"Work It" by Missy Elliot
Effortlessly cool. Instantly iconic ear-candy. The vocal track here is laid back and uber-confident. The bass digs, the layers are thick, and the detail is off the charts.
Much like Missy herself, the beat drop in "Work It" isn't asking for permission. It lands hard, and grinds and wriggles from your brain into your hips. Then Missy shows the fuck up with a crass sex-forward bombast and lewd magnetism typically reserved for MCs with a Y chromosome. She is a perfect match for the cocktail of craft and chaos in this brash sonic confection. The bass digs deep, the layers are thick, and the detail is off the charts.
Effortlessly cool. Instantly iconic ear-candy. The vocal track here is laid back and uber-confident with an urgency and charisma that doesn’t rely on volume. It doesn’t need to. Timbaland’s beat is built from crushed samples and maimed found-sound weirdness reminiscent of The Bomb Squad's work with Public Enemy. There's backwards masking, insectoid synth squeals, vinyl squelch, whispers, clicks, and bass that swings.
The hooks here stick like honey. Some with humor, some with sex, some with novelty. It's playful, sharp, and rhythmically airtight. The now-famous reversed line, "Ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup" is more than a gimmick. It sets the tone. This track flips everything: lyrics, expectations, gravity. If you played this on the floor of a museum with some decent speakers, it would absolutely hang with the art.
When I first heard “Work It” back in 2002, it hit me like a thunderclap. Missy Elliott was big, bold, and voluptuous in a cultural moment still gripped by the hangover of 90s heroin chic. She was a welcome contrast to hollow-cheeked icons with visible sternums. And she owned it. Larger than life and unapologetically herself.
The "Work It" music video was groundbreaking. Visually surreal, sexy, funny, and perfectly matched to the sonic madness of the track. The style. The reverse hook. The fish-eye lens. Finger waves. “Work It” didn’t just influence rap. It introduced a new wrinkle to mainstream tastes in music, women, and style. “Work It” eventually hit number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Video of the Year at the MTV VMAs. All well deserved.
Missy wasn’t just a performer: she was a style icon, a producer, and a visionary. She pushed hip-hop forward with tracks written by women, for women, about women. Her perspective blasted through the boys’ club of early-2000s rap with humor, style, and undeniable authority. She addressed misogyny without making it a PSA. She just matched the crass and then outclassed.
It still sounds ahead of its time. Missy said, "I put my thing down, flip it and reverse it." And the world flipped out.
Listen for:
The backward vocal line. (It doesn't matter that you can't understand it, the hook feels great.)
Data
Song: Work It
Album: Under Construction
Artist: Missy Elliott
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Year: 2002
Length: 4:23
Producer: Missy Elliott, Timbaland
