July 1st marks the 44th Birthday of rap icon and Virginia native Melissa Elliott, better known by her stage moniker, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott. Not only is the Grammy Award winning triple threat known for her skills on rocking the mic by any stretch of the imagination, but she is known and respected as a true innovator as her talents for singing, dancing and larger than life way of coming up with some of the most insane thought provoking visuals has made her a musical icon in every sense of the word. Happy Birthday Missy Elliot! To commemorate the day, we've put together 5 iconic video moments that just made us dance and showcased Missy as a futuristic artist way ahead of her time and leading the pack when it came to innovation.
Ms. 'Supa Dupa Fly' burst onto the scene in in 1997, when she dropped debut album 'Supa Dupa Fly' , and since then the rapper, singer-songwriter, producer and actress came into the game it hadn't been the same every since. In a time where femcees such as Lauryn Hill, Foxy Brown, Lil Kim, Lisa 'Left-Eye' Lopez' were dominating the field, Missy's multi-faceted talent and creative energy also brought something uniquely new and refreshing to the forefront. After almost 20 years within the music biz, Elliott's musical genius remains undisputed.
According to XXL, "Missy Misdemeanor Elliott opened the doors for countless female artists in the hip hop community. By surpassing expectations and being showered with accolades like 5 Grammys and selling over 30 million records, Missy has solidified herself as an integral figure in hip-hop history. Her fearlessness in stepping outside of the box enabled her to be one of the most creative artists in the game. Records like "The Rain", "Get Your Freak On" and "Hot Boyz" conveyed her both her lyricism and her hit-making abilities. With 5 Platinum albums, and one Gold, it's easy to see why Missy was able to slay the competition".
Her track record includes her working with the late great Aaliyah, stellar talents such as Christina Aguileria, and most recently Katy Perry at the 2015 Superbowl Half Time Show. Happy Birthday Miss! Watch all top 5 moments where Missy had us dancing out of our seats!
