Earlier this year, we learned that Missy Elliott had been inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame. She’s the first female rapper in the Hall, and only the third rapper. (She follows Jay-Z and Jermaine Dupri.) Last night, Elliott gave a tearful 10-minute acceptance speech, and Lizzo honored Elliott by performing her classic 1997 jam “Sock It 2 Me.”
As ABC News reports, Queen Latifah inducted Elliott into the Hall last night, and Michelle Obama sent in a congratulatory video message, saying, “Thank you not for just sharing your gift with the world, but for being an advocate for so many people out there, especially young girls who are still figuring out how to make their voices heard.” During her acceptance speech, Elliott said, “I want to say one thing to the writers, to the upcoming writers: Do not give up. We all go through writer’s block. Sometimes you just have to walk away from a record and come back to it. But don’t give up because I’m standing here. And this is big for hip-hop, too.”
Lizzo, who recently collaborated with Elliott on the single “Tempo,” wore Elliott’s trademark finger-wave hairdo, and she brought out Elliott’s “Sock It 2 Me” collaborator Da Brat to do her rapid-fire verse. It looks like Lizzo hit some big notes, too. Here’s some cell-phone video of the performance:
Lizzo performing in honor of Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Missy Elliot pic.twitter.com/4zYadUwtyF
— steve greenberg (@steviegpro) June 14, 2019
.@lizzo singing “Sock It 2 Me” last night at @MissyElliott‘s induction into the Songwriter’s Hall Of Fame pic.twitter.com/P9KmrNKR4n
— Missy’s Fingerwaves (@SupaMisdemeanor) June 14, 2019
Come through with those notes @lizzo. @sosobrat is so fu*king 🔥🔥🔥. Nailed it for @MissyElliott‘s induction into the #SongwritersHallOfFame ❤#MissyElliott #SupaFriends #Lizzo #DaBrat pic.twitter.com/4uaKD1D2SI
— MissyElliottUK🇬🇧 (@MissyElliottUK1) June 14, 2019
Missy Elliott is about as deserving an inductee as I can imagine — both for her own songs and for the tracks she wrote or co-wrote for people like Aaliyah, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and Beyoncé. Last night’s Songwriters Hall Of Fame class also included John Prine, Cat Stevens, Tom T. Hall, Dallas Austin, and Jack Tempchin.
This article originally appeared on Stereogum.
