20 years today, an artist by the name of Missy Elliott took the world by storm with the release of her debut album titled Supa Dupa Fly.
Teaming up with her right hand producer by the name of Timbaland, Missy helped show herself as one of the most creative artists in hip hop at the time.
Following the tragic death of the Notorious B.I.G., hip hop was going into a brand new era. An era of shiny suits, and cartoonish videos. An era where it is ok to have fun in records.
It’s debut single “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” is a classic until this day. Directed by Hype Williams, the video was different than anything we have seen yet. Dancing around in an inflated trash bag was one of the images from the video that still stands out today.
After being part of the group Sista, and writing countless hits for others she wasn’t sure she wanted to make a solo album. Thankfully CEO of Elektra records at the time Sylvia Rhone helped convince her it was time.
Behind the sounds of Timbaland, Missy showed off all of her talent with 17 tracks with features from frequent collaborators Aaliyah, Ginuwine, 702, Da Brat, Lil’ Kim, and more.
The project solidified Timbaland and Missy Elliott as the dream team, as they continued to help change and shape hip hop’s look and sound in the mainstream for years to come. With that came a heavy workload which allowed them to fly back home to Virginia Beach and record the album in a small room in a classic album that only took one week to make.
She rapped, she sang, she did production, Missy soldified herself as a superwoman and a force to be reckoned with in hip hop & r&b with Supa Dupa Fly. Until this day it is still highly regarded as one of the biggest and most important projects of the post-Biggie era of the 1990’s.
It sold 129,000 copies sold in the first week, making it the highest debut for a female rapper at the time, and until this day has sold over 1.2 million copies.
Listen to the album below.