If Chuck D was right when he said that rap music is the black community's CNN, then Missy (Misdemeanor) Elliott is a black woman's version of Lifetime. Her songs have more drama than a soap opera during sweeps month. The territory Elliott mines is purely emotional: broken hearts, the anxiety of unpaid bills and the sometimes vicious competition among women. "A lot of times," says Elliott, "I walk down the street and listen to people argue, and then I write a song about it."
Elliott has just released "Da Real World," (The Gold Mind/Elektra) the follow-up to her platinum debut album, "Supa Dupa Fly." The first single, the electric "She's A Bitch," is in heavy rotation on MTV and BET. But Missy Elliott the artist is only one province of the Missy Elliott empire. At 27, she has already written or produced hit songs for such artists as Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Aaliyah, SWV and Paula Cole. A savvy businesswoman, Elliott founded The Gold Mind, a label on Elektra Records, in 1997. Most of her growing fortune comes from publishing deals, commanding up to $100,000 to write a song. "You don't make any money being an artist," Elliott says. "Writing and producing? You get your money from that. You live comfortable." She's also venturing into the world of TV. Elliott and rapper Busta Rhymes are in negotiations to star in their own Saturday-morning cartoon.
She says that she is the "bitch" in her new single, but Elliott comes across as just the opposite. Sitting in a conference room at her New York-based record company, she is dressed in a T shirt and sweat pants. The only nod to her celebrity is the massive diamond ring on her right hand. She is soft-spoken and laughs easily. "For me, 'bitch' is a strong word for a female," Elliott says. "If you notice a Chaka Khan or an Aretha Franklin, they were called bitches because they didn't let you run all over them."
Elliott learned a lot about standing up for herself in Portsmouth, Va. She watched her mother endure physical abuse, something that Elliott has only recently felt comfortable discussing. "I chose to talk about it because a lot of kids go through it," Elliott says. In April, she became a spokesperson for Break the Cycle, a national foundation that educates kids about domestic violence. As a child, she wrote letters to Michael Jackson and waited each day for him to come and pick her up at school, rescuing her from the nightmare at home. It never happened, but watching her own mother get out of an abusive marriage was transformative. "She packed up and we left," says Elliott. "Seeing my mother become very strong and very independent had a huge impact on me."
While Elliott's lyrics are as sister-girlfriend as a Terry McMillan novel, what makes her so interesting musically is the innovative sound that she and her producing partner, Timbaland, have devised. "Da Real World" with its syncopated beats and electronica samples, is both totally ghetto and totally futuristic. The double-time beat that Elliott and Timbaland, whom she met as a teenager in Virginia, created for R&B singer Aaliyah has been so imitated that she says, "sometimes, me and Tim turn on the radio and say, 'Did we do that record?' " Her music videos powerfully distinguish her from the girls-'n-the-'hood rappers, such as Queen Latifah, who preceded her. Drawing from such diverse influences as Japanese anime and futuristic science-fiction movies, Elliott's visual imagery puts her closer to the alternative rock border than most rappers care to visit.
Elliott's not just changing the face of hip-hop; she's also overhauled her personal life. She's lost 30 pounds in the last year or so. "No diet," she says. "Just have a cupcake, get on the treadmill for an hour, have another cupcake." She's given up her daily marijuana habit, too. "It was a spiritual decision," says Elliott. "I come from a very religious background. When my mother reads this, she's gonna say, 'I didn't even know you were smoking!' " These days, Elliott's idea of a good time is strictly rated G. "I go to the amusement park," says Elliott, who is single and divides her time between homes in New Jersey and Virginia. "The fun part of being an entertainer is that you call up Six Flags and you say, 'I'm coming' and you get to get on all the rides before everyone. I hate standing in line." She shouldn't worry. When it comes to innovating rap music, Missy Elliott is always at the front of the line.