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"She's a Bitch" | ||||
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Single by Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott | ||||
from the album Da Real World | ||||
Released | April 20, 1999 | |||
Studio | Master Sound Studios (Virginia Beach, Virginia) | |||
Length | 3:59 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Timbaland | |||
Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"She's a Bitch" on YouTube |
"She's a Bitch" is a song recorded by American rapper Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott. It was written by Elliott and Timbaland for her second album, Da Real World (1999), while production was helmed by the latter. The song was released by The Goldmind Inc. and Elektra Records as the album's lead single in April 1999.
Despite an expensive music video directed by video director Hype Williams, the song peaked only at number 90 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, with Da Real World's other singles "All n My Grill" and "Hot Boyz" going on to greater chart success. Elliott performed the song live on a number of occasions, including the 2017 VH1 Hip Hop Honors: The '90s Game Changers .
Speaking to Interview in 1999, Missy Elliott explained how she wished to highlight the double standard of using "bitch" to pejoratively denigrate certain behaviors in women, but not in men, arguing that "you don’t hear people call males bitches":
Music is a male-dominated field. Women are not always taken as seriously as we should be, so sometimes we have to put our foot down. To other people that may come across as being a bitch, but it's just knowing what we want and being confident. If I'm paying people and they're not handling my business right, I have to check them. 'Cause sometimes you're nice and people don't jump on what they're supposed to do, but if you go in there screaming at everybody—"Look, why aren't my posters up?" or "Why wasn't my single out on this day?"—then they jump right on it.
Keith Farley of AllMusic wrote that Missy Elliott "reappropriates the insult to refer to strong females", considering it "the best example" of her "satirical nods to other clichéd notions of hip-hop" present throughout Da Real World. [2] Timbaland's production contains influences of electro, with Charles Aaron of Spin characterising it as "firing short bursts of sound around Missy's short bursts of bitchery" as an "808 drum machine implodes in your face" during the breakdown. [3]
Writing for Rolling Stone , music journalist Touré praised "She's a Bitch" as "a furiously celebratory, slyly feminist anthem that reclaims an oppressive word, shattering its power to offend while burning down the clubs with a blazing beat and her roaring flow". [4] By contrast, in an otherwise positive review of Da Real World, David Browne of Entertainment Weekly dismissed "She's a Bitch" as "one of the album’s most unremarkable and most cluttered tracks", criticising its selection as the lead single. [5]
Stereogum and Paste ranked the song number ten and number nine, respectively, on their lists of the 10 greatest Missy Elliott Songs. [6] [7]
The "She's a Bitch" video was directed by Hype Williams on May 1, 1999; similar to his other clips for Elliott, Williams makes extensive use of unique effects, costuming, and sets. Highlights of the video include Elliott and her dancers being raised from underwater on a giant hydraulic "M", and also a complete set made from electroluminescent lighting.
All tracks written by Melissa Elliott and Timothy Mosley; produced by Timbaland and co-produced by Elliott. [8]
Credits lifted from the liner notes of Da Real World. [8]
Chart (1999) | Peak position |
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Australia (ARIA) [13] | 70 |
Germany (GfK) [14] | 84 |
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40 Tipparade) [15] | 6 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [16] | 53 |
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [17] | 26 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [18] | 90 |
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs ( Billboard ) [19] | 30 |
Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott, sometimes nicknamed as Misdemeanor, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She began on her musical career as a member of the R&B girl group Sista during the 1990s, who were part of the larger musical collective Swing Mob—led by DeVante Swing of Jodeci. The former group's commercially unsuccessful debut album, 4 All the Sistas Around da World (1994), was released by Elektra Records and met with positive critical reception. She collaborated with album's producer and Swing Mob cohort Timbaland to work in songwriting and production for other acts, yielding commercially successful releases for 702, Aaliyah, SWV, and Total. She then re-emerged as a solo act with numerous collaborations and guest appearances by 1996, and in July of the following year, she released her debut studio album, Supa Dupa Fly (1997).
Charlene Keys, better known by the stage name Tweet, is an American singer-songwriter.
Supa Dupa Fly is the debut studio album by American rapper Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, released July 15, 1997, on The Goldmind, East West, and Elektra Entertainment Group. The album was recorded and produced solely by Timbaland in October 1996, and features the singles, "The Rain ", "Sock It 2 Me", "Hit Em wit da Hee" and "Beep Me 911". Guest appearances on the album include Busta Rhymes, Ginuwine, 702, Magoo, Da Brat, Lil' Kim, and Aaliyah. The album was recorded in just two weeks.
Da Real World is the second studio album by American rapper Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, released on June 22, 1999, by East West, Elektra, and The Goldmind. The album is noted for adding a raunchier and darker style to Elliott's music, as well as including the overt political use of the term "bitch". The album features guest appearances from B.G., Juvenile, Lil' Mo, Nicole, Beyoncé, Eve, Eminem, Lady Saw, Da Brat, Aaliyah, Big Boi of Outkast, Lil' Kim, MC Solaar, and Redman.
"Work It" is a hip hop song written by American rapper Missy Elliott and her producer Tim "Timbaland" Mosley for Elliott's fourth studio album Under Construction (2002). The song's musical style, and production by Timbaland, were heavily inspired by old school hip hop from the early 1980s. It samples Run-D.M.C.'s "Peter Piper" and Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three's "Request Line".
The Goldmind, Inc. is an American record label founded in 1997 by rapper Missy Elliott. Elliott and Goldmind were once distributed through East West Records & Elektra Entertainment Group, Until 2004 when Time Warner sold WMG to a private investment group. The new owners then merged the Elektra with sister label Atlantic Records, transferring Elliott and Goldmind. Goldmind is home to Missy Elliott, specializing in R&B/hip-hop/soul music.
The discography of American rapper Missy Elliott consists of six studio albums, three compilation albums, one extended play, seventy-four singles and twenty solo music videos.
Make It Hot is the debut studio album by American singer Nicole Wray. The album was released in August 1998 through Missy Elliott's Elektra-distributed vanity label, The Goldmind. The album was produced by Missy Elliott and Timbaland. Some editions of the release credit Nicole as Nicole Ray, a name she only used here and on her single "I Can't See".
"Get Ur Freak On" is a song by American rapper Missy Elliott. It was written and produced by Elliott and Timbaland for her third studio album Miss E... So Addictive (2001). Based on heavy bhangra elements, a popular music and dance form from the region of Punjab in India, the song features a six-note base that is a Punjabi melody played on a tumbi and rhythm and bassline played on tabla.
"Oops (Oh My)" is a song by American singer Tweet from her debut studio album, Southern Hummingbird (2002). It features vocals from American rapper Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, who co-wrote the song with Tweet, while production was handled by Timbaland. The song was released on January 11, 2002, as the album's lead single.
"Hot Boyz" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Missy Elliott featuring American rapper and singer-songwriter Lil' Mo. The remix version of the song was an urban hit featuring Nas, Eve and Q-Tip. The remix broke the record for most weeks at number-one on the US R&B chart on the issue dated January 15, 2000; as well as spending 18 weeks at number one on the Hot Rap Singles from December 4, 1999, to March 25, 2000, a record not broken until "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X in 2019. The song also reached number 5 on the US Hot 100 on January 15, 2000. In the UK, the song became the biggest hit from the Da Real World album; it peaked at #18, being Missy's sixth top 40 and fourth top 20 solo success. On February 4, 2000 the song was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
"One Minute Man" is a song written by American rapper Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott. It was written and produced by Elliott and Timbaland for her third studio album Miss E... So Addictive (2001) and features guest vocals by rapper Ludacris. Incorporating elements of oriental music, the song deals with premature ejaculation. Elliott, a rapper, also sings on the record.
"Make It Hot" is the first single from Nicole's debut album of the same name. The single was released on June 2, 1998. The single was written by Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, Tim Mosley, and A. Richards, and was produced by Timbaland. The song features Mocha and Missy Elliott and uncredited lead and background vocals from Keli Nicole Price.
"All n My Grill" is the second single from Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott's 1999 album, Da Real World. The song featured Big Boi of Outkast and vocal ad-libs from her former protégé, Nicole Wray. The song had more success than the first single, "She's a Bitch".
"The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" is the debut solo single by American rapper Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott. It was written and composed by Don Bryant, Bernard "Bernie" Miller, Elliott, and producer Timbaland for her debut album Supa Dupa Fly (1997) and contains a sample of Ann Peebles' 1973 single "I Can't Stand the Rain", whose lyrics serve as the chorus.
"Sock It 2 Me" is a song recorded by American rapper Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott featuring American rapper Da Brat. It was written by Shawntae Harris, William Hart, Thom Bell and producer Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley for her debut album Supa Dupa Fly (1997) and released as the album's second single in a slightly re-recorded form. The song is based on a sample from the 1968 single "Ready or Not Here I Come " by the Delfonics.
"Hit 'Em wit da Hee" is a single by singer/rapper Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott. The track is found on her debut album, 1997's Supa Dupa Fly. The single was not eligible to chart in the U.S., and it was a success overseas, reaching No. 25 in the UK, her fourth consecutive top 40 hit. The music video edit of the song contains sampled strings from the Björk song "Jóga". In The U.S. the album version was released to radio and it received minor mainstream urban radio airplay and peaked at No. 61 on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Released from Supa Dupa Fly, it was the final single from the album during summer 1998.
"Take Away" is a song by American rapper Missy Elliott. It was written by Elliott and Timbaland for her third studio album, Miss E... So Addictive (2001), while production was helmed by the latter, with Elliott and Craig Brockman served as co-producers. The downtempo track features guest vocals from R&B singer Ginuwine. While the album version of "Take Away" credits background vocals by 702 member, Kameelah Williams, the single version replaces Williams's vocals with then-newcomer, Elliott's former protégée Tweet.
"Take That" is the debut single by American R&B singer, Torrey Carter. It features guest vocals by Carter's former mentor Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott and was released as the lead single from Carter's unreleased debut album, The Life I Live (2000).
"Lick Shots" is a buzz single by American recording artist Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott from her third album, Miss E... So Addictive (2001). The song was written and produced by both Elliott and frequent collaborator Timbaland.
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