Missy Elliott: Done Constructed as a Top Rap Act

Missy Elliott is a woman of firsts. She is the first female rap star to ever have six platinum records. She is one of the first rap stars period to explore freaky new styles in both her Missy Elliott lyrics and in her music videos. And she is one of the first and only female producers to really launch and relaunch the careers of new rap divas and just plain divas.

It is all quite a crazy story how Missy Elliott got so big in the rap game. It all started when she had a rap group in the early 1990s called Sista. In 1991, Sista somehow got the ear of a Jodeci member by the name of DeVante Swings. How? There was no somehow about it! They actually went backstage and performed his own songs for him. He liked them so much he moved Missy Elliott and her whole group, including producers Timbaland and Magoo.

They became part of the Swing Mob at DeVante's label at Elektra Records. Exactly who was in this Swing Mob? You won't believe the cast. Besides the aforementioned stars, there was also Tweet and Ginuwine. But the Swing Mob would eventually break up, with only the producers and Missy Elliott really sticking around.

Working for Others Helps You

Missy Elliott and Timbaland did a lot of work for others during this mid-1990s stretch. There was Ginuwine and especially Aaliyah during this time. This R&B singer's second record, "One in a Million," was a huge success, and Missy Elliott and Timbaland had a lot to do with it. They also worked with Destiny's Child, Total, and LeVert.

But working for others only gets you a sliver of the limelight. Perhaps a good chunk of change, but if you want the attention and the credit, you got to get in front of the mic. That's exactly what Missy Elliott did. In 1997, the first solo Missy Elliott album came out, called "Supa Dupa Fly. It would go platinum.

The second Missy Elliott record, "Da Real World," was an even bigger hit, with 3 million copies sold around the globe. If you listen to Missy Elliott here, you start to get a sense for her dark humor and grim take on the world.

That Miss Missy Elliott To You

It would be with the third Missy Elliott record that her career began to deserve the adjective mega. The top Missy Elliott songs off the tracks were "Get Ur Freak on" and "One Minute Man." The record's name: "Miss E, So Addictive." Success kept coming with the fourth Missy Elliott record, called "Under Construction" from 2004. The biggest song off it-and the second biggest of her career-was "Work It." Here, listen to Missy Elliott, and you hear her humor again, with a deeply provocative sexual innuendo floating in and out of the lyrics.

"This is Not a Test" would come out in 2003, which sort of disappointed in the sales department. Her next record, "The Cookbook," from 2005, went to number two on the charts and got her five Grammy nods. Missy Elliott will be back in 2008 with another album, as always one to watch for.

From Missy Elliott to Hip Hop Music