Missy Elliott

Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott is a world-renowned rapper, producer, and songwriter that is known as one of the women that paved the way for women rappers in the hip-hop industry. Writing songs for various artists such as Whitney Houston, Mel B, and Raven-Symoné, creating hits for not only them but her as well winning multiple Grammys and accolades that prove just how important Missy is to the hip-hop industry.

## Childhood

Missy Elliott was born on July 1, 1971, under the name Melissa Arnette Elliott in Portsmouth Virginia. Her father Ronnie was a U.S. Marine when she was born and her mother Patricia worked for a power company after Missy was born. After her birth, the family moved to Jacksonville, North Carolina where they resided in a mobile home until Ronnie began to struggle for work, forcing the family to move back to Portsmouth.

While growing up, Missy was exposed to violence at a young age. Her father constantly beat her mother in front of her, and Missy, at the age of eight, was raped by one of her older cousins. As she grew older, the violence only worsened until her mother finally left her father at and took Missy with her at the age of 14.

While she was in school, she formed a girl group called Sista, that was signed to DeVante Swings record label, Swing Mob Records. After finishing her education, Missy moved to New York in hopes of Sista having its big break. These hopes were soon broken as the record label pulled out before Sista's debut album could drop.

## After the Split

After the breakup, Missy wrote and produced songs for various artists such as Aaliyah and SWV with help from her childhood friend and producer Tim "Timbaland" Mosley. Her first hit was for the artist Raven-Symoné in 1933 called "That's What Little Girls Are Made of" and she later appeared as a vocalist on the track "The Things You Do" by Sean Combs.

Missy formed her own label Goldmind, where she released her debut album *Supa Dupa Fly,* in 1997. This album when platinum earning her rap artist of the year from Rolling Stone. She continued to produce hit songs for other artists, including Whitney Houston and Mel B.

After the success of her first album, Missy continued to rack up many accolades. The New Yorker dubbed Missy the "biggest and blackest

female rap star that Middle America has ever seen." They also made it a point to state that Missy steered clear on stereotypes that many female artists of the time followed, trying to attract the male gaze. She used her personal style to exude confidence and to follow her message that women "are equal to men, as important as men and as powerful."

Not only was she getting praise for her public statements, but her new records also racked up praise. Her next two albums, *Da Real World* (1999) and *Miss E…So Addictive* (2001) both went platinum and her fourth album *Under Construction* (2002) broke sales records exceeding 2.1 million copies sold in the United States.

## Health Issues

In 2008, Missy experienced a pretty serious health scare. She began losing drastic amounts of weight, which was attributed to Graves disease. This rare autoimmune disease attacks the thyroid and can lead to muscular weakness, hair loss, insomnia, and involuntary tremors among other symptoms.

Because of the toll this disease took on Missy's health, she decided to take a break from her own spotlight for a few years. However, she continued to work behind the scenes producing more content for other artists and featuring on other artists songs.

## References

https://www.biography.com/people/missy-elliott-507695

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missy\_Elliott