This year marks the 25th anniversary of Missy Elliott’s debut album, Supa Dupa Fly. On Tuesday (Dec. 6), the Virginia-bred legend reflected on her esteemed career through a series of tweets, including how her debut was calmly made in two weeks, with the hope of gaining her own label.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame recipient tweeted, “My 1st album was stressfree because I didn’t have any expectations. My label told me they would give me my own label if I did 1 album so me & @Timbaland completed this album in 2 weeks not knowing this would be the beginning of many more to come.”
This musical partnership between Elliott and her longtime friend-producer Timbaland evolved into them becoming one of the most iconic duos in Hip-Hop history. The platinum-certified, critically-acclaimed LP debuted No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and peaked No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Shockingly, her least favorite album for years was its followup, Da Real World. The immortal superstar, 51, explained, “Because of the success of the 1st album I was so hard on myself.” Elliott later, “realized the MASTERPIECE,” that she and the Verzuz founder made with her 1999 LP.
When 2001 and the release of her third album, Miss E…So Addictive, rolled around, she admittedly found some “relief” and was able to branch out creatively. “…I felt my 2nd album allowed me & @Timbaland to EXPERIMENT with my 3rd album [sic] outtaspace sounds since my 2nd album was theatrical with knockin beats. We were open to showing what the FUTURE of music could sound like in our minds.”
The two-time Grammy-winning project debuted No. 2. on the Billboard 200.
Without having tested out various sounds and cadences, the pair were challenged and still merged their joint love of ”old school Hip Hop & breaks beats” with 2002’s Under Construction. For This Is Not A Test!, “@Timbaland & I was back to SOUND EXPERIMENTING & we felt a little more free to explore since the other albums success. But each album was a lil pressure except “SUPADUPAFLY” & “So Addictive” but each time we took a risk sonically.”
As fans can attest, Elliott pioneered a variation of music—both visually and sonically—that many still try to emulate today, and will forever praise.