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Missy Elliott

Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1, 1971 in Portsmouth, Virginia), better known as Missy Elliott, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, MC, and record producer. She currently resides in Kinnelon, New Jersey.

With record sales (including singles) of over 24 million worldwide and 7.6 million domestically, she is the highest selling female rapper of all time. She is the only female rapper to have six certified platinum albums by the RIAA, including one double platinum plaque.

Elliott is known for a series of hits including "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", "Hit Em Wit Da Hee", "Hot Boyz", "Get Ur Freak On", "One Minute Man", "Work It", "Pass That Dutch" and "Lose Control".

Alone, Missy Elliott has also produced songs mainly for females including Monica, Destiny's Child, Whitney Houston, Aaliyah, Mariah Carey, Fantasia, Ciara, Lil' Kim, Keyshia Cole, Trina, Janet Jackson, Lil' Mo, Tamia, Mary J. Blige, and herself, among others. Her own work is also a critics' favorite, with two of her singles ranked in the top ten of the 2000s decade on Acclaimedmusic.net (statistical scores based on many lists and reviews).

In the center of a busy period making guest appearances and writing for other artists, Elliott's debut album, Supa Dupa Fly, was released in mid-1997. The year also saw Elliott perform live at The MTV Video Music Awards show on a remix to Lil' Kim's "Not Tonight" with fellow rappers Da Brat and Angie Martinez and TLC-rapper Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes.

In 1998, Elliott continued her successful career in the background as a producer and writer on Total's single "Trippin'," as well as working with several others in the hip-hop and R&B communities. The same year, Elliott also produced and made a guest appearance on Spice Girl Melanie B's, debut solo single "I Want You Back," which topped the UK Singles Chart.

Although a much darker album than her debut, Elliott's second album was just as successful as the first: selling 1.5 million copies and 3 million copies worldwide. Da Real World (1999) included the singles "All N My Grill," a collaboration with Nicole Wray and Big Boi (from OutKast), a remix to "Hot Boyz" and "She's a Bitch."

Missy Elliott next released Miss E... So Addictive in 2001. The album spawned the massive pop and urban hits One Minute Man, featuring Ludacris and Trina, and "Get Ur Freak On", as well as the international club hit "4 My People" and the less commercially-successful single *"Take Away"*. The double music video for "Take Away/4 My People" was released in the fall of 2001, shortly after the 9-11 terrorist attacks and the tragic death of Elliott's good friend Aaliyah in August. The "*Take Away*" video contained images of and words about Aaliyah, and the slow ballad acted as a tribute to her memory. The remainder of the video was the more upbeat "4 My People", contained scenes of people dancing happily in front of American flags and Elliott dressed in red, white and blue. Though "Take Away" flopped at radio, "4 My People" went on to become an American and European club hit due to a popular techno Basement Jaxx remix in 2002.

Tweet's appearance on Elliott's "Take Away" as well as her cameo at Elliott's house on MTV Cribs helped to create a buzz about the new R&B singer. Tweet's own debut single, "Oops (Oh My)", was co-written by Elliott and released through Goldmind in February 2002. The single was a top ten hit, thanks partially to Elliott's songwriting and guest rap, and to Timbaland's unusual production on the track. Tweet and Elliott's numerous collaborations and public appearances together during this time also began to fuel media rumors that the two were having a secret lesbian tryst, one of many media rumors about Elliott that she herself would address in her subsequent work.

For her next outing, Elliott and Timbaland focused on an old school sound, utilizing many old school rap and funk samples, such as Run DMC's "Peter Piper" and Frankie Smith's "Double Dutch Bus" (in "Work It" and "Gossip Folks", respectively). Elliott's fourth album, 2002's Under Construction (see 2002 in music), included the aforementioned singles "Work It", Elliott's 2nd biggest hit to date, and the successful duet with Ludacris, "Gossip Folks." In the latter, Elliott let her critics know what she thought of recent media rumors about her, including her rapid weight loss that had taken place during 2002 and her alleged affairs with Timbaland, Tweet, and Trina. As the "Work It" video had done during 2002, "Gossip Folks" became one of the most-played music videos on MTV, MTV2, MTV Jams, and BET in 2003. It received significantly less attention than "Work It" at urban radio, but was embraced by the dance community, as well as the mainstream, due to a Fatboy Slim remix. Although not released as single and with no video, "Pussycat", peaked at #77 on the Hot 100. The album is known as the best selling female rap album ever with 2.2 million copies sold in America and 4.5 million copies sold world wide.

Under Construction also included a track called "Back In The Day", a nostalgic ode to old school hip hop music and fashion that featured guest vocals from Jay-Z and Tweet. A video was shot and an article on MTV.com was posted, but the video was never released.

Early 2003, Elliott produced the "American Dream Remix" (featuring Tweet's additional vocals) of Madonna's single "American Life". In the summer of 2003, Elliott was the featured rapper on Timbaland & Magoo's long-awaited return single, "Cop That Disc"; the song was a modest hit at urban radio.

For the soundtrack to the Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Beyoncé Knowles movie by the same name, Elliott produced "Fighting Temptation" (featuring herself, Beyoncé, Free & MC Lyte) which reached the #1 spot in Japan but failed to chart in the US Hot 100.

A year after Elliott's most successful album to date was released, Elliott felt pressured by her label to release another album, hoping to capitalize on her recent successs. Elliott's singles, "Pass That Dutch" and "I'm Really Hot", from her fifth album, This Is Not a Test! (released November 2003), both rose the urban charts. However, both were not as successful at pop radio in comparison to many of her previous efforts. Elliott has since stated that "This Is Not A Test! came out extremely too quickly for me. I didn't want it to come out when it did."

Also in 2003, Elliott was featured on Wyclef Jean's "Party To Damascus" and Ghostface Killah's "Tush" singles, the latter of which became a minor 2004 dance hit, and had a pivotal role in the motion picture Honey, starring Jessica Alba. The Gap approached Elliott later in the year to co-star in a commercial with Madonna, which received much media attention GAP Advert. Elliott furthered her relationship with the Material Girl by performing the controversial 2003 MTV Video Music Awards show opening alongside Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

In 2004, Elliott was featured on Ciara's hit single "1, 2 Step", with her verse interpolating Teena Marie 's smash hit, "Square Biz". The two soon became close friends and rumors began to spread of a lesbian relationship between the duo and also between Elliott and America's Next Top Model winner Eva Pigford, which all denied.

Elliott premiered her own reality show on the UPN Network, The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott in mid-2005. Although the series never made impressive ratings, it did maintain a solid audience. The winner, Jessica Betts, has yet to release an album or single, which was the prize of the show.

Following her less than usual sales from her previous album, Elliott wanted to "give people the unexpected" by utilizing producers other than Timbaland and a "more to the center" sound not as far left as her other music. Her sixth solo album, The Cookbook was released in July 2005 and debuted at number two on the U.S. charts. Its first single, "Lose Control", which featured Ciara and Fatman Scoop, became a Top 10 hit in the early summer (peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100), and the other album tracks featured guest appearances from Mike Jones, Fantasia, M.I.A., Slick Rick, Mary J. Blige, and Pharrell Williams. The video for "Lose Control" garnered Elliott six 2005 MTV VMA award nominations, ultimately winning two awards in the categories Best Dance Video and Best Hip-Hop Video in August. After the VMA's, Elliott released "Teary Eyed" which never saw chart action although the video charted on MTV's Total Request Live for a few weeks, and BET's 106 & Park for a few days. Teary Eyed is one of the few tracks that showcase Elliott with her talented ability to also sing well. Elliott is known for her dance hits, and is the only female rapper to have six consecutive platinum studio albums.

In early September, Elliott tore her Achilles' tendon while shooting the music video for her song "We Run This", requiring surgery and a long recovery, thus dampening promotion efforts for The Cookbook. In November 2005, Elliott won Best Female Hip Hop Artist at the 2005 American Music Awards, defeating colleagues Lil' Kim and Trina. Also in November, Elliott's remixed version of Ashlee Simpson's "L.O.V.E." (from her second album, I Am Me) was included on the CD single.

In December 2005, Elliott was nominated for 5 Grammy Awards, including two for "Lose Control" (Best Short Form Video, which she won, and Best Rap Song), one for The Cookbook (Best Rap Album), one for writing Fantasia's "Free Yourself" (Best R&B Song), and one for "1, 2 Step" with Ciara (Best Rap/Sung Collaboration). Elliott was also nominated for Best International Female Artist at the 2006 BRIT Awards.

In early 2006, Elliott's single and video for "We Run This" was released with heavy airplay on VH1, MTV, and BET. It served as the lead single for the soundtrack to the gymnastics-themed film Stick It.

Respect M.E., Elliott's first greatest hits album, was released outside the United States and Canada on September 4, 2006, but only in South Africa, Australia, Europe, Japan, and Brazil. The collection became her second top ten album in the UK and her highest charting album to date, peaking at number seven there. According to BPI it has been certified Gold for sales of over 100,000 units in the UK and 500,000 copies world wide.

The album cover shows Missy Elliott riding a Friesian horse with a dark, cloudy background. The M.E. can be understood as either the word 'me', or could be referring to Missy Elliott. "Respect M.E." is also the name of her clothing line produced by adidas.

"Take Away" did not make the album cut, but was replaced with the more successful Basement Jaxx dance remix of "4 My People". Duet-singles "Car Wash", with Christina Aguilera, and "1, 2 Step" with Ciara, are also missing from the album.

Following her overseas Greatest Hits album, Missy Elliott was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Rap Solo Performance category for "We Run This".

Elliott trickled back on the music scene for other artists in 2007, producing and guesting on two lead singles for Olivia Longott's first single "Cherry Pop" that features Missy and Keyshia Cole hit "Let It Go", that also features Missy & Lil' Kim. She also appeared the remix of Pretty Ricky's "On The Hotline" with Jim Jones, Timbaland's "Bounce" with Dr. Dre & Justin Timberlake from Timbaland Presents Shock Value, She will be in the re-release of Justin Timberlake's second album (SexyBack Remix) and Nelly Furtado's "Do It" (Remix) and on the remix of Tambourine by Eve together with Swizz Beatz & Fabolous.

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