Missy Elliott Album: “Supa Dupa Fly [Edited]”

As a member of the R&B group Sista, Missy Elliott went almost unnoticed. It wasn't until years later, when she placed her trademark "hee-hee-hee-hee-ha" lyrics on a Gina Thompson remix that she achieved recognition. Missy's songwriting credits include a number of R&B hits (SWV's "Can We" and Aaliyah's "4 Page Letter"), and her familiar vocal style has been featured on some of the year's hottest remixes, including Li'l Kim's "Not Tonight".

Produced by Timbaland (Ginuwine, Aaliyah), SUPA DUPA FLY showcases the studio whiz's unique recording techniques. The tempos here are much slower than on the average hip-hop release, with rhythms akin to dancehall music. Missy doesn't limit herself to rap, either. Many of the songs on SUPA DUPA FLY fall easily into the R&B bag, especially when Missy swaps her hard-core hip-hop lyrics for a smooth laid-back approach.

Missy Elliot's Supa Dupa Fly is a revolutionary classic and makes an extremely strong case for best album of 1997. In 1997 Timbaland's beats were new and fresh to the industry. While he and Missy did earlier work on other's albums (Ginuwine- Pony, Aaliyah One In A Million, SWV Release Some Tension, Total's album and others) this was their first real full-length collaborative effort. Each has gone to record numerous solo efforts and have laced and are lacing countless hits for other artists today.

Missy's playful and simplistic rhyme style may turn off closed-minded underground fans. She does spit out an occasional jibberish line making you say huh. These momentary blurts give this album a raw freestyle feel. There is a thin line between being brilliant and being stupid or plum-dumb. Missy thankfully is on the brilliant side. Timbaland provides the nice, crisp, head nodding beats. Missy brings in her industry friends and they are all over this album. Guest artists such as Da Brat, Lil Kim, Busta Rhymes, 702, Magoo, Ginuwine, Aaliyah, Nicole and Space add to the pleasure.

On the real, I Love every song on here but I will give you my favorites on here. Sock It 2 Me featuring Da Brat is insanely tight with one of Timbalands best beats and Da Brat rips this up. The Rain, the super-mega hit that thrusted Missy into the public spotlight, is simply a masterpiece. This song wont ever get tiring. Missy's slow flow and Timbaland's uncanny skills behind the board is just simply amazing. Beep Me 911 is the most moving beat on the album and I love it. Friendly Skies is the prelude to Missy and Ginuwine's current hit Take Away. And to me, the best song on the album has got to be Best Friends featuring Aaliyah. Timbaland crafts an aural ear assault and Missy and Aaliyah's chemistry and harmonizing is beautiful.

To wrap this thing up, this was one of the most influential, and revolutionary recordings of the nineties. This effort along with others helped change the way beats were constructed and the way R&B songs sounded. It wounld not be a waste of money to buy this. If you like music and are open-minded I see no way that you can dislike this. Highly Recommended.

Timbaland is the real star of this hip hop/ soul epic . His production techniques, clean drum programs, bass heavy synths and squiggly samples are what drive this LP into new and uncharted territory. While Missy Elliott is a moderately talented singer/songwriter, her real saving grace is her producer. Her lack of ACTUAL TALENT is evident on tracks like the horn-driven "Sock It 2 Me" where Da Brat steals the show with a rapid fire, tongue twisting, frenetic delivery that leaves Missy choking on her dust. The title track is simply brilliant with it's herky-jerky rhythms, bass lines and staccato snare drops over non-sensical verses. This is the LP that made Missy a star, but more importantly, it established Tim Moseley as the most innovative producer of the last decade. Forget the words, just listen to the grooves.

I first heard "I can't stand the rain" on the radio and was hooked on the phat beats and the overall compostion and layout of the rhythm and her eclectic flow. The rest of the album showcases her productions skillz and singing. Overall, this album was refreshing, especially in today's Bad Boy rap industry. "Beep me 911" is one of the best jeep beats song this year. As time went on though, I started to get a little sick of it all, as I heard her cameo on every damn song on the radio, along with Timbaland and Magoo's voices in the background."Me I super fly, supa dupa fly";damn that gets REALLY tiring. She's definitely a great producer, along w/ Timbaland; it's just that her rapping style gets kinda tiring after awhile. Overall though, this album is pretty phat..i'd take it over Queenpen/CharliBaltimore/LilKim/FoxyBrown joint any day..

Missy Elliott had been a member of the band Sista where she also met up and coming Producer Timbaland, the band however didn't get much airplay and disbanded quickly. Missy teamed-up with partner in crime Timbaland and helped him record Aaliyah "One In A Million" and Ginuwine's "The Bachelor" both from 1996. The upcoming year it was time for her to record her own album "Supa Dupa Fly" and ofcourse Timbaland was the man behind this album aswell. The sound of this album would be revolutionary to both Hip Hop and R&B. Timbaland produced his first major Hip Hop album and the production style he used is still amazing to this day. Timbaland mostly produces his own music (without the use of samples) and he's heavily influenced by dance and new wave using a style that was nowhere to be found in the Hip Hop at this time with heavy bass bounce beats, synth stabs and diffrent kind of unpredictable sound effects and in many occasions he'd be mumbling a few rhymes in the backround of his songs aswell. Only a few years later many other producers would be copying his style and it the charts would be loaded with timbaland influenced copy cats. Missy Elliott is also one of a kind, she's a song writer, rapper and R&B Singer and her style can not be compared to anyone else around. While she may not be the best female rapper around, she's perhaps the most influentual and accessible with humouristic and improvising rhymes that are hardly deep but funny, sureal or just weird like on "The Rain" (Sway on dosie-do like you loco, Like CoCo, so-so / You don't wanna play with my Yo-Yo/ I smoke my hydro on the dee-low. Add all the funny sounds that she makes on her songs on top of this. Obviously "Supa Dupa Fly" is perfect for radio airplay but also artistic enough to stick out on it's own.

This serves a bluprint for both Timbaland and Missy's later music, but as diffrent that this album was when it came out and how much impact it later would have, it's impossible to not speak positively about it! I'll have to add that this is more R&Bish then many of her latter albums that goes further into the Hop Hop territory. Busta introduces the album but doesn't appear otherwise. After an all female first song called "Hit em wit Da Wee" with Lil Kim, one of the highlights arrive, "Sock It 2 Me". There's actually 2 versions of this song, one that samples The Delfonics "Ready Or Not" and the other one without the sample. DaBrat appeared on the video version with the sample. Her biggest hit of this album "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) samples Ann Peebles hit with the same name on it's hook and is obviously a highlight with it's unique sound lyrics. "Beep Me 911" which was also a single deals with a cheating boyfriend and feauture Magoo. This clearly shows a diffrent side of Missy more vulnerable and sensitive, ditto with "Don't Be Coming" where she demands respect from her man. "Pass the Blunt" borrows the hook from Musical Youth's reggae hit "Pass the Dutch" while Ginuwine and Aaliyah appear on "Friendly Skies" and "Best Friend", both slower songs that make up for the cocky and surealistic in your face uptempo's that most people associate with Missy's music. 2 more worthwile songs needs a mention "Izzy Izzy Ahhh" that is Missy in a nutshell and "Getaway" with Nicole Wray, both funny uptempo's. On the first one Missy sound high on something when she sings the hook and she also makes cat noises during the verse!. Busta does an outro and then the album closes with a short message fro Missy where she thanks her fans that bought the album and god for making it possible. You get 13 real songs, + one intro, outro, interlude and finale.

Overall, Timeless album and one of the best in Hip Hop I can think of, cause of it's originality, production and because it serves as a bluprint for both Timbaland and Missy's latter careers. This is also Missy's best album in my oppinion. Not only it was revolutionary but it combines uptemops with ballads and seriousness with wittyness. Something that some of her latter albums didn't have. Missy May not be Queen Latifah lyrically, but she's far more enterraining to listen to and her great combination of singing and rapping is rare in Hip Hop. She may not be very deep either, but I can ensure you that you'll find enough funny words and phrases in her playful lyrics that makes up for that. Having said that, This is a classic and I'll be recommending it to anyone that wants originality and great and well produced music.