What Missy Elliott at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Means for Hip Hop

As we come close to the end of 2023, the celebration of Hip-Hop has been nonstop. From multiple tributes and concerts across the country to performances at numerous award shows, the entertainment industry has been all hands on deck to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop. Recently, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, history was made, it was the cherry on top of a well-deserved cake, Missy Elliott became the first female rapper to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yes, you read that correctly!

Photo from Spotify

Presented by fellow Hip-Hop legend, Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott was honored for her rapper, producer, music video innovator, and stylish iconic work. Missy also performed her hits “Get Ur Freak On”, “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)”, and “Lose Control”, while her mother was in the audience cheering her on. For many, this is a major achievement for Hip-Hop, female rappers from upcoming generations, and for black artists overall. Missy Elliott becoming the first female rapper to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a beacon of hope for those who don’t fit mainstream norms. Let me take it a step back and give you an overall why. 

Let’s go back to the 90s. Hip Hop has expanded its representation. What started in New York has developed a culture in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Memphis, and Texas. While that is a positive the representation of female rappers was still underrepresented, causing various emotions. There was variety but the hypersexual images of female rappers were starting to emerge. All the women from that era were talented in their own right, but not everyone could be a Lauryn Hill. Icons such as Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Yo-Yo, and even Salt-N-Pepa couldn’t keep up with the bold, in-your-face, raunchy styles of Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, Eve, and Trina. Southern female rappers such as Gangsta Boo and Mia X found success in their subcultures but couldn’t reach the mainstream level of success as Trina or any of their East Coast counterparts. With the rise of the hypersexual female rappers in hip-hop, of course, those who couldn’t fit the ideal image, (and of course those who couldn’t pass the paper bag test), were overlooked. 

Sistas, girl group (photo from Last.fm)

Then here comes Missy Elliott. As the brown-skinned, curvy girl known as a class clown in school, Missy wasn’t exactly new to the music industry. Starting in the girl group, Sista, Missy found some success when the group released their only album and was featured on the Dangerous Minds soundtracks. However, after creative and personal differences between Missy and the leaders of the Swing Mob collective (organized by Mr. Dalvin and DeVonte Swing of Jodeci), Missy left the crew. She found her first step at success as a songwriter and solo artist when she wrote and rapped on Raven-Symone’s debut single, “That’s What Little Girls Are Made Of”, but she wasn’t asked to participate in the video, due to her weight. She was replaced by a light-skinned, thin model. 

She still worked behind the scenes, writing for other artists and featured as a rapper here and there, then her longtime friend and collaborator Timbaland began working with teen superstar and R&B icon, Aaliyah. They not only formed a friendship, but a unique, trailblazing sound that everyone would soon try to imitate. Even today you can still hear the influence of One In A Million in Beyoncé, Rihanna, Bryson Tiller, Victoria Monet, Tinashe, Kehlani, and Normani, to name a few. If everyone was stunned by Missy, the songwriter and producer, they were about to be blown away by Missy the artist.

Photo from The Culture Crypt

Enter 1997, a year after Lil Kim and Foxy Brown, respectively, released their debut albums. The world was mourning the loss of Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G, Gianni Versace, and Princess Diana. The world needed something to take our minds off the constant deaths surrounding us. While albums like Tidal by Fiona Apple and Janet Jackson’s The Velvet Rope allowed audiences to get in their feelings, we needed a balance. We needed something new and refreshing. That’s where Missy comes in. That summer she dropped the music video for “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)”. Much like the music she worked on One In A Million, the beat was minimalist, but the video was extravagant. It had background dancers, cameos from some of the biggest hip-hop and R&B stars of that time, color schemes were amazing, 90’s hairstyles that were praised, and of course the infamous inflatable outfit Missy wore. It was new, it was innovative, it was different, something to aspire to. It was the beginning. 

Later that year, Missy released Supa Dupa Fly. The album sold 129,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number 3, the highest debut for a female rapper at that time. The album ended up selling over a million copies in the US alone. 

Photo from The Grammy’s

Since then, Missy released five more albums, and an EP, won four Grammys, became the first female rapper in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and eight MTV VMA awards including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. What’s impressive about this is she was able to achieve all of this by being authentically herself. Not to say other female rappers aren’t authentic, but it’s hard to imagine a female rapper being successful in a post-Lil Kim/Foxy Brown era without being somewhat over-sexual. Yes, we have Lauryn Hill, but Lauryn was still conventionally appealing to mass audiences because she was thinner. Missy Elliott becoming the first female rapper in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame means so much to Hip-Hop, the black community, and women’s body image. A brown-skinned woman who succeeds in an industry plagued with colorism and fatphobia can proudly stand next to the likes of The Beatles, KISS, and Nirvana; she has earned that right. Just look at how many artists have been influenced by her. Artists from Ludacris and Travis Scott to Nicki Minaj, Tierra Whack, and Doja Cat can be animated and out of the box.

Photo from Shatter the Standards

Artists like Adele, Lizzo, and Kamaiyah can be unapologetically themselves with the bodies they are in. Even if you have no aspirations in the music industry, Missy being a rapper, singer, producer, and songwriter shows everyone, man, woman, young, and old, that you can have it all. With that being said, I want to say thank you, Missy, for showing up as yourself and teaching us we can go to the highest mountains as ourselves. Thank you for breaking boundaries in a genre that is constantly under scrutiny and typecast.