Editor’s note: This segment was rebroadcast on May 14, 2025. Find that audio here.
You can’t talk about the sounds of the 2000s without talking about Missy Elliot.
With hits from “1, 2 Step” to “Get Ur Freak On,” the rapper, singer and songwriter’s cultural impact is undeniable. She also laid the groundwork for other women in the rap and R&B scene.
Originally from Portsmouth, Virginia, Elliot’s career began as part of a girl group. But in the late 1990s, she set off on her own, working in large part with producer Timbaland.
“She broke out on her own, got her own record deal, and boom, explosion. In the late ‘90s, we get Missy Elliott, the star,” says Clover Hope, author of “THE MOTHERLODE: 100+ Women Who Made Hip-Hop.”
5 questions with Clover Hope
Where is Elliott headed musically at the beginning of the 2000s?
“ The general public pretty much met Missy as this visual, very expressive character. ‘The Rain’ introduced us to her as this kind of cosmic artist in the sense that her music felt expansive and infinite.
“ In my book, I describe it as something like instead of shrinking, she expanded and took up space. She bent sound in a way. I think we were all just kind of mesmerized by this vision of Missy, not just the music, but how she presented herself. And it was sort of in this surreal space. Sometimes it was outer space.
“Sometimes it was just a studio room, but she took up creative space and by the 2000s, Missy and Timbaland had established themselves as innovators in the music space. And Timbaland had this story just about how Missy works in her creative process and it’s essentially he can make a beat, like they’ll work on something or he’ll make a beat, and she has this way of going off on her own to come up with something. And then she comes back and it’s magic, basically.”
Can you tell more about the creative relationship between Elliott and Timbaland?
“Missy and Timbaland had this partnership that was kind of like a sibling partnership and they played off each other a lot. He would produce her songs, she would write for some of his artists. So it’s pretty much this very symbiotic relationship in a way where they were mutually exchanging creative ideas and they’re kind of creating this futuristic sound and by the 2000s, it was pretty much ahead of its time.
“By the turn of the century, I think Missy is navigating a space where technology and music is very much shifting, so it’s not only the way people are consuming music, they’re now downloading it, you’re able to buy songs online, but also the sound of it is shifting and sounding a little bit more like the music that Missy and Timbaland were already making.”
What made her music stand out?
“ She’s able to create this energy, in her songs, this fresh energy that, at that time, I think worked really well for pop radio. In the 2000s, when it was a mixture of boy bands, the Britney Spears explosion, a lot of hip-hop and R&B collaborations, radio was really experiencing just a rebirth of some sort in terms of experimentation, sound, just new personas, characters.
“Missy kind of fit into this space where it was an explosion of club music, almost like a post ‘party like it’s 1999’ world.”
Do you consider Elliott a pop star?
“A pop star, a visionary, tastemaker. Because she debuted as a rap artist. And when women come into that space, it’s very easy to be pigeonholed. It helped that she never put herself into like one image.
“In terms of what she was doing, it was pop-rap. It was pop-R&B. It was all of these sounds, genres together and the thing that she probably doesn’t get as much credit for is songwriting and producing. Besides doing her own music, other people’s songs, Destiny’s Child songs, she was writing over the years for Aaliyah, these songs that we still listen to and feel something.”
Where do you see Elliott’s musical influences in music today?
“ I think it’s the tone. There’s no voice that sounds like hers. And I think the stamp of, particularly in rap, when you have a distinct tone, that’s her stamp. That’s her signature.
“We put her in a room to just make something and she will make something very interesting. That’s what her music conjures to me. It just kind of conjures someone splashing on a canvas and for whatever reason, that art that they make feels like a symphony in some way. It’s all these kind of disparate parts that come together and feel seamless in a way.
“And on top of that, her voice is so unique. Her tone is so unique in her delivery is sharp. She’s swerving. She’s going into these different voices, changing up her pitch, sometimes singing, rapping. It’s just a certain versatility that you might see in someone like Kendrick [Lamar] who changes his tone a lot in one song or one verse. It’s similar to Doechii and Nicki Minaj. These are people who take on characters in the music.”
This interview was edited for clarity.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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