Missy Elliott - Get Ur Freak On

February 02, 2017 Critic Jonni 0 Comments


Get Ur Freak On - Missy Elliott |

Missy Elliott hasn't been a part of my blog much, so I thought: why not do an old music video of hers for my Thursday Revisit... And so, here we are, with this awesome song that is still catchy today. I recently reviewed an Indiginis Re-Work of this song for Outlet Magazine, which has totally changed the song completely. This is why I like Thursday Revisits because here is an epic music video from back in the day that is still complete fire. Missy Elliott brings it completely for this "Get Ur Freak On" music video, with Timberland in the background and an on-point dance troupe. It's time to get ur freak on!

Missy Elliott, real name Melissa Elliott, was at the height of her career when this song came out. It became one of her biggest hits and became current a second time in the UK when it was used for a promotional campaign television advertisement. She went on to have even bigger and more successful singles and has collaborated with some of the biggest artists in the industry. She is at the top when it comes to female rappers. This song hit number four on the UK chart. It was written by Melissa Elliott and Tim Mosley.

The track starts off with a guy saying this, in Japanese: "Kore kara minna de mechakucha odotte. Sawagou, sawagou." Translated into English, it means: "Everyone start dancing together wildly now. Let's make some noise, let's make some noise." There are other languages used throughout.

The music video itself was directed by Dave Meyers, who has nailed the whole visual in memorable ways. It's a pure performance piece from Missy Elliott, that completely works with the song.

This is one of her most iconic music videos. This is not because of the dance troupe, with their epic choreography that they perfect throughout this video, even Missy Elliott gets involved. It's technically brilliant, and although it looks simple, I assure you it isn't. What makes this iconic is the editing.

This video was released in 2001, so it just shows how ahead of the game the editing team were. They made Missy Elliott's head extend out from her body in a snake-like neck lurch. What is grossly-awesome, though, is that Missy Elliott spits at one of the dancers, and we follow the spit with the camera and watch the dancer gobble it up and swallow her spit. It is also in line with the lyrics of the song.

The ending of the video switches the song up even more, it wasn't enough that Timberland is just chilling there behind Missy Elliott, she just has to prove her rapping skills at the end, and she is fierce. If there's one track you want to see Missy Elliott perform live, it's this one; and if there's a rap music video that is dated but still completely amazing, it's this one!
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