Filed under: design of a decade, lists, music | Tags: 2002, design of a decade, missy elliott, outkast
[Yay! We're finally at the end of my wrap-up of my 10 favorite songs from 2002.]
1. Missy Elliott, Work It, and Outkast, The Whole World
Missy Elliott’s fourth album, Under Construction, is a tribute to her old-school hip-hop heroes. It’s also the Virginia rapper’s poppiest record, and her best-selling effort to date. And needless to say, because it’s Missy Elliott, it’s also completely nuts.
Work It, the album’s first (and craziest) single, kicks off with a sample from Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three’s 1984 classic Request Line. Then the song quickly moves into a snaky synth pattern appropriated from the intro to Blondie’s Heart Of Glass. Over Timbaland’s simmering production, Missy raps at length about her chocha, her weight loss, and all the different ways that she’s horny. But there’s also an elephant trumpeting in the chorus, and some lines played backwards, and twenty-five seconds before it’s over it turns into a completely different song, just for the hell of it.
