Missy Elliott shouts out Diddy, Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa and more.
Missy Elliott recently teamed up with Doritos for a new Super Bowl commercial, which also featured Jack Harlow. The legendary artist now links up with Forbes for a new interview. “This is my second Doritos Super Bowl commercial, and I was very excited,” she reveals. “When they asked me to do it, I asked to see the script and said, ‘Oh, this is going to be funny.’ At first, when they asked me to try another angle, I was like, ‘Okay, this sounds serious,’ but then when I read the script, it was actually very funny.”
Elliott talked about supporting the upcoming generation of artists, just like she had when she was young. “It’s important for me to support this next generation because I also came in at a young age, and there’s nothing like having that support in someone,” she said. “I had people like Mary J. Blige and Diddy tell me what to do and how to be a go-getter, a hustler, be consistent and be different, things you need in this industry. A lot of times, it’s not as easy as it looks, and people only get a chance to see the glitz and glamour and don’t know what it’s like to go through things behind the scenes. So when you have that mentor, it’s everything, especially someone who has already been on that walk. It’s very important for me to be a big sister to those coming behind me because I had Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, and Salt-N-Pepa be that to me.”
Hip-Hop turned 50 this year, and Missy Elliott feels the contributions to the genre by female rappers needs more appreciation. “Women have played a big part in what we call hip-hop in- in this culture,” she said. “These women are my friends, and we don’t just come together when it’s time to perform; we speak on the phone and hang around each other, but I’m never in such a relaxed, comfortable space because I always think about how these are the same women that I looked up to and still do. They have kicked down the doors for all the women you see today in 2023. Even if the women that are out now may not be familiar with all of their records, they have to know that these women are the reason they’re able to be on many of these platforms.”
She added: “What made me say I want to be an emcee was Salt-N-Pepa. It felt like they were the whole package. They had the records, but they also made us want to dress like them. They were just smooth. They also danced and were the reason that I got into rapping.”
Missy Elliott is being celebrated in various ways recently. Along with her Super Bowl commercial appearance, the iconic rapper/producer has been bestowed with several honors since 2021. She received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was commemorated with a street in her hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia, and was immortalized with her first Madame Tussauds wax figure. At the 2023 Grammy Awards, she was presented with a Global Impact Award by the Recording Academy.
Check out her latest Super Bowl commercial below.
