The Femcee Letters: An Open Letter to Missy Elliott

Note: This is the fourth in the "Femcee Letters" series, co-presented by The Official Home of the Femcees. Counting down to when Nicki Minaj's highly-anticipated debut Pink Friday drops on November 23, each week an open letter to a femcee will be featured here.

Dear Missy,

Where do I begin? I believe that of all the femcees in this series, your story is the most multi-faceted...from your tough childhood in Hampton Roads (including paternal and other familial abuse-which included frequent rape by a cousin twice your age at the time) to your lead status in the girl group Sista to the rise of the Swing Mob to the superstardom thereafter...that's enough for a biopic right here! (from what I hear, there's one in the works right now). All the zeniths of femcee stardom Nicki Minaj is achieving right now were the very apogees you set about a decade ago. With such a story, where can I focus? Allow me to focus on your uber-creativity, your versatility, and your mission of unity among female urban artists.

The day was July 15, 1997. Pac had just succumbed to gunshot wounds a mere ten months prior, and Biggie was gunned down only for months before. At this point, the hip-hop industry in general was in a flux, with female rap especially impacted as the advent of Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim gave rise to hypersexuality in femceeing. It was that day that your debut solo album "Supa Dupa Fly" dropped via Goldmind/Elektra and you changed all the rules. All of a sudden sexuality was no longer paramount, but just one of the threads in the tapestry of creativity and genuine playfulness that comprised of your music. Half of the music was hip-hop, half was R&B, but all of it was well-thought out artistry. Plus every single came with an equally visually stimulating video, mainly ideas never thought of before in hip-hop. The following paragraph is a list of visuals used in your videos, with the corresponding vid in parentheses:

Outer space/Mega Man ("Sock It 2 Me"), Barbie dolls ("Beep Me 911"-a full 12 years before Nicki adopted that persona), medieval castle fantasy ("Hit Em Wit Da Hee"), bald-headed rubber suits ("She's A Bitch"), motorbikes in a junkyard with pyrotechnics all around ("Hot Boyz"), zombies in waste dump pipe tunnels, which switches to army camouflage fatigues in the jungle ("Get Ur Freak On"-again, 9 years before Nicki used similar attire for "Massive Attack"-what part of "Copywritten so don't copy me" doesn't she understand?), the auto shop ("One Minute Man"-yes, I did link it last week too), high school ("Gossip Folks"), Asian cinema ("I'm Really Hot"), blue sweatsuits in the desert ("Lose Control"), film noir ("Teary Eyed"), marching bands ("We Run This"), zombie ballplayers ("Ching-A-Ling"), and a mishmash of imagery which can't be described all in one column ("Work It!", "Pass That Dutch",). This list is not complete (and I didn't even touch your guest appearances), but I think my audience gets a good idea of all the great stuff in your mind!

While your rap skills get the most attention, you have proven yourself as an excellent R&B singer and producer as well. About half of the videos I mentioned earlier featured primarily sung vocals, with your signature alto sound (after all, you got your start as part of an R&B group). However, production/mentoring remains my favorite "side aspect" of your work, something I first fell in love with on Monica's "So Gone"-that sample of The Whispers' "You Are Number One" just happens to enhance whichever mood I'm in...perhaps it has something to do with being a source of auditory relief when I was dealing with my bouts of depression as a 16-year old. Yet the peak of these aspects (particularly in artist formation) has manifested in the rise of a certain 23-year old from Philadelphia.



Yes ma'am. First on the reggae-tinged "Need U Bad", then on the Daft Punk "Veridis Quo"-sampling "Dream Big" and now on the double-dip interpolating "Holding You Down (Goin' In Circles)", you have helped transform this woman woman who was set to be another industry victim and turned her into one of the more-respected R&B artists of our generation. And in the process, your beats mixed with her uber-sultry vocals helped make her something I had never had in my 15 years of hip-hop fandom-my celebrity crush. (Yes Nathan, it's getting to the level of what you have for Mrs. A. Dean). But I digress...

When Queen Latifah first released her classic "U.N.I.T.Y." in 1993, I don't think she had any idea of how far you would live up to that in your work. Ever since your first guest verse on then 7-year old Raven-Symone's debut single "That's What Little Girls Are Made Of," at least 48 other female artists have had the privilege of working with you (this includes virtually every notable femcee, including all but two I've either written or plan to write FLs to). Even as it became common for other such artists to beef amongst themselves (Foxy/Remy/Nicki vs. Kim, Diamond vs. Princess, Ciara vs. Keri, Trina vs. She Who Shall Never Again Be Named Here), you never got caught up in any of that bullshit, keeping your vision of a universal sisterhood in urban music (in many cases working with both sides of these conflicts). And that makes sense, because it's just plain ludicrous (I don't mean your "One Minute Man" & "Gossip Folks" collaborator) for a subgroup to fight among itself when it's trying to gain respect.

The bottom line: your creativity, multitalents, and devotion to unity make you a shining example that every femcee (in fact, every artist in general) should strive to attain. Although it's been five years since your last album "The Cookbook," word is that you're finally set to release "Block Party" later this year, with the first single called "Blow Ya Whistle". Trust me, we are going to keep a candid eye out-HIP-HOP NEEDS YOU.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to write another open letter to the woman you helped out on "Ain't Got No Dough," "Tambourine (Remix)," Rah Digga's "Party & Bullshit," and the sitcom to her UPN show, and who returned the favor on "Hot Boyz" and "4 My People". Thanks for your time, and I wish that you continue to experience all the joys this art provides!

Sincerely,

Burmy

For more information, the Official Home of the Femcees can be found on Twitter here and on Myspace here. Facebook page coming soon!