"Do I Still Have It?" - Missy Elliott Speaks On The Inspiration For Her Triumphant Return
The world is a blaze with excitement over the resurgence of the incomparable Missy Elliott, who just last week delivered a comeback single for the ages in "WTF (Where They From)", paired, of course, with a jaw-dropping visual that can only be described as a true, blue return to form. And while, no one wants to count their blessings, it does seem odd that outside of an absolutely spectacular Super Bowl performance, the world has seen little, if any Missy since the release of her last solo project Cookbook back in 2005.
And so we ask, what sparked Missy Misdemeanor's radiant resurgence? Who/what brought her back to the world with such a glorious glow? Luckily for you, me and the entirety of the Missy-loving world, I-D has caught up with on-again, off-again recluse of a visionary to find out just that. Below you'll find a few musings from the interview, including how "WTF" copilot Pharrell reinvigorated her and how for an artist who never quite fit the mold, fitting in was never even on the table. Hit the link for the full-script.
>>>Read the full interview (via I-D)
Pharrell stayed in her ear:
"Who turns down Pharrell? He flew me to LA and he put me up and we got in the studio and he said 'Yo! I got this crazy beat'. You know, Pharrell, he's very zen, very yoga, he's such a sweetheart. But this time, he was straight from the hood, like 'Yo, I got this crazy record for you, I already wrote my rap, I gotta get your bars now'. So he played it and once he played it, it was like 'Oh my goodness' He said 'I know you gon' kill it'. I said, 'Well, let me take it home and live with it'."
How the game has changed:
"I think the music industry, it's a lot of great artists out there. I must say that. Adele, she's most definitely killing the right now. I understand someone like a Rihanna. She's a superstar, I get it. Beyoncé, well she's from our era, and she's beyond that! What I love about Kanye is that he doesn't fit the mold either. He does what he feels. People might look at him like, 'Kanye at it again', but I can respect the fact and I can tell when he does his music it's not 'I'm doing what's hot right now'. That's what I felt in the studio. So I can appreciate artists like that. People, I think they are fiending for more of that, that's why Adele could take that rest and come back. That's how it used to be. She's shown people that when you've got talent, those solid fans will wait for you. So, yeah, it's a lot of great stuff out there."
