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LOS ANGELES — In a 24,000-square-foot studio near Downtown Los Angeles, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes and Ciara are preparing to film a tour video announcement that no one saw coming.
This summer, the trio – along with renowned producer Timbaland – will hit the road for Elliott’s first major arena tour, appropriately titled “Out of This World – The Missy Elliott Experience.”
“Listen, I didn’t even realize I didn’t have my own tour,” says a smiling Elliott, who is holding her little Yorkie named Fendi while wearing Gucci. “The last real tour I went on — like, consecutive days — was with Beyoncé and Alicia.”
That was in 2004.
Call it long overdue, but the timing is ideal. Over the years, Elliott – the visionary artist – has been recognized for his talents as a musician, producer, songwriter and beyond.
In 2019, she became the first female rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the MTV Video Music Awards. In 2021, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2022, a boulevard was named after him in his hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia. Last year, she became the first female hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“Getting those accolades, I feel like I’ve finally made it,” says Elliott. “It feels amazing. I feel so blessed.”
“What we’re seeing now is the rest of the world catching up,” says Mona Scott-Young, Elliot’s longtime manager and tour co-producer. “She’s always been ahead.”
In his green room, Busta Rhymes explains that a tour was never negotiated with Elliott during their decades of friendship and collaboration.
“She doesn’t really tour and she doesn’t perform that often. I just understood my sister – the unspoken thing,” he says. “You knew that if she decided to do that, get to the point where she was actually ready to tour, s— was going to be crazy because the one thing Missy had never done was do that with her production. Messing. And you saw it in everything he did, from his shows to his videos.
He further said, ‘Missy would turn down $10 million to do a show. …That way and without any compromise she has great control over her destiny, which has made her incredibly great. There’s nothing you can do for him except love him. She is a true artist in the purest form of the word.”
And make no mistake, this is not a nostalgia trip.
“We are in the best places we have individually and collectively in our lives, we are in the most experienced places in our lives,” Rhimes says. “We are no longer Daniel-san. Now we’re all Mr. Miyagi senseis. you know what I’m saying? We are all at a level of perfection in what we have been doing and building as a collective family for 30 years.
Eliot echoed this sentiment.
“The lineup feels like something special,” says Elliott. “It’s family. “It hasn’t been put together.”
On set, the trio are styled by longtime collaborator June Ambrose — looking all black, as if the Avengers were impeccably dressed and made up of R&B and hip-hop legends. They take photos as a group and individually.
After her solo photo shoot, Ciara starts crying.
“When I was a little girl, a little artist would come up and you’d ask me, ‘Who inspires you?’ I would include a combination of people: Michael Jackson and Prince and I would say Missy Elliott. She’s one of the best artists of all time,” he said.
“She means a lot to me as an artist, but also as a human being, as a sister. She’s always someone I can tell the truth to, and she has to keep it real with me. She is someone I can call and cry to if I need to.
But ask them if there will be any collaborations on stage — Elliott wrote and was featured on Ciara’s big hit “1, 2 Step”; Ciara is on Elliot’s “Lose Control” – she laughs. “Missy is very special. I don’t want to ruin any surprises,” she says. “I think people will be on their feet from beginning to end. We all have a lot of energetic records.”
“Someone’s going to die!” Rhymes jokes.
“And get back to life,” Ciara interjects.
“Let’s keep it positive,” laughs Rhimes. “Someone’s going to die and come back to life.”
Later, Elliot gives a hint at what fans can expect from the show. “It’s an experience, it’s not just seeing the artist on stage,” she says. “I want people to travel through those moments, those videos, I want you to relive it on stage. It sure is a lot of nice, nice stuff. Expensive stuff!”
“Out of This World – The Missy Elliott Experience” will begin on July 4 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia and conclude on August 22 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.
It will hit Seattle; Oakland, California; Los Angeles; Las Vegas; Denver; Austin, Texas; Houston; Fort Worth, Texas; Tampa, Florida; Sunrise, Florida; Atlanta; baltimore; Hampton, Virginia; Philadelphia; Washington DC; Newark, New Jersey; Boston; Brooklyn, New York; Detroit; Montreal and Toronto.
The tour is produced by Young’s Monami Entertainment and Live Nation. Presale begins tomorrow and tickets will be available to the general public on Friday.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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