Missy Elliot has revealed that her iconic 2001 hit, Turn on your freakalmost never came to fruition.
In an interview with Rolling stone, the rapper and R&B legend explained that the song almost didn’t make it onto her groundbreaking third studio album Mrs. E… So addictive because producer Timbaland was exhausted and ready to end it all in the studio.
“He just started hitting something,” she said. “He was banging on the keyboard because he was ready to go.”
Despite Timbaland’s fatigue, Elliott persisted, emphasizing that the album needed one more song.
“And he hit something and I thought, ‘That’s it right there.’ And he said, ‘What? What are you talking about?’ I just went into the booth and made the record,” she stated.
While she was writing the song, Elliott also visualized the choreography that would accompany it.
“I spent so much time with dancers,” she explained.
The rain rapper also noted, “From my first time on tour I had 22 dancers… When I’m making that record, I think about my dancers. I could just see them moving towards it.”
Rolling stone named Turn on your freak the best song of the 21st century so far in October.
Elsewhere in the interview, Elliott, who last released a collection of songs with the 2019 EP Iconologyteased that she is working on new music.
“I have something in the works,” she told the outlet.
“It’s just different. I’m experimenting again… I’ve got some stuff coming. Some fire,” Missy Elliot confirmed.
