Missy Elliott: “Well Overdue for Her Award”
posted by Keyona Smith | September 18, 2019 | In Arts and CultureNo one but the incomparable, supa dupa fly, trash-bag-rocking, Virginia native with an out-the-box creative style Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott could have been more deserving of the 2019 MTV Vanguard Music Award. The icon received the Michael Jackson Vanguard Video Award at the 2019 VMAs and reflected on just how much it meant to her and how much work went into her accomplishment.
Her dancers were cheering and jumping on stage behind her and Lizzo was jumping with excitement for Missy before she started at the mic with her acceptance speech: “This Michael Jackson Vanguard Award means so much to me. I have worked diligently for over two decades. Never thought I’d be standing up here, receiving this.”
Elliott may have been being humble, but the impact she has made on musicians says otherwise.
Fayetteville State graduate, musician and Tau Beta Sigma member Ashonti Gainey adds that Missy played a huge role in her musical journey. She believes that the award didn’t come soon enough.
“Missy is the bomb. She is one of the main female artists idolized. Her beats are moving, and soulful tunes are too milky, man,” Gainey said. “One of my favorite joints by her is ‘You Don’t Know’ featuring Lil Mo. Probably not all that much of a good vibrational song, but she gets her point across in a smooth way. Missy’s vocals be on one—her beats, too. She was well overdue for her award.”
Without hearing the artist admit to radio host Angie Martinez that she’d had to visit the hospital just hours before her performance, you wouldn’t believe that she was feeling any way other than iconic. ‘Misdemeanor’ hit the stage in four different outfits, performing six of her hits ranging from “I Can’t Stand the Rain” to “Get Your Freak On” to “Work It,” where Alyson Stoner, an original dancer in the 2002 music video, hit the stage to bring in nostalgia feels, all the way to “Pass the Dutch” and “Lose Control.”
Music producer, artist and FSU grad Sulaiman Miguel, known as Namilus Validity, appreciates Elliot’s craftsmanship in a song she produced that has a unique sound played regularly and a whole different sound played backwards.
“What influenced me most about Missy Elliott was her music videos and her animated side. I loved the production she and Timbaland used to do together,” Miguel said. “’I Can’t Stand the Rain’ is probably my favorite song from Missy Elliott. For the song that I like that’s her most creative, is her [hums sounds of backward lyrics] song, ‘Work It.’ It was creatively unique in that the sound was more lyrics when you listened to the song backwards.”
The music community certainly applauds the visionary for all she has done and trail-blazed throughout her career.
“I know you dig the way I swi-, swi-, switch my style,” Elliott sang in “Get Your Freak On.”
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