Missy Elliott

“I don't want to get caught up and be an artist always on the go. Because once you do that, it's hard to get into the studio and do what I do.”

“I was always feisty, always that kid that would be on the porch with a hairbrush singing or rapping.”

“I got to feel like what I'm giving the fans is 100 percent and that it's game-changing.”

“I didn't want to be a genius! That ain't cool.”

“I got caught up in doing records for other artists. I just stayed behind the scenes, and time just kinda passed.”

“I never stopped recording, but I went through a period where... The one thing that a lot of people don't know is that for as long as I've been as artist, I've been a writer and a producer.”

“I am very scared of wasps; my cousin was stung in the eye once.”

“I go out and date people, but I don't have that relationship, where you know, I'm like Jennifer Lopez, like I'm going to get married.”

“A lot of people don't know a lot of records that I've written or produced, so that's a highlight for me as a woman.”

“No, I'm a flirtatious person; I'll flirt all day long, but it really is hard to get into that when I'm so into the music, and I'm in the studio all day long and all night sometimes. That's not an exaggeration.”

“I still go on YouTube and watch the old performances and the 'Soul Train' lines. I'm still amazed by how much soul and funk the music and dancers had.”

“I used to put all my doll babies on my bed with their hands up and I would do full shows for them. I'd even do the screaming and clapping. I was bugging to be a singer.”

“I hear a lot of influence from me and Timbaland's whole sound in a lot of records of today. But if you have classics like that, then I'm sure you gotta expect that it's gonna influence some people. So, I'm fine with that.”

“Hip-hop is definitely not what it used to be, which was creative, original music.”

“I didn't want to just be an artist and let someone else have all that control over me. I knew I would have to produce.”

“When it comes to size, most people don't want to see themselves looking bigger than what they are.”

“I want people to feel the heat while they walk down the street and they're just kickin' it.”

“I don't just throw out microwave records.”

“When I create something, it's got to be special, and it can't just be to throw something out there because I feel like I'm Missy.”

“My father was very abusive, and it was hard for my mother at first to leave because we had depended on him for so long. Sometimes you kind of get adjusted to getting that beating.”