Born in Portsmouth, Missy Elliott is a trailblazer in the rap game.
While not the first female rapper to make it big, many modern-day female rap superstars acknowledge Missy’s influence on their sound, like Megan Thee Stallion, Rico Nasty, and Tierra Whack.
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Missy helped bring odd, less accessible songwriting into the mainstream, most notably with her extremely popular song “Get Ur Freak On,” which starts with a spoken-word segment in Japanese, and features an instrumental that utilizes instruments commonly used in bhangra music.
Elliott is also notable for helping create a definitive rap sound that came out of the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, along with frequent collaborators Timbaland and Pharrell Williams.
Missy Elliott has gone on to receive 4 Grammy Awards, as well as countless other accolades from the likes of MTV, BET, Billboard, and more. She was also the first female rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She also performed at the 2015 Super Bowl Halftime show with Katy Perry and Lenny Kravitz.