Portsmouth native Missy Elliott took a page from Beyoncé’s book overnight by dropping a surprise five-track album called “Iconology.”
It’s the rapper’s first album in 14 years, and she let everyone know about it at midnight with a tweet saying, “Let’s #ThrowItBack to a time when music just felt good and made us want to dance!”
The album has already hit the top five on US iTunes.
One of the songs, “Throw It Back,” also comes with a colorful dance-filled music video done in Elliott’s signature style. At the start, a young teenager find herself in the museum of Missy, but doesn’t know who “Missy Elliott” is. Before you know it, the whole block is Double-Dutching in Elliott’s braids. There’s references to her classic “Work It” and the famed MTV VMA Moon Man statue — Elliott dons a space suit to plant her own “ME” flag on the moon.
The whole album was produced by Elliott, Timbaland and Wili Hendrix. The other four songs are called, Cool Off” “DripDemeanor (Feat. Sum 1) “Why I Still Love You?” and “Why I Still Love You? (Acapella.)”
The album comes just before Elliott is set to receive the MTV Video Vanguard Award for lifetime achievement next week.
