Growing up in Portsmouth, Va., hip-hop shero Missy Elliott used to believe that she was related to one of her fellow female inductees in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2023.
“My family used to tell me that Chaka Khan was my cousin when I was little,” she says, “so for a long time, I would be like, ‘Why she not at the family reunion?’ They told me Chaka Khan was my cousin and the Jacksons, and they would have their pictures in picture frames. So I would walk around the house thinking that they were my family. Come to find out Chaka Khan is nowhere near kin to me!”
But the “Work It” rapper will be forever connected to the “Ain’t Nobody” singer when the two icons are enshrined in music immortality at the rock-hall induction ceremony on Nov. 3.
They are part of a strong female contingent this year, which also includes “If It Makes You Happy” rocker Sheryl Crow and “Running Up That Hill” chanteuse Kate Bush. “The biggest thing for all of us is that we are alive and we’re here to receive this,” she says. “This is a high honor.”
When Elliott finishes her performance on that stage at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, she will be deserving of a mic drop after making history as the first female hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The rapper, singer, songwriter and producer credits some key women in the music business for championing her — and her groundbreaking vision — in the traditionally male-dominated world of hip-hop.
“I owe so much to Sylvia Rhone,” she says of the “label mom” who, as head of Elektra Records, helped launch Elliott’s career in the late ’90s. “She never asked me to change anything about the way I looked, the way I sounded. She’s the reason I actually became an artist, because I didn’t want to be an artist — I wanted a record label. And she said, ‘The only way I’ll give you a label is if you give me an album.’ And that’s how me and [producer] Timbaland ended up doing ‘Supa Dupa Fly’ in two weeks.”
Sure enough, “Supa Dupa Fly” — led by the hip-hop futurism of Elliott’s debut solo single, “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly),” and its classic clip that set her off to winning the MTV Video Vanguard Award in 2019 — was released in 1997 on her own Goldmind label that was distributed through Elektra.
Elliott, 52, also received early support from the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, Mary J. Blige. “I remember Mary coming up to me, and she was like, ‘You’re a superstar,’” she recalls. “And at the time, I didn’t pay it no mind because I really didn’t think that at all. But she kept telling me that, and me and her became really close.”
And years after believing that she was related to the Jacksons, Elliott even became “chosen family” with Janet Jackson. In fact, when the “Get Ur Freak On” rapper was having a tough time during the COVID-19 lockdown, the pop superstar flew from London to Atlanta overnight to check on her. “For her to do something like that,” Elliott reflects, “how many people can say that?”
Winner, winner
Missy Elliott won the first of her four Grammys for “Get Ur Freak On” in 2002. The critically acclaimed hit was produced by her beatmaster brother Timbaland, with whom Elliott arose from the Virginia hip-hop scene. “It was just amazing because we come from the same place, and whatever that is, it’s above ourselves,” says the rapper, who also collaborated on “Lady Marmalade,” which scored a Grammy the same year.
Halftime hero
After being diagnosed with Graves’ disease in 2008, Elliott made a comeback on the biggest of stages as the special guest during Katy Perry’s 2015 Super Bowl halftime performance. “Coming off of being sick and having a hiatus, that was like a ‘wow’ moment for me,” she says. “It was almost like God was saying, ‘I’m gonna show you what I could do for you in three minutes.’ ”
Partners in rhyme
Elliott collaborated with Mary J. Blige on 2001’s “Never Been” and 2005’s “My Struggles,” and the rapper credits the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul as an influential female artist who gave her real love early in her career.
“She was the first one,” Elliott says. “Back then, you didn’t even want to play with Mary! And I personally didn’t think that I fit the mold because, you know, there was a certain look back then.”
