Songoftheday 9/14/22 - Missy be puttin' it down I'm the hottest 'round, I told y'all mother-ooh y'all can't stop me now...

 

 

"Get Ur Freak On" - Missy Elliott

from the album Miss E...So Addictive (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 19

 

Today's song comes from rapper/singer/producer/writer Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, who had landed in the top five of the American pop chart with her #1 R&B hit "Hot Boyz" in the beginning of 2000.  The following year, Missy returned with her third studio album Miss E...So Addictive. The lead single from the set was "Get Ur Freak On", which she wrote with producer Tim "Timbaland" Mosley. Borrowing from the Indian folk music called bhangra, the experiment in rhythm had Missy calling you to the dancefloor with a hypnotizing beat that wasn't like much else around. The record is more about the beat than the lyrics, which have her playing with syllable delivery while calling out long-time collaborator Timbaland (who will be back to this series on his own terms). The production is the key here, as the repetitive tumbi hook just grabs you in and will not let go. And cementing herself as the queen of the music video, this spectacle is all you need in a Missy video, from the crazy sets to the dance breaks to the cavalcade of star cameos. In return Elliott went back up the pop and R&B charts...

 

"Get Ur Freak On" became Missy's second top ten hit as a lead artist (and fifth overall) in June of 2001. The song spent a week at #3 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart, while getting to #7 on the Rap Singles list. On the radio, the track went to #19 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart, topped the R&B Airplay list for a week, and rose to #3 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single made the top ten in the United Kingdom (#4, her highest-charting hit as a lead) and the Netherlands (#9),  and reached the top-40 in Canada (#12), Switzerland (#16), Belgium (#17F/#21W), Germany (#19), Sweden (#22), New Zealand (#24), Ireland (#25), and France (#39). The Miss E... album, released in May of that year, spent a week at #2 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, while spending two weeks at #2 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2002, "Get Ur Freak On" won the awards for Best Rap Solo Performance, while losing Best R&B Song to Alicia Keys' "Fallin'". Another track from the album, the non-single "Scream aka Itchin'" won for the Best Female Rap Solo Performance in 2003. But Missy and the album will be back to the series.

(9/10)

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Missy brought on newcomer Nelly Furtado for her Tonight Show performance of the song...

She brought it all our for the MTV Video Music Awards, where the song was nominated in six categories, though criminally shut out that year...

and lastly, on a televised Korean show from 2013....

Up tomorrow: This Atlanta duo is showered and ready to go.