Marking BUST's silver anniversary, we're publishing some of our most cherished cover features online for the very first time. Below is our conversation with Missy Elliott, originally featured in our Summer/Fall 1998 "Girlfriends" edition.
Not long ago, folks kept asking, "What's the deal with the woman in that wild Hefty Bag outfit?" Today, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott has become the talk of the music world. At just twenty-five, she's racked up nominations for three Grammys, three MTV Video Music Awards, and two Soul Train Music Awards. After establishing her own imprint, Goldmind, she's written and produced for artists including Nicole Ray, Timbaland, Aaliyah, Ginuwine, Jodeci, 702, Mariah Carey, Lil' Kim, MC Lyte, New Edition, Busta Rhymes, and Da Brat—virtually every big name in the game.
By the time this hits print, you can throw Paula Cole, Fiona Apple, and Janet Jackson onto that roster, plus two major movie soundtracks, among them Dr. Doolittle with Eddie Murphy. When I inquired what remained on her wish list, she grinned and—gripping the bag of peanut M&Ms I'd offered as a peace offering—remarked, "Girl, I wanna stick my foot in every pot I can. I'll be hitting the big screen soon—maybe knock out two films and circle back to my records. But I'm skipping TV series 'cause that eats up too much time." Personally, I'd pay good money to watch her shake up prime-time television. Bring it, Missy!
Scarlett: From where I'm standing, hip hop really seems to foster a supportive sisterhood, particularly among the women. I'm watching all these ladies hop between labels, collaborating with one another—you simply don't witness that in other genres. You never spot Jewel popping up for, say, Gwen Stefani.
Missy: [giggling] Exactly. I've formed real bonds with plenty of the women in music. For women, making music feels like a heart-to-heart, like how we get on the phone with our girls and chat—it's more natural for two women to vibe together than for a group of dudes. I can't explain it, it's just that connection.
Scarlett: Do you reckon men are more cutthroat with each other?
Missy: That definitely plays a role, yeah.
Scarlett: Do you experience that same encouragement from women outside the hip hop and rap world? I heard you recently worked on Mariah's "Butterfly." She's more on the pop tip, so…
Missy: I wrapped Paula Cole just yesterday too. And I'm about to start something with Fiona. Plus I just wrapped Janet Jackson.
Scarlett: Do you lean toward collaborating with women? Every artist you're currently working with—Paula, Fiona, Mariah, and Janet—happens to be female.
Missy: It flows better when it's a woman, since I'm drawing from my own experience. When I'm writing for a dude, I gotta channel that male mindset. I have to figure out why men act the way they do. But I collaborate with guys too, like Ginuwine, Timbaland, and Magoo—they're basically my brothers. And I'm handling the soundtrack for Why Do Fools Fall in Love (forthcoming Vivica A. Fox movie), and I penned some tracks for male artists on that. We'll see what happens.
Scarlett: You'd been crafting songs and producing behind the scenes for quite some time before your name got out there. Is that how Lil' Kim, Mary J. Blige, and the squad of women you've been collaborating with became your crew?
Missy: Mary was seeing KC from Jodeci, and I bumped into her at the studio one evening when she was hanging during a Jodeci session. She tricked me into thinking she could do braids, then once I got to her place she was like, "I was just messing with you!" (Laugh). Mary is a trip; I adore her. I crossed paths with Lil' Kim at Puffy's studio. We didn't vibe right away, but after we sat down and chopped it up, I realized she's one of the kindest souls I've encountered in this business.
Scarlett: Do you believe the hip hop scene is more collaborative than the wider music industry?
Missy: Honestly, it might seem that way from the outside looking in, but it isn't all that unified. In hip hop it's all about factions and crews. There's me, Timbaland, Ginuwine, Aaliyah, and now Nicole—that's the Supafriends. Then you've got Puffy, The Lox, Mase, and Total, which is Bad Boy. And then there's Wyclef, Lauren, and Pras, and that crew is the Fugees. So, if you spot Puffy on a Mase track—well, obviously, since they're running together.
Girlfriends: Nicole, Mocha, and Missy. Photo credit: Wendy Hope.
Scarlett: So, with Lil' Kim and Da Brat, since you're on separate labels, do you have to jump through hoops, or can you two just chat and figure it out between yourselves?
Missy: That's where the friendship saves the day. Dialing up, saying "Yo Kim, I've got this track I need you to hop on." Afterward, she'll hit up Puffy or whichever label and be like: "Listen, I just cut a record with Missy—I need this dropped." She has to handle her business with her label…
Scarlett: Do you and Kim have a blast when you're working together?
Missy: She's one of my closest friends. We're both Cancers, too. We're carbon copies—all we do is crack up and clown around, sit on the phone for ages, and just laugh about random things. We trade a ton of advice too. She just launched a production outfit, and she might hit me with business questions. Or I'll bounce straight from the studio and want her take on a track—whether it's fire or not. So I'll play it for her, tweak it, let her take another listen and she'll be like, "Oh yeah, that's the one." It's never a rivalry. Only in the best way—pushing each other so we're both winning.
Scarlett: Something I love about the women rapping today is their fierceness. They're owning their lives, their sensuality, everything. That's no small feat, since up until recently rap and hip hop was basically a boys' club.
Missy: I clocked that at the Grammys. Watching so many women snag nominations told me we're officially in the female era. Like you said, the industry's always been a boys' world, but now we're crashing the party from every angle—hip hop and pop. Tons of women are grabbing the reins.
Scarlett: Is there beef between the East Coast and West Coast women like there is with the guys?
Missy: Oh, absolutely not. Women are too busy getting their nails did and their hair laid. We don't have time to stress about what coast we're repping. I wouldn't want to choose one side anyway. I'm trying to get my music in front of every single person out there. I'd love to drop an entire album in Japanese or Chinese, if I could spit in those languages. I'm definitely aiming for global reach. I think every female rapper feels that way; there's no bandwidth for "I'm East Coast" or "I'm West Coast."
Scarlett: Walk me through your Virginia childhood.
Missy: Like that film, Soul Food (laugh). My grandmother was basically the Big Mama from Soul Food. I'm an only child, so me and my mom are extremely tight. I don't have any siblings that I know of. My pops might have other kids out there, but I'm the only one he and my mom had together. My mom and I lived in a really rough situation with him. We had to get out, so my mom raised me solo. My mom did whatever it took to make sure I fit in with the other kids. I had everything any kid could dream of. Even if she had to clock extra hours to score me the designer jeans or sneakers I wanted, she made it happen. So I never experienced hardship—I've always been fortunate.
Scarlett: Growing up, did you picture yourself blowing up like this? Having your own company? Is your mom losing it?
Missy: At one point she was all about, "You gotta go to college." I kept telling her, "I'm not going. I'm gonna be a star one day." She was like, "Until you're a star, you're going to college." Just when I was mulling over actually enrolling, I landed the Jodeci deal. I just feel like I was destined for this industry no matter what, whether I'd end up as a songwriter, a producer, an A&R rep, something—I was gonna be in this game regardless.
Scarlett: You kicked off your music journey in high school with a crew of girls, calling yourselves Sista, right? Y'all just rolled up to the hotel with Jodeci and…
Missy: We were kinda nervous at first, you know, you've got four guys and four girls…we were like "Ooohhh. They wanna invite us to their room. They probably think we're just some groupies." But we got straight to business. "Can we perform for y'all? Y'all tell us if you're feeling us or not." If they weren't, we were out. We belted out three songs for them and they were like "We're sold" so…
Scarlett: What became of the other ladies in Sista?
Missy: They're back in Virginia. One of the girls does nails. I didn't dig into what they were up to—as long as I knew they were good, that's all that matters.
Story by Scarlett Fever
Photos by Michael Lavine
This piece originally ran in BUST's Summer/Fall 1998 issue. Subscribe today.
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