What is the appeal of Missy Elliot?

Cafe Society
1

I honestly don’t understand what’s so appealing about Missy Elliot’s music.

It’s entirely possible that my lack of understanding comes from the fact that I’m a 37-year-old white male. However, I have been a fan of rap/hip-hop for many years. I first heard Sugar Hill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight way back in junior high school, and I was in love with the style. Later I enjoyed the likes of Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel, Run DMC, UTFO, Fat Boys, Heavy D, Tone Loc, Young MC, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Sir Mix-A-Lot, etc. I even enjoyed much of the gangsta rap I’ve heard. Female rappers? Salt ‘n’ Pepa were awesome. Queen Latifah was excellent. MC Lyte? Cool.

I guess you could say I’m kind of “old school”. One thing the above-named groups have in common is that their music is structured and musical, and has obviously well-thought-out lyrics that have something to say. Their music is creative and innovative.

Missy Elliot’s music sounds to me like nothing but a collection of sound effects with some random verbal phrases tossed on top. (And I’m still wondering why my local radio station censors the word “ass” out of Eminem songs, but leaves Elliot’s “Before ya come over I got ta shave my cha-cha” untouched.) I can’t find any kind of real message in any of her songs that I’ve heard.

To be honest, I can see why Eminem is so insanely popular - his rap has far more substance to it than most of the black rap that’s played on the radio today. And while most of the black rap I hear on the radio comes across to me as kind of pointless rambling, Missy Elliot’s is the worst of it.

What makes her appeal even more puzzling to me is the fact that, before her latest album was released, the DJs were going absolutely apeshit over her with their constant over-the-top announcements about the upcoming album. They were going gaga over her like I’ve never heard them talk about any other artist. So, having never heard of her, I was kind of expecting some kind of breakthrough in hip-hop style. I was disappointed.

So, what’s the appeal? What am I missing? Are the non-radio cuts on the CD far better than what I’ve heard played on the radio? Help me to understand. I’ve never been one to dismiss an artist simply based on my not liking their style. As a musician myself, I’ve always been able to find some merit in just about anything. But with Missy Elliot, I’m completely at a loss.

:confused:

2

She is completely hit and miss with me. I really like about 20% of her work, and I really, really can’t take the rest of it. I think my favorite song of hers is “The Rain” from roughly 5 years ago. Catchy as all hell and very chill. Seemed like everyone around this time was going apeshit over Timbaland’s beats. I think some of them were kinda cool…he defiantley had his own vibe going there for a while, but IMO it was never that cool.

FTR, I only base my “like/dislike” ratio on the singles Missy releases. I’ve never heard an album of hers from start to finish.

I think maybe a partial reason that she got big was due to her videos. She really did some unique stuff in those. Some of it came off as really stupid, some of it I thought was cool – but in either case I applaud her for not doing the same old boring cheese that you usually see in a lot of rap videos. Same goes for Busta Rhymes, difference being that I really enjoy a large portion of his work.

3

Keep in mind that I hate rap and hip hop, generally.

I like Missy a lot, but only because I can count on liking her singles a lot whenever they end up on the radio. I listened the hell out of Work It and Gossip Folk last year, and just lately I’ve been listening the hell out of Pass That Dutch. I like her in the way that I like someone like, I don’t know, Madonna - just someone who manages to put out fun, catchy radio singles that I like to listen to.

Also? Awesome videos. And she doesn’t take herself too seriously.

The fact that I know fuck all about the genre of music she works within limits my ability to explain why people go crazy over her records.

4

I’m a pretty big hip hop fan. I like the old school stuff, golden age, a fair amount of gangsta, and more recent stuff - backpacker and underground as well as pop.

So, I’ll see if I can explain why I like Missy.

First up, I’m surprised that you liked Salt n Pepa but not Missy. They seem so similar to me. I only know Salt n Pepa from the singles - Whatta Man, Push It, Shoop, and they seem to be heavy on kick-ass grooves and light on lyrical depth. But that’s ok. Sometimes a club banger is all you want.

Missy is just the same. She’s no Nas lyrically (though, to be fair, she’s not completely devoid of deeper subject matter - on her latest album, for instance she criticises the focus on crime and the pursuit of wealth prevalent in hip hop), and doesn’t have the dexterous flow of an Eminem, but as far as pop goes, she’s right at the forefront. She’s got the charisma to carry her only average rapping abilities (and in hip hop, charisma can be, and often is, an important thing), and with Timbaland’s beats behind her, she can’t help but churn out great single after great single.

They’re great beats - and Timbaland doesn’t deserve all of the credit. Missy has co-produced many of them, and produces some of her own tracks. But listening to the Missy-Timbaland collaborations, I can’t help but be blown away.

I mean, think back to Get Ur Freak On. I don’t know about you, but when I first heard it, it sounded like nothing I’d heard before. Timbaland pioneered the whole world-music bent hip hop is on at the moment, but even ignoring the Indian influences, the beat is something else. Whereas everything else up to that time was focusing on big heavy drums and snares, be it the breakbeats of old school hip hop; the lazy loping of G Funk; or more modern hip hop, it was all about chunky beats. Timbaland ignored all that. Get Ur Freak On is pared right back; there’s space where rich textures were once favoured, the beat isn not based on drums, but the rhythm is instead carried by a sparse tabla and that subterranean bass groove, that doesn’t thump, but rather swims beneath the surface.

With each single from there, the Timbaland-Missy duo just get better. Check the juxtaposition of Timbaland’s futuristic soundscapes with the old-school samples on Under Construction - the Double Dutch Bus chorus of Gossip Folks, the Paul Revere reinvention in Funky Fresh Dressed or the Run DMC splice in Work It.

Add to that the rich texture courtesy of the sound effects. Where you see these as novelty, I think the backwards talking in Work It, or the no-holds barred sampledelica of Pass The Dutch - whistles, Potholes In My Lawn, breathing, club-warnings, applause, 5 second pauses (to catch your breath) - just add to the wild ride that is a Missy track. And every time, underpinning the fluff is a solid groove, invented from sound never heard before, brimming with simplicity.

I’m sure my explanation won’t change your mind - we all like different things. But perhaps it’ll give you some insight as to why people like it so much.

5

Like mouthbreather and gex gex mentioned, it has a lot to do with Tim. I think he’s a genius and would listen to re-mixes of Windows “You’ve fucked up!” sounds if he did them.