Why Is Supa Dupa Fly So Important To Missy Elt?

1997 was the year that hip hop felt a tremendous impact from female MC's. While a soulful B-girl from Dallas, Texas name Erykah Badu would shake the genre up in the first quarter of the year with her debut album "Baduizm," another female MC, coming straight out of Virginia, would follow right behind her in the second quarter. Like Ms. Badu, this female rapper's debut would go on to receive acclaim from music critics by not being timid to step outside of the box. That artist is none other than hip hop legend Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot & 20 years later her debut album "Supa Dupa Fly" is still considered as one of the most unique hip hop albums in history.

There are many factors as to why "Supa Dupa Fly" is one of the most unique hip hop albums

Missy wanted to make records for other artists not for herself, which explains why you can find big name acts such as Busta Rhymes, Lil Kim, Da Brat, Ginuwine, 702, & the late great Aaliyah throughout the album, some who you would later on have hits that were written by Missy herself. She also acknowledged during the interview that the lack of fear of succeeding brought the best out of her while creating "Supa Dupa Fly." Throughout the album it seemed as if Missy went into the booth with an unbothered mindset & freestyled the first things that came to her head, especially on songs such as "Bite Our Style," "I'm Talkin," & "Getaway." However, that carefree attitude was able to blossom because of the support the hip hop artist received from then CEO of Elektra Entertainment Group Sylvia Rhone, who Missy states encouraged her to always be herself, "Sylvia was just one of those people who never asked me to change anything about me. She never asked me to drop ten pounds or make a record like this. She never did that, with me or Busta." So what is the end result of a young, talented music artist with a nonchalant attitude of the success of her first album who has the support from her label to be herself while creating music? The result is a

Coming out strong with her debut single "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)," plus a crazy video to match directed by iconic hip hop video director Hype Williams, hip hop eagerly embraced the music that came from the groovy fun weird MC. During her interview on Sway In The Morning Missy Elliot talked about having to prove that even though she didn't possess the criteria look, she was indeed a star by saying "You gotta think at the time everybody was in they little bathing suits and you got the big girl come in this trash bag. Everyone came with the good Indian weave and here I come with finger waves and the black gel. I was totally opposite, but I think it gave it some type of balance & it creates my own lane where it didn't feel like I was clashing with nobody. It was like she crazy, there's something about her that I like, but she crazy." She was right, fans worldwide loved Missy's crazy approach to music because it created more variety in hip hop & R&B. "Supa Dupa Fly" destroyed the notion that you had to have a certain criteria look to be successful opening doors for future acts like Ludacris, Kanye West, M.I.A., A$AP Ferg, Tyler The Creator, &