20 YEARS LATER: MISSY ELLIOT "SUPA DUPA FLY"

Hip-Hop was literally dead at this moment. Biggie was just murdered and Hip-Hop had this feeling of “Okay where the fuck are we going from here? We just lost our 2 biggest artists to some bullshit.” It was just this huge fucking hole in the game. It even felt like artists were afraid to even drop anything because of the current events. Everybody was walking on egg shells. At this point we didn’t even know if this East Coast vs West Coast bullshit was still going on. It just seemed like the fans and the artists were just exhausted and had no idea the direction that hip-hop was gonna go in. 

I’ll never forget this shit. I was watching “The Box” music channel as usual in my room. It was one of 6 channels I had on my old ass tv in my room and this video comes on. This was back in the day where songs or videos DID NOT have premieres. They just dropped and you were shocked as fuck. I didn’t see video premieres until maybe MTV or BET started doing that shit in the early 2000’s maybe? Anyway, this video comes on and I’m like “What the fuck is this weird shit?” It was so left but I was bobbing my head to the beat.

This black woman with these bussin ass waves just saying some random funny shit and making these weird funny ass noises. The choreography was SICK and Missy's dancing was so cool and smooth that Crash Bandicoot had it in his game. What else was really dope was that there were so many cameos of female artists in the video. There was unity. You don’t see that in Male or Female artists videos today sadly. 

At the bottom of the screen when the video ended I saw the name Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot “The Rain.”

This was how you knew you had the juice if you were an artist back then. If the kids come to the block or school rapping your shit most likely you have a hit. Everybody on my block was screaming….  

“BEEP BEEP! WHO GOT THE KEYS TO MY JEEP! VROOOOOOOM!!” 

Missy Elliot was the first female emcee I ever fucked with. I liked Kim (Especially Crush On You) and I liked Foxy, Queen Latifah, MC lyte but I never bought their shit. Missy Elliot was the first female rapper who’s shit I bought. Mia-X was the second and I also LOVED Left Eye. Those 3 I stayed listening to faithfully. 

There’s only one person’s opinion on music I think is better than mine and I will always look up to and that’s my dad’s. He is the reason why I love music so much. One day he’s playing DJ Quik the next it’s Prince the next it’s Tribe Called Quest next it’s TLC. When he bought “Supa Dupa Fly” that’s how I knew Missy was special. If my dad buys your shit that means you’re the real deal. Every time my dad bought a cd I would basically hold it hostage from him until he asked for it back. I saved up my coins to buy my own copy and I wore Supa Dupa Fly thee fuck out. 

We discovered one of the faces of the Mt.Rushmore of hip-hop production on this album in Timbaland. 20 years later this production still holds up and still sounds so crisp. It was so inventive and so creative. 

Supa Dupa Fly means a lot to me because it gave the game CPR and brought hip-hop back. It made us smile after the tragedies in the genre. We were all directionless and this woman who made a trash bag look cool as fuck just came and blessed all of us. She avoided all the bullshit of that east coast west coast shit. 

I remember girls in my class singing “Beep Me 911” not knowing what they were singing about. Then seeing the “Sock It 2 Me” video and how fucking outrageous it was. Missy and Busta Rhymes really had the dopest videos at that time and it made sense because they were label mates on Elektra. I used to sing “Pass Da Blunt” all the time as a kid and I knew that before I knew the original “Pass The Dutchie.” I’m still mad that “Bite Our Style” wasn’t a full song. I used to play all 40 seconds of that over and over. Missy versatility and imagination was something we never seen in a female emcee she really came in this shit and had her own lane and couldn’t be compared to anyone. 

I can’t compare this album to anything before it. Supa Dupa Fly was in a league of it’s own. It was electronic, pop, soul, everything. It was just so unpredictable and goofy in a good way. From Missy’s lyrics to her random ass sound effects. This album helped start one the best musical runs in the game that nobody talks about. Ginuwine album came first then Supa Dupa Fly next and that camp of Missy, Timbo, Magoo, Aaliyah, Nicole Wray, and Ginuwine was something serious. They were dropping high quality gems in the late 90’s. 

Missy did it all and navigated through so many emotions on this album and I thank her so much for this classic. 20 years later Supa Dupa Fly still hits me in the heart with da hee. =)