Admit it. You thought Missy Elliott was gone. I certainly did. So did Missy, apparently.
"I was basically in the house, cleaning," Elliott told ID magazine when asked what she was doing when Pharrell gave her the call-up. "I had gone back to my normal life."
Thankfully, the rap pioneerdidn't take much convincing to get back into the studio, re-emerging with her new Pharrell-assisted video for WTF (Where They From), an almost perfect comeback single that has her sounding very much like the tongue-twisting Elliott of old.
In it, Elliott pokes fun at Miley Cyrus for "stickin' out your tongue", wears a silver jumpsuit covered in mirrors like a super stylish astronaut, and even manages to make the line, "Mmmmm, yak it to the yak" sound absolutely incredible.
It's a reminder that, at a time when cartoon rap brats like Nicki Minaj and Iggy Azalea get all the attention, Elliott deserves all the accolades. She started this shit with an iron-fisted grip on hip-hop in the early 2000s, dominating with her superior dance skills, superfast rhyme schemes, and some unique fashion choices.
She backed it up with her music; her run of near classic Timbaland-produced albums beginning with 2001's Miss E ... So Addictive, including her 2003 masterpiece This Is Not a Test! and ending with 2005's The Cookbook.
Since then, the news has been all bad, with two rubbish Timbaland singles in 2008, a scrapped album called Block Party and rumours of serious health issues stemming from a hyperthyroid disorder called Graves' disease. Fans, me included, were worried.
A scene from the WTF (Where They From) music video by Missy Elliott featuring Pharrell Williams.
That was until Elliott's surprise appearance at Katy Perry's Super Bowl half-time show, at which she managed to upstage the star. Then came the call from Pharrell, and this new single, which should have every Missy Elliott fan buying Biggie beanies out of sheer joy.
I know I am. Missy Elliott and Pharrell puppets just rose to the top of my Christmas wishlist. Missy, you're done fixing up your house, it's time to clean up the Nicki Minaj-sized mess you left behind for good.
