy. I
call my mother, She's crying. I'm like, oh God, for
(23:00):
I'm happy. Missy was about to score another Grammy, her
first as a solo artist, with her third album, Missy
So Addictive, with club bantams like get your freak on
in one minute Man. The album's Launchy Sexual Edge was
a first for Missy, though not the first time she
had defied expectations, and she felt like she wanted to
(23:20):
display the sexier side, the more sexually liberated Edgy pushed
the envelope aside. The song is the very sexy record.
This decide that people don't get to see from Missy,
and I think that that message was for all women
who saying it doesn't always have to be about like
love and romance. Sometimes it's about show up through the
right thing and get the hell out of here. And
(23:41):
that was just a really powerful moment. Missy's fans responded
as the album went platinum and became her highest selling
to date, but Missy's happiness was short lived. On August
twenty five, two thousand one, words spread that her close
friend and collaborator Aaliyah was involved in a horror Will
plane crash. We were in Jamaica and somebody came over
(24:05):
and and you know, broke the news to us. For
the first couple of hours, we spent the time just
trying to verify whether or not it was true. I
know that people make up terrible rumors, so I'm thinking
it's just one of those rumors. And I tried to
call her phone, and I'm gonna keep calling until I
hear a voice. And when I didn't hear her voice,
(24:27):
realized that this is this is real. Messy was devastated.
It was literally, you know, losing a family member for her.
I would never think that I would have to be it. Um,
I'm sorry, I just I just never thought I would
have to be here. Uh. I just felt like, if
(24:51):
I ever, you know, we have to talk about her
in this way, she would be here to hear it,
and and just to sit here and know that she
buy here. I'm sorry. Coming up Missy's terrifying brush with
(25:17):
her own mortality when behind the Music continues. In two
thousand two, after one of the most emotionally intensive years
of her life, Missy Elliott went back to work, penning
an R and B ballot called can You Hear Me?
In homage to her fallen friend d'eliah. Missy included the
(25:38):
track on her album, which she aptly titled Under Construction.
Life is short. Your friends family, When they're gone, that's it.
You don't get them back. So I said, let me
make a transition and fix things about me. That's what
made me think I'm a work in progress. I'm going
(25:58):
to construct it. While grief inspired the album's title, the
tracks were pure missing. She delivered another groundbreaking video for
the hit single Working, reinforcing her bold and imaginative reputation.
I wait for Missing videos. They're like Michael Jackson videos.
You always know that there's gonna be something that we
had never seen, something innovative, that was going to make
(26:23):
you want to watch it again and again. After selling
over two million records, Under Construction became Missy's highest selling
album to date, followed up by This Is Not a
Test and two Thousand Fives the Cookbook, Missy was hotter
than ever. Living under the spotlight, Missy had also noticeably
slimmed down, and for a woman who rewrote the book
(26:45):
on body image, her sleek new look was met with
mixed reviews. A lot of her fans are her weight
losses are selling out because she always advocated for loving
herself for who you were and not changing who you
were for anyone else. But Missy was selling out at all. Privately,
she had been dealing with a life threatening problem. The
(27:05):
doctors literally told her at that point that she was
in danger of stroking out, that she was a stroke
level with the you know how high her blood pressure was.
This is a doctor telling me for my health, if
you want to stay around for a long time and
then you need to you need to drop pounds. And
I realized how serious it was. So I went on
(27:27):
a serious diet, a serious diet, resolved to make a change.
Missy hit the gym four times a day and shed
over sixty pounds. I lost weight, you know, not because
I felt like this is the model uh look or
this is supposed to this is what an artist supposed
to look like. You know I was comfortable with with
(27:48):
my size. Is this when when your health come into play.
That's a whole another story. In the spring of two
thousand five, her health took another scary turn. She had
been feeling tired and her weight would go up and
down drastically. I was eating, but I was just losing
weight and losing weight. I had been feeling sick um
(28:10):
and you know the move swings is up and down,
up and down. It was really really rough for her
because she didn't know what was wrong. That was all
kind of a very scary time for her. Over the
next two years, Missy's health steadily deteriorated, and her constant
fatigue and fluctuating weight soon gave weight about some depression.
(28:32):
Then in the fall of two thousand and eight, her
physical decline reached its breaking points. One day, I was
riding in the car and I realized that my foot
couldn't hold a break down in my leg started shaking
real bad. Her hands it was just trim like. Then
(28:53):
I started having dizzy spells, bad dizzy spells, and I
realized I had not in my throat and it was huge.
I knew something was wrong. I was very scared. In
two eight, Missy Elliott was diagnosed with Graves disease, a
hyper thyroid condition that compromised her nervous system and threatened
(29:17):
her livelihood. The doctor said, you have to take a
radioactive peel. I'm like, what is this disease? What do
I have? Like? That's scary. Missy immediately started radiation treatment
and chose to keep her condition private, quietly coping away
from the spotlight. My nervous system sat down. You know,
(29:41):
your skin is dry, your hair fall out. You wake up,
your eyes feel like they got rocks in them. She
started having one of the more classic symptoms, which is
your eyes bulge a little bit so that her eyeballs,
you know, didn't sit in the socket. I don't think
anybody would know what that feel. Light you're looking at
yourself and now my eyes has changed his structure, you know,
(30:06):
that's that's a lot to deal with. Like so many
times in her life, Missy met this challenge head on,
and under a doctor's care, her health has greatly improved.
Battle tested, Missy remains resolute, refusing to let anything stand
in her way. I still deal with it now, but
it's controllable. You have to stay positive, and you have
(30:28):
to keep positive people around you, just keeping you upbeat.
But you know, I'm I'm good now. It's sort of
like there's another hurdle that she's come across, and it's
just like she's gabonic woman. She just keeps going. Missy
is as busy as ever. You gotta keep going. I
just I just want to see what happens after that.
(30:51):
Let me just see freestyle something some something second verse.
Here we go. I want people to see me as
not just the artist, but see me as a writer
and a produced I've been doing this for a long time. No,
so look, you gotta make sure that you, you know,
you keep your energy up the whole time. It's not
(31:13):
about just being able to dance. All of this stuff
is a package. It's not just a pretty face, because
I hate when it's just a pretty face. It's got
to be something else. A true pioneer, her influence has
spread far and wide, fearlessly clearing a new path for
both men and women who want to challenge the conventions
(31:34):
of the music industry, not just on the mic, but
behind it too. Mr has paved the way for us
women being confident, knowing that dreams really do come true.
You know, you can really believe it is possible no
matter what you've experienced. You know that may have been hard,
you can't make it through. She came into the music
business to do what you're supposed to do, which is
(31:57):
changed the face. Nothing of that back to the big
I feel like I was a part of a music
change and opened the door for people to be creative
and have fun in your videos. I prayed to be
amongst the legends when I'm done, and I ain't done yet.
(32:21):
Missy Elliott continues to be one of the most influential
women in wrap. She remains one of the best selling
female rappers in the United States. Missy Elliott has shifted
her focus to production, supporting the work of highly acclaimed
artists like Pharrell Williams, Ariana Grande, and Lizza In Missy
Elliott appeared with Katie Perry during the Super Bowl halftime show.
(32:45):
This joint performance is still the most watched halftime show
in history. In ten, she became the first hip hop
artist ever to receive an honorary doctorate from the Berkeley
College of Music. That very same year, she was inducted
into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, making her the first
female rapper to receive this. On Mr Elliott's influence as
(33:09):
a hip hop musician and video artist will be felt
for generations. Listen and subscribe to Behind the Music on
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your favorite podcasts. Be sure to rate and review
Behind the Music on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. What more
episodes You can watch remastered best of the Vault and
(33:30):
new episodes of Behind the Music only on Paramount BLUs
She's a hip hop visionary whose innovative style sparked a revolution.
Missy Elliot's road to superstardom seemed inconceivable, and as a
young MC, she faced the harsh realities of an image
conscious industry. Defiant, Missy climbed to the top on her
own terms. Missy's creative genius brought her fame and fortune,
(00:22):
but when she lost the close friend, none of that matter. Distraught,
Missy then came face to face with her own mortality.
Tenacious and unyielding, Missy refused to give up. And now
the woman they call Misdemeanor tells it like it is.
This is Missy Elliott, the story behind the music. It's
(00:49):
January two thousand eleven. Missy Elliot is back in the
studio with longtime collaborator and close friend Timberland, mixing take
Your Clothes Off, a track from her highly anticipated new album.
The second verse in the Dummy put it big in
the third verse, Let's see if she like it. People
(01:13):
always be like, where you've been? I ain't seen you
in a minute. I've been working on my album and
making sure it's hot. You know it was a tam
I know the world waiting I know that for sure.
It's taken five long years for Missy to gather the
(01:35):
right material, but the self proclaimed perfectionists finally ready to
share her new sound with the world. I think of
myself as a visionary. I feel like I've always been
ahead of my time. I have a way of imagining
things and bringing it to life. If I saw that vision,
(01:56):
I said, I'm gonna make it happy. That vision began
in the old town of Portsmouth, Virginia, in nineteen seventy one,
where Melyssa Arnette Elliott was born on July one and
only child. She grew up amidst poverty and despair. Growing up,
we didn't have much. I remember having mice in the
(02:17):
house and my father taken some newspaper and beating me
because mice was running on me while I was sleep.
When Missy was small, we had butter bread in the
morning and the butter bread for dinner. We didn't have
running water. We were going in a pot that set
(02:37):
by her bed because we didn't have a bathroom. Unfortunately,
poverty was only one of her childhood problems. When Missy
was just eight years old, her sixteen year old cousin
began sexually abusing her each day he wanted me to
come to the house after school. It became sexual, which
for me, eight years old, I had no clue of
(03:00):
what that was, but I knew something was wrong being molested,
and especially at at such a young age, it don't disappear,
is you remember like it was yesterday. While Missy was
repeatedly molested for over a year, she didn't tell a soul,
not even her mother. Was already dealing with a different brutality.
(03:24):
My father. He was abusive to my mother. Me and
my mother were very very close, and so watching my
father be abusive to my mother was like beating me.
When you're battered, you always started thinking was it me?
Is it something that I'm doing? Is it something that
(03:46):
I'm saying? The trigger the fight. I was scared because
I never knew when I would come home with my
mother be dead. It was just the fear. With no
siblings to lean on, Missy created her own escape from
the cave us everything that I went through as a kid.
It was like music was my outlet. I would just
(04:06):
make up songs. She would get the microphone and she
was singing and dance. It was just a part of her.
I always had this wild imagination. I said, one day,
I'm gonna be famous and I'm gonna rescue my mother.
You know, I'm gonna get my mother out of this situation.
But when Missy was four teens, her greatest fear nearly
(04:27):
became a reality. One night, Um, Missy saw that the
fight was just beyond measures. My husband said, this is set.
I'm gonna kill you. It's over. He pulled the gun
out in front of me. I was screaming, Dad, he
(04:51):
please don't kill my mother, Please don't kill my mother.
Terrified and desperate, Missy ran to her uncle's house for help.
I was so tired of being beaten over and over.
I just said, fine, just do it. And at that
time my brother came in and I grew grasp him
(05:14):
with the gun, and my brother got the gun away
from him. I never forget it, like it was the
most scariest time in my life. Patricia had finally reached
her limit and abruptly left her husband. She and Missy
started a new life on the other side of town.
It was like, I'm free. I'm finally making a choice
(05:38):
that I never thought I could do. I said, it's
going to change. As for the rest of our lives
free of the pain and drama. Missy began to thrive
at Manor High School. She became so popular she was
even voted class clown. I was very outgoing. I used
to talk talk talk talk, talk, talk talk. They thought
(05:59):
I needed some medicine. The principal will always see me
in the hallway and I'll be beating on the lockers, rapping,
and everybody be around. He'd be like, Melissa, go to class.
Then I'll be like, made me back at lunch. I
got another wrap. Missy began to take music more seriously,
and at the age of eighteen, she formed a hip
(06:19):
hop inspired R and D group called Phazy Missy's Rolling.
The group was she was a rapper, you know she sang,
she wrote, it was the core. She was the center.
Phazy quickly became a local sensation, even landing on local
radio with the track Missy wrote called First Move. But
the momentum really kicked in when Missy was introduced to
(06:42):
a kid from the next town over and aspiring DJ
and producer named Tip Mosley with I first let Missy.
It was so incredible. We brought some about each other.
We will feed off each other I might be like, oh,
I like that sound right there, and then he might
be like, I like that flow, but you should change
(07:02):
it right head. Yeah, it was just like wow, it
was It was definitely God's gift to put us together together.
We would you know, we was unstoppable. With Timberland's beats,
Missy took her skills to the next level, earning a
nickname from another local rapper and friend, Melvin Magoo. Bar
Cliff What I said, it was your name? Should you
(07:24):
miss the mean? Because of her ability to write, wrap
and produce, was like almost like a crime, just that simple.
That's the dopest female in the game. I said, Well,
I'm sold, misdemean it is. By the spring of Missy
had graduated high school and was determined to make a
career in use it. When her favorite group Josie was
(07:46):
in town for a concert, she hatched a plan. Javante Swagg,
the group's leader, also owned a record company, and Missy
was held bent to get a record deal. She came
up with this grand idea that we should kind of
dress up as a female noticing. We'll go in and
you know, they won't have any choice but to you know,
to sign us. After talking her way backstage, Phazy suddenly
(08:08):
found themselves face to face with Davante. At the moment
of truth, we was like this our only shot, and
so we performed like it was Apollo Night, phases like
I'm gonna fly y'all up next Thursday and sign y'all.
But we couldn't believe it. It was amazing. We were
(08:29):
going to be the girl Joxi. Those work Davante's exact words.
In twenty year old Missy Elliott's musical dreams were becoming reality.
Her group Phasey had just landed a deal with Swing
Mob Records, a label loaned by Jodices Davante. Swing was
the biggest thing ever because we felt like we were
(08:50):
superstars locally, but now we're closer to becoming famous. Under
Davante's watchful eye, Missy was being groomed for stardom. First,
he changed the group's name to System and moved them
to Rochester, New York. There they would rehearse and record
with DeVante's other artists, including Genuine and Tweet and Missy's
(09:11):
old friends Timberland and Magoo. Davante's vision was to create
a music compound where everyone on his label, he could
collaborate in a project he called Debasement the eight train
and read to music. Missing might spit iran genuine might
come along and they might join and we all harmonize.
And that was a typic of the day in the
(09:31):
basement crew and everybody was always working, and it was
always creating something. It was like a magical time to work.
Devanta was a genius. He could hear harmonies. He could
tell you what the thing and what sound right, what
didn't sound right. He was a young berry Wardy Devonte
Hasten compute against Missy who could write the song fastest,
and that's what I think kind of homes her skills.
(09:53):
For Missy, the hard work was paying off. Sisters. First
single attract Missy wrote called brand New, was on the radio.
Then she scored a chance to work with young Raven
Simone writing and producing a song for her That's what
little girls are made of. I was gotta strutted. I mean,
this is a little Raven Simone from the Cosby So
(10:14):
and the record came out Hot It's Hot thanks to
Missy's guest rap. The song was a surprise hit in
but the success was better Sweet They didn't put her
in the video. They put a light skin skinny girl
in the video. Was her voice, but everybody else saw
another face. Nobody even told me they shot the video.
(10:35):
I heard later it was like he didn't quite fit
the image that we were looking forward. I was like,
are they trying to say unfat? That's immediately I'm like, oh,
they hating on the big girls. I said every curse word.
I was distraught. Missy had been blindsided by the music
(10:58):
industry cynical standards abut, but she took comfort in some
sound advice from a new friend, Queen of hip hop soul,
Mary J. Blige. When we first met Grey J Blige,
she pulled me to the side as he said, don't
worry about your size or anything. You won't be a star.
Hold your head up. That always stuck with me. I
(11:19):
was like, you are extremely talented, and everything that's trying
to pull you back, you want to surpass it. When
I saw I Miss Ellie, I saw nothing but a star.
But Mrs Next opportunity wouldn't come so easy. As the
Basement's creative atmosphere was becoming increasingly claustrophobic, Davante was very controlling,
wanted to know everyone's move who you were talking to,
(11:42):
why you were talking to them, what was the conversation about.
It was almost like we felt mentally abused. In the
fall of the friction within the basement group progressively worse
until finally things boiled over after a dispute with his
artists over a con tracked issue Davante called an urgent medic.
(12:03):
The scene reportedly turned physical. He came in the room,
he was throwing chairs. Me and Missy almost got hit
in our head with a chair because it was thrown
over our head. His bodyguards went down the row and
like really smack all the guys and like Colin Darret
them hit him back. There wasn't nothing that we did
to deserve that, none of us. A dog didn't deserve
(12:25):
what went on in that room that day. For Missy,
the scene was all too familiar. I went through watching
my father do this with my mother. I remember telling
Timberland that I'm gonna leave then I'm never coming back.
The next day, Missy walked away from the basement, leaving
behind her group or deal with Davante and three years
(12:48):
of blood, sweat and beats. Missy came home. Her dreams
are shattered. It was such a trying time in my life.
It's like starting all over again. It's back to Squire one.
After a few months of soul searching, Missy pulled it
together and moved to New York City with a new focus.
(13:09):
I said, you know, I wanna just be a writer
and I want to produce. I don't want to be
an artists. Maybe I don't have the look and I
don't have to worry about being judged. It didn't take
long for Missy to land her next big opportunity. Atlantic
Records hired Missy and Timberland to write and produce an
album for Butting R and B Sensation a Leader, and
(13:31):
from the moment they met, a lasting friendship was born.
You're thinking Devo and she's come in, like, why is
the heat down? And give me my tea? But here
is this young girl. She's smile as she gives us hugs.
It made us feel so comfortable for really just took
a life of its own, the three of them creating me.
(13:53):
Her and Tim were in so while Missy was easing
into a career working behind the scenes, everything would change.
After a chance and Pounders with Shaun Puffy cons puffy
that me threw Davonte. He remembered that I rapped, so
when he seen me in the studio, he came in
and he like, yo, money, don't you don't you still wrap?
(14:15):
And I'm like, you know, halfway scared to say yeah.
He say, Yo, come onvie, how I want you to
listen to this track. I want you to get on
this track. So he played the Jannah Thompson record. I
was like, oh my goodness, this is my chance. So
you know, he left me alone. I wrote the rap
and I'm so nervous, but I got in there and
(14:36):
rapped like it was my last time ever being able
to wrap. I don't know where the hell he how
came from, but it it worked. As soon as I said,
he was like, oh, like puppy. He liked that. Lie
the Things You Do hit the air in July of
ninety six. The song was an instant hit at thanks
(14:57):
to her signature Wrap. Missy was back in the in
the days, were freaking out. They were going did you
hear that? He he he he he it was who
is that? One month later, A Leah's album One in
a Million was released to rate reviews. The sound of
the beats, the sound of the production, the writing. Everything
(15:17):
had its own unique flavor, and it was a dramatic
contrast to what was on the radio at the time.
Lightning had struck twice and overnight Missy was hip hop's
new it girl. Everybody wanted to be attached to the
hottest new artist, and I was ready to be in
business with her no matter what it took. Sylvia wrote,
CEO of Electro Rect signed Missy to an unprecedented deal
(15:41):
that included having her own label where she could work
with other artists. But there was one condition. First, Missy
had to make an album of her own. Sylvia, she
really saw something in me. Is she like this? Be you?
And let's make a hot record. Miss She jumped right
into the studio with Timberland. Just two weeks later, they
(16:04):
had created the tracks which changed the face of hip hop.
Coming Up, Missy turns the hip hop world on its
ear when Behind the Music continues In the summer of seven,
(16:28):
after signing a lucrative deal with Electric Records, Missy Elliott
turned the hip hop world on its head when she
dropped her debut album, Super Duper Fly. I thought I
had something that was unique. I wanted to break down
all barriers, and I wanted to be a risk take it.
Missy came and did something that made us black. I
(16:48):
thought super Duper Fly was super duperd innovative and amazing.
Timberland's drum sounds, his patterns, Missy's style of wrapping, the
way she kind of incorpored in all these different sounds,
everything about it was different. Super Ducal Flies shot to
number three on the Billboard Charts, the highest debut for
any female rapper in history. But it was the Hype
(17:10):
Williams directed music video for Missy's first single, The Rain,
that truly changed the game. Part cartoon, it was hip hop,
it was science fiction, it was the Jetsons, and it's
just beyond. In an error where female rappers were expected
to emulate the raunchy look of Little Kim and Foxy Brown, Missy,
who had never forgotten being left out of Raven Simone's video,
(17:33):
created The Rain a defiant response to an industry where
image is everything. She was saying me, I'm super fly,
super duly she really felt so fly. We came up
with this idea of being in a big plastic garbage bag. Basically,
I said I'm gonna show them. I'm gonna make a
record and it's gonna be big, and I'm gonna be
(17:56):
big too, and I mean literally, I'm I'm gonna stay
my side, have a big record, and that's that. Overnight,
Missy had changed the game for women in hip hop
by making it big while staying true to herself. I'm
up there with Fox and Brown, Little Kim and Lauren Hill.
I'm like, Okay, I could get used to this. This
(18:17):
is cool. You thought just the cute skinny girls was
on the cover, So it's like, okay, big girls rock.
She could be three hundred pounds right now. We wouldn't
care because we didn't love Missy for her weight. We
love Missy because she was doing something different and innovative.
On the heels of Super Duper Fly, Missy had also
become one of the most sought after producers in hip hop,
(18:40):
and in one month got three remarkable offers. I remember
I got a call from Mariah Carey. She like, I
want to work with two. I'm gonna fly to Virginia.
I'm like, now a lot of these people playing on
my phone. Then I got a call from Whitney Houston
when she called. Of course, I didn't believe it, and
I made her sing and she's started singing. I was like,
(19:01):
oh no, that's what I was. I wanted this great.
Then here goes Janet Jackson and if I can recall,
I think I hung up on her because I didn't
believe it was Janet Jacksly. It's crazy. All in one month. Yeah,
I was in heaven. Just twenty six years old. Missy
(19:21):
was on top of the world and was also a millionaire.
As a child, she dreamed of rescuing her mother. Now
she made good on her promise. I said, you know,
I'm gonna get my mother a big old house. She
went through so much, she's so deserving of it. I
was like, how we all? Oh brod, I was like,
this is big money. Oh my god, be jumping around.
(19:44):
We were like the Jefferson's being able to do for
your mother is everything in. Missy released her sophomore effort,
The Real World. The video for She's a Bit. She
pushed the envelope once again, some unting Missy's cutting edge credibility.
The video, I really think that's gonna top the rain
(20:05):
because we're just going you know, on bull right now.
So as obvious, something going a little bit extra than
than the rain, and I got a couple of more
other scenes that's a little bit daring. Once the video
was shot, I was like, five years from now. People
would look at this and be like they was ahead
of their time in so many ways. The real world
(20:27):
would go on to sell over one million records, and
after two smash albums, Missy appeared to have it all,
but privately, she was still haunted by the demons of
her past. The sexual abuse she suffered as a child
was a painful secret she could no longer keep to herself.
I feel like I had to be a teacher. I
(20:48):
wanted people to know that I went through challenges in
my life, and I went through issues that probably other
people might have thought that that would hinder them from
becoming anything. You can overcome so many obstacles, and I
feel like I had the voice, so I needed to
say it. Missy also read public about the domestic abuse
(21:10):
she watched her mother endure all those years ago. She
became a spokesperson for Break the Cycle, a nonprofit organization
dedicated to helping battered women. When Missy went open about
the abuse, I was like, this is our secret. You
don't tell the world what happened. And it was like, Mom,
(21:30):
we have to we have to let people know that
we made it. She said, that's how you deal with it. Mom.
You you get it out in the open. I have
to get these scars off of me. You need to
get these scars off of you. Having those conversations was
very therapeutic. It was a major release. I can breathe
(21:54):
them and I feel good about it. After two huge albums,
Missy Elliott was on hire, a prolific writer, producer, and
solo artist whose distinctive style had changed the face of
hip hop, but she was just getting started. In two
thousand one, Missy produced a star studied remake of Lady
Marmalade for the movie of Mulan Rouge featuring Pink Little,
(22:17):
Kim Maya and Christina Aguilera. Wheking on Lady Marmalade was
so hot to be able to produce four major artists.
I was on the high. I thought it was really fun,
a chance to work with Missing I was just like,
how can I not do this. They looked at it like,
we'll see how the track record, We've heard the work
(22:39):
that she's done before. We trusted her with this whole thing,
and we did it and it was amazing, amazing, Thanks
the flawless execution and a saucy music video, Lady Marmalade
was a tremendous hit, earning Missy her first Grammy. I
call my mother, She's crying. I'm like, oh God, for
(23:00):
I'm happy. Missy was about to score another Grammy, her
first as a solo artist, with her third album, Missy
So Addictive, with club bantams like get your freak on
in one minute Man. The album's Launchy Sexual Edge was
a first for Missy, though not the first time she
had defied expectations, and she felt like she wanted to
(23:20):
display the sexier side, the more sexually liberated Edgy pushed
the envelope aside. The song is the very sexy record.
This decide that people don't get to see from Missy,
and I think that that message was for all women
who saying it doesn't always have to be about like
love and romance. Sometimes it's about show up through the
right thing and get the hell out of here. And
(23:41):
that was just a really powerful moment. Missy's fans responded
as the album went platinum and became her highest selling
to date, but Missy's happiness was short lived. On August
twenty five, two thousand one, words spread that her close
friend and collaborator Aaliyah was involved in a horror Will
plane crash. We were in Jamaica and somebody came over
(24:05):
and and you know, broke the news to us. For
the first couple of hours, we spent the time just
trying to verify whether or not it was true. I
know that people make up terrible rumors, so I'm thinking
it's just one of those rumors. And I tried to
call her phone, and I'm gonna keep calling until I
hear a voice. And when I didn't hear her voice,
(24:27):
realized that this is this is real. Messy was devastated.
It was literally, you know, losing a family member for her.
I would never think that I would have to be it. Um,
I'm sorry, I just I just never thought I would
have to be here. Uh. I just felt like, if
(24:51):
I ever, you know, we have to talk about her
in this way, she would be here to hear it,
and and just to sit here and know that she
buy here. I'm sorry. Coming up Missy's terrifying brush with
(25:17):
her own mortality when behind the Music continues. In two
thousand two, after one of the most emotionally intensive years
of her life, Missy Elliott went back to work, penning
an R and B ballot called can You Hear Me?
In homage to her fallen friend d'eliah. Missy included the
(25:38):
track on her album, which she aptly titled Under Construction.
Life is short. Your friends family, When they're gone, that's it.
You don't get them back. So I said, let me
make a transition and fix things about me. That's what
made me think I'm a work in progress. I'm going
(25:58):
to construct it. While grief inspired the album's title, the
tracks were pure missing. She delivered another groundbreaking video for
the hit single Working, reinforcing her bold and imaginative reputation.
I wait for Missing videos. They're like Michael Jackson videos.
You always know that there's gonna be something that we
had never seen, something innovative, that was going to make
(26:23):
you want to watch it again and again. After selling
over two million records, Under Construction became Missy's highest selling
album to date, followed up by This Is Not a
Test and two Thousand Fives the Cookbook, Missy was hotter
than ever. Living under the spotlight, Missy had also noticeably
slimmed down, and for a woman who rewrote the book
(26:45):
on body image, her sleek new look was met with
mixed reviews. A lot of her fans are her weight
losses are selling out because she always advocated for loving
herself for who you were and not changing who you
were for anyone else. But Missy was selling out at all. Privately,
she had been dealing with a life threatening problem. The
(27:05):
doctors literally told her at that point that she was
in danger of stroking out, that she was a stroke
level with the you know how high her blood pressure was.
This is a doctor telling me for my health, if
you want to stay around for a long time and
then you need to you need to drop pounds. And
I realized how serious it was. So I went on
(27:27):
a serious diet, a serious diet, resolved to make a change.
Missy hit the gym four times a day and shed
over sixty pounds. I lost weight, you know, not because
I felt like this is the model uh look or
this is supposed to this is what an artist supposed
to look like. You know I was comfortable with with
(27:48):
my size. Is this when when your health come into play.
That's a whole another story. In the spring of two
thousand five, her health took another scary turn. She had
been feeling tired and her weight would go up and
down drastically. I was eating, but I was just losing
weight and losing weight. I had been feeling sick um
(28:10):
and you know the move swings is up and down,
up and down. It was really really rough for her
because she didn't know what was wrong. That was all
kind of a very scary time for her. Over the
next two years, Missy's health steadily deteriorated, and her constant
fatigue and fluctuating weight soon gave weight about some depression.
(28:32):
Then in the fall of two thousand and eight, her
physical decline reached its breaking points. One day, I was
riding in the car and I realized that my foot
couldn't hold a break down in my leg started shaking
real bad. Her hands it was just trim like. Then
(28:53):
I started having dizzy spells, bad dizzy spells, and I
realized I had not in my throat and it was huge.
I knew something was wrong. I was very scared. In
two eight, Missy Elliott was diagnosed with Graves disease, a
hyper thyroid condition that compromised her nervous system and threatened
(29:17):
her livelihood. The doctor said, you have to take a
radioactive peel. I'm like, what is this disease? What do
I have? Like? That's scary. Missy immediately started radiation treatment
and chose to keep her condition private, quietly coping away
from the spotlight. My nervous system sat down. You know,
(29:41):
your skin is dry, your hair fall out. You wake up,
your eyes feel like they got rocks in them. She
started having one of the more classic symptoms, which is
your eyes bulge a little bit so that her eyeballs,
you know, didn't sit in the socket. I don't think
anybody would know what that feel. Light you're looking at
yourself and now my eyes has changed his structure, you know,
(30:06):
that's that's a lot to deal with. Like so many
times in her life, Missy met this challenge head on,
and under a doctor's care, her health has greatly improved.
Battle tested, Missy remains resolute, refusing to let anything stand
in her way. I still deal with it now, but
it's controllable. You have to stay positive, and you have
(30:28):
to keep positive people around you, just keeping you upbeat.
But you know, I'm I'm good now. It's sort of
like there's another hurdle that she's come across, and it's
just like she's gabonic woman. She just keeps going. Missy
is as busy as ever. You gotta keep going. I
just I just want to see what happens after that.
(30:51):
Let me just see freestyle something some something second verse.
Here we go. I want people to see me as
not just the artist, but see me as a writer
and a produced I've been doing this for a long time. No,
so look, you gotta make sure that you, you know,
you keep your energy up the whole time. It's not
(31:13):
about just being able to dance. All of this stuff
is a package. It's not just a pretty face, because
I hate when it's just a pretty face. It's got
to be something else. A true pioneer, her influence has
spread far and wide, fearlessly clearing a new path for
both men and women who want to challenge the conventions
(31:34):
of the music industry, not just on the mic, but
behind it too. Mr has paved the way for us
women being confident, knowing that dreams really do come true.
You know, you can really believe it is possible no
matter what you've experienced. You know that may have been hard,
you can't make it through. She came into the music
business to do what you're supposed to do, which is
(31:57):
changed the face. Nothing of that back to the big
I feel like I was a part of a music
change and opened the door for people to be creative
and have fun in your videos. I prayed to be
amongst the legends when I'm done, and I ain't done yet.
(32:21):
Missy Elliott continues to be one of the most influential
women in wrap. She remains one of the best selling
female rappers in the United States. Missy Elliott has shifted
her focus to production, supporting the work of highly acclaimed
artists like Pharrell Williams, Ariana Grande, and Lizza In Missy
Elliott appeared with Katie Perry during the Super Bowl halftime show.
(32:45):
This joint performance is still the most watched halftime show
in history. In ten, she became the first hip hop
artist ever to receive an honorary doctorate from the Berkeley
College of Music. That very same year, she was inducted
into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, making her the first
female rapper to receive this. On Mr Elliott's influence as
(33:09):
a hip hop musician and video artist will be felt
for generations. Listen and subscribe to Behind the Music on
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your favorite podcasts. Be sure to rate and review
Behind the Music on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. What more
episodes You can watch remastered best of the Vault and
(33:30):
new episodes of Behind the Music only on Paramount BLUs
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