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    Missy Elliott, Pop World Builder, Brings a Hip-Hop Fantasia to Brooklyn

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    For her first headlining tour in an innovative three-decade career, Elliott unleashed a relentless and exhilarating display of theatrical and visual ambition.It’s nearly impossible to fathom that until this summer, almost three decades into her career, Missy Elliott had never headlined an arena tour. One of the most influential hip-hop and pop performers, songwriters and producers of all time, she built a career on hyperreal imagery and music that suggested an intergalactic, quirky, sensual future that even now feels fanciful and far-off.And judging by the performance Elliott, 53, delivered at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Monday night, it would have been impossible to ascertain that she’d never toured at this level before. The deftness and imagination on display suggested a performer with a hyperdeveloped sense of image-making, a bone-deep understanding of her catalog, and a desire to make up for lost time and opportunity.The tour, titled Out of This World — the Missy Elliott Experience, was a taut, relentless and exhilarating 75 minutes full of theatrical and visual ambition. At times, it had the complexity and density of recent peak pop spectacles, like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, or the Weeknd’s 2021 Super Bowl halftime show. But it was also kin to the films of Baz Luhrmann, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics — events in which precision, creativity and absurdism comfortably coexist, and actually rely upon each other.The show was less a conventional concert than a dynamic carnivalesque D.J. set of strung-together Elliott smashes (her own, mainly, but at one point late in the night, some which she wrote or produced for others, like Aaliyah). It presented as one grand adventure — the front-loaded section of hits like “Sock It 2 Me,” “I’m Really Hot” and “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” (which was preceded by a quizzical nod to “Singin’ in the Rain”) wasn’t much more distinctive than the mid-show run of sex romps “Get Ur Freak On,” “One Minute Man” and “Hot Boyz.” And neither of those sections was more commanding than the sometimes choppy closing run, peppered with laser-beam bouncers like “Work It” and “Lose Control.” The less effective songs sprinkled throughout worked as accent pieces, but also at times undermined the potency of her biggest hits.But Elliott was trying to make a point: Like all the most memorable and durable pop heroes, she has built a worldview much bigger than any one of her songs.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Grammys Celebrate Hip-Hop History, From Grandmaster Flash to Lil Uzi Vert

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      In what could be seen as an elaborate mea culpa to rap music after decades of friction and perceived disrespect, the Grammy Awards dedicated an extended, centerpiece performance on Sunday to the forthcoming 50th anniversary of hip-hop, going from Grandmaster Flash to Lil Uzi Vert in about 15 minutes.Featuring a taste of some two dozen songs from across decades, regions and movements, the medley — curated by Questlove of the Roots and narrated by his bandmate Black Thought, plus LL Cool J and Queen Latifah — included deep cuts, smash hits and fan favorites in a rapid-fire fashion. The performance celebrated the half-centennial of the genre, which many in the industry have dated to Aug. 11, 1973, when DJ Kool Herc threw a back-to-school party with his sister in the rec room of an apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx.Opening with Grandmaster Flash performing his traditional record-scratching and drum-machine techniques, the first of three segments breezed through the late 1970s and 1980s with appearances by Run-DMC, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Salt-N-Pepa, Rakim and Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Flava Flav. (Jazzy Jeff — along with the Fresh Prince, a.k.a. Will Smith — and Salt-N-Pepa were among the first-ever Grammy nominees in a rap category, though both groups boycotted the ceremony in 1989 because the award was not being televised.)Representing the next waves, including early gangster rap, Southern hip-hop and 21st-century pop crossovers, were artists like Queen Latifah, Big Boi of Outkast and Missy Elliott, who performed her 2005 hit “Lose Control,” which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. In a showstopping moment, Busta Rhymes transitioned from “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See,” his 1997 single, to his 2011 verse on Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now,” a feat of vocal speed, verbal dexterity and breath control.Moving toward the present day in the high-energy third act, Nelly, Too Short and the Lox made way for the current crop of rap stars, including Lil Baby and GloRilla.Concluding the set was Lil Uzi Vert, hitting viral dance moves alongside LL Cool J, to his Jersey club-influenced TikTok hit “Just Wanna Rock,” as clear an example as any of how unpredictably hip-hop has evolved.Here’s the full set list:Grandmaster Flash, “Flash to the Beat”/“The Message”Run-DMC, “King of Rock”LL Cool J and DJ Jazzy Jeff, “I Can’t Live Without My Radio”/“Rock the Bells”Salt-N-Pepa, “My Mic Sounds Nice”Rakim, “Eric B. Is President”Chuck D and Flavor Flav, “Rebel Without a Pause”Black Thought and LL Cool J interlude (“Rump Shaker”)Posdnuos of De La Soul, “Buddy”Scarface, “Mind Playing Tricks on Me”Ice-T, “New Jack Hustler (Nino’s Theme)”Queen Latifah, “U.N.I.T.Y.”Method Man, “Method Man”Big Boi of Outkast, “ATLiens”Busta Rhymes, “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See”/“Look at Me Now”Missy Elliott, “Lose Control”Nelly, “Hot in Herre”Too Short, “Blow the Whistle”The Lox and Swizz Beatz, “We Gonna Make It”Lil Baby, “Freestyle”GloRilla, “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)”Lil Uzi Vert, “Just Wanna Rock” More

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      Busta Rhymes Claims His 'Verzuz' Battle With T.I. Would Be 'Uncivil A**-Beating'

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      WENN/JLN Photography

      Prior to this, the Atlanta hip-hop star angered Busta after he turned down his rap battle invite, claiming that the Brooklyn-bred rapper was too old to go against him in a song battle.

      Nov 2, 2020
      AceShowbiz – Busta Rhymes believes that T.I. should be grateful for not going against him in a “Verzuz” battle. During his appearance on Hot 97’s “Ebro in the Morning”, Busta claimed that he would easily beat down Tip, who previously turned down his challenge for a song battle.
      “Let’s be clear. You said that you didn’t think me and T.I. would be a good ‘Verzuz’,” Busta told Ebro in the Friday, October 30 episode. “Direct response to that: Neither do I. It would be uncivil, that a**-beating.”
      Referring to Fat Joe, Busta went on to say, “But what I’m saying is, I never asked to do a ‘Verzuz’ with T.I. That’s my brother and I love him, but I never asked to do a ‘Verzuz’ with him. Joe Crack was telling me that I see what was going on between him and [50 Cent]. And when 50, you know, kind of brushed him off, did I also hear this thing that T.I. was expressing about his issues with New York MCs.”
      “[Joe] asked me if the opportunity to do a ‘Verzuz’ against T.I., would I do it? Motherf**king right,” Busta said on Hot 97. “And that don’t just go for T.I., that goes for any artist from any timeframe, any era of hip-hop.”

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      “T.I., it is intriguing to me that you have such a concern with New York MCs,” the Brooklyn-bred rapper said. “I wanna understand what that’s about. But, from one brother that loves you to my brother that knows I love him, I’m begging you to step in the ring with me. I’ma bust yo a** … Come on T.I., let’s have fun.”
      “I worked hard throughout these years, man, and I’ve been very consistent throughout these years. And I speak from a place of pride,” he continued. “I’m speaking from a place of being very clear of the fact that I’ve earned my right … to be very, very confident. I’m not speaking from a ‘stroking my own ego’ place, but I don’t think anybody can actually have a problem with me actually stroking my own ego if I chose to. Because I’ve earned it–justifiable so. Bust anybody’s ass on any stage, don’t matter who was the lineup … Bust anybody’s a** on whatever record that I had to be on….”
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      Prior to this, T.I. turned down Busta’s rap battle invite because the latter was too old. “Busta’s one of the most phenomenal talents of our time, man,” Tip responded to the challenge. “I salute and respect Busta a whole lot. I just think the generational gap might be a little too much.”
      Busta was quick to hit back at Tip. “It’s okay to let people know that you backed down from this ‘Verzuz’ offer. It’s okay, Tip. You’ve ‘respectfully declined.’ I guess that’s the fancy way to say that you turned down this ‘Verzuz’ battle,” the Brooklyn rapper said in his video. “You want to talk about generational gap? That’s a very respectful way of not saying that you don’t really want to sit in the smoking section with me and that you actually just turned down the opportunity to do this ‘Verzuz’ battle with me. It’s cool, Tip. You can say it, King of the South!”

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