Missy Elliott, born Melissa Arnette Elliott, is one of the most renowned artists in the world. She can do it all: rap, sing, write music, and produce.
At one point, she held the record for the highest-charting debut for a female rapper with the release of "Supa Dupa Fly."
Her second album, "Da Real World" also garnered much attention and success. It produced the singles "She's a B***h," "Hot Boyz," and "All n My Grill."
Elliott is also a proud winner of four Grammy Awards, eight MTV Video Music Awards, two American Music Awards, and six BET Awards.
She was honored with the Innovator Award by the Billboard Women in Music, and Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award; she was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
These achievements did not come easy to Elliott, especially when she was not just making a name for herself in the industry, but she was also trying to get her mother a better life.
Motivation
A fan casually asked the iconic rapper what molded her into the superstar icon that she is known today on Twitter, and nobody was prepared to hear the rapper's answer.
"I wanna know like what inspired her and what was her drive to remain persistent in a male-dominated industry at the time," a fan wrote on Twitter.
"I seen many strong women in the industry be4 me that made it through," Elliott replied. "My mom was in [an] abusive relationship so I told her I would make it so I could get her out of that situation & I would make sure she'd never have to work again that's what really kept me going."
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Past
Apparently, this is not the first time that the rapper has opened up about her and her mother's struggles.
"My father was very abusive, and it was hard for my mother at first to leave because we had depended on him for so long," she told The Guardian in 2003.
Elliott and her mother managed to leave their abusive past behind after much persuasion from relatives.
"When we left, my mother realized how strong she was on her own, and it made me strong," she added. "It took her leaving to realize."
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