Missy Elliott opened the VH1 Hip Hop Honours show with a full flames performance of her 1999 hit “She’s a Bitch”. The night was celebrating the hip hop greats of the 90s era – Lil’ Kim, Mariah Carey and more – and the rapper set things off to an incredible start.
Performing her single from her second album, Da Real World, Missy rebooted the original Hype Williams-directed video, visually referencing the slick, dark production by dressing in head-to-toe black and leather, with a legion of painted and bejewelled back up dancers. Missy began the show submerged underwater, before launching into the fiery show.
“I was underwater 4 8 seconds I think,” she said on Twitter. “My make up & bald head took 7 hours to put on 2 & a half 2 take off! I had to use powder to get in suit.”
Remy Ma, Ty Dolla $ign, Mariah Carey, Trina and more also performed at the ceremony.
Though Missy wasn’t officially honoured at the show – she was at last year’s though – elsewhere, thousands in around the world and in her hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia have signed a petition to erect a statue of the rapper, in place of a confederate monument.
Watch the astounding performance below, and read back on our Supa Dupa Fly retrospective here.
