Missy Elliott - rapper, producer, songwriter, music video visionary, shall we go on? Because y'all already know she's straight up legend.
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Changing the game since first breaking through in 1997 with "The Rain," Missy quickly became a true video visionary. Never afraid of throwing a million and one out of the box ideas at you in one video. Creating a unique style all her own, pushing boundaries and always keeping us entertained. Throughout her music video career, Elliott has been bald, spit in a man's mouth, hung from a chandelier and eaten a Lamborghini, all in the name of music video artistry and we love her for it.
As the first female Hip Hop artist inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and rightfully so as every song was a bop, she matched her musical skills with supreme storytelling and more than a few mind-bending moments. With the help of directors like Dave Myers and Hype Williams, the GRAMMY-winner has churned out iconic visuals unlike any other artist, that still have us talking today.
Even though she should be celebrated at such high regard every day, since today (July 1) is her actual birthday, we decided to compile a list of our 5 favorite music videos from the "Supa Dupa Fly" visual Queen.
So, without further ado, Happy Birthday Missy! And thank you for always understanding the assignment.
5.She's a B****
Some of Missy's most career-defining looks came from this video. Let's see; her leather-bound rhinestone cowboy, the bald-headed Missy we mentioned above. With bits of color throughout the visual it's mostly a latex filled, space cowboy, strobe-lit noir masterpiece.
4.Get Ur Freak On
Listing every epic and worthy moment of this music video would take too long. So we'll settle for just listing a few. One, Ludacris and Eve cameos. Two, she stretches her neck out like Mr. Fantastic. And three, she spits into a male dancer's mouth like she's freaking Deadshot.
3.Where They From (WTF)
While The Rain established Elliott's visual legacy, Where They From (WTF) had us saying the other WTF. There was so much to unpack from the wardrobe, to hypnotizing visuals, that puppet show. Released in 2015, having much more advanced videography technologies, Elliot's futuristic vision was able to be more profoundly captured and the end result was lit.
2.Work It
Iconic. But seriously, pretty much every shot is a legendary. Missy takes us through the looking glass of an eerie and disorienting Alice in Wonderland / Wizard of Oz underworld. Where she dances through an abandoned playground, uber mod barber shops, lays on a couch while a knock off Prince tongues down her aura. Missy cuts a record while her face is covered in bees, oh and Alyson Stoner, duh.
1.The Rain
Why is this music video so awesome? Well besides it being the one that started it all. Ummm, lets see… The fashion, the hair, the makeup, the choreography, the Hype Williams signature fisheye lens, the cameos from Timbaland, Lil' Kim, Da Brat, Puff Daddy, and more. Oh and the fact that it all goes down inside of an inflated black garbage bag. Shall we go on? Yeah, didn't think so.
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