Respect M.E.

Elliott, Missy

Respect Earned

From the minute she arrived in 1996, rapping and cowriting several songs on Aaliyah's second album, One in a Million, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott made clear that she intended to travel her own path. A bellicose rapper with an extraordinary gift for catchy phrasing, Elliott dismissed annoying rivals with withering putdowns dispensed at 120 beats per minute. And yet, on her trailblazing debut, Supa Dupa Fly (1997), she seemed equally interested in having a good time: Unlike gangstas and underground urban prophets, she approached hip-hop as dance music, sensual music, a prelude to getting it on. She didn't conform to the typical male rapper's notions about sex, either: On some of her most memorable tracks, Elliott presented herself as a woman in control, talking up her physical attributes ("I'm Really Hot") in ways both explicit and assertive.

Elliott's singles, gathered on this excellent collection that for some reason hasn't been released in the U.S., define the state of the art in commercial hip-hop from the 1990s forward. Just about every singer, rapper, and producer aiming for a hit on urban radio has copped something from these highly addictive productions, which marry Elliott's incisive running commentary to razor-sharp rhythm programming.

Key to Elliott's enterprise is Timbaland, the beatmaker whose concept, honed through his work with Elliott, propelled him into the top tier of in-demand producers. On the Bengal-influenced "Get Ur Freak On" and others, he establishes a hypnotically simple pulse, then surrounds it with burbling "incidental" sounds and hand-percussion blips. As with much of his work, the final result is so streamlined it feels wholly spontaneous, as if he just sat down at the sampler and banged the thing out in minutes. And that sets the tone for Elliott's contributions. From the opening verse of "The Rain," the big single from Supa Dupa Fly, she dishes lines that seem too crazy to be premeditated, interrupting the free association every so often to deliver one of those radio-ready catchphrases. The result: a synergy of groove and message rare in the assembly-line world of contemporary urban music.

Genre: Hip-Hop
Released: 2006, Goldmind/Atlantic
Key Tracks: "Get Ur Freak On," "We Run This," "Gossip Folks," "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)."
Collector's Note: This compilation also features several dance remixes, most notably the amped-up Basement Jaxx treatment of "4 My People."
Catalog Choice: Supa Dupa Fly
Next Stop: Mary J. Blige: No More Drama
After That: Salt-n-Pepa: Blacks' Magic
Book Pages: 254–255

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About 1,000 Recordings

Celebrate the joy, the revelation, the mystery, the fun, the sheer shivers-up-the-spine pleasure of great music.

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