Missy Elliot Talks New Music

Missy Elliot is arguably one of the best female rappers and producers in the game, and in the latest edition of Marie Claire,  she’s opening up about what it was like breaking barriers for women of color in a male-dominated industry.

In her August 2019 cover shoot interview for the magazine, Elliot, 48, who is considered hip-hop royalty, is literally dressed like a queen in an orange brocade embroidered Dolce & Gabbana coat, featuring a colorful lapel. “‘I am a champion for my brown, dark women,” the “Work It” hitmaker said. “I want them to be seen. Because we are beautiful. If we knew how special we were, we would be unstoppable.”

Elliot has won four Grammy Awards, has been nominated a whopping 22 times and sold over 30 million records worldwide. But what many don’t give her credit for is the fact that she was one of the music industry’s first body positive advocates, well before that term was even coined.

Her classic video for “The Rain,” off of her 1997 debut album, Supa Dupa Fly, was way ahead of it’s time, and her impact is still being seen in upcoming acts of today, who have been influenced by her style – whether they realize it or not.