Editing Missy Elliott (section)

=== 1996–1998: ''Supa Dupa Fly'' ===
[[File:Aaliyah Dana Haughton 02.jpg|alt=Aaliyah smiling|thumb|Elliott began collaborating with other artists in the late 1990s, including Aaliyah (pictured in 2000).]]
After leaving Swing Mob, Elliott and Timbaland worked together as a songwriting/production team, crafting tracks for acts including [[SWV]], [[702 (group)|702]], and most notably [[Aaliyah]].<ref name="How They Made It"/> The pair wrote and produced nine tracks for Aaliyah's second album, ''[[One in a Million (Aaliyah album)|One in a Million]]'' (1996), among them the hit singles "[[If Your Girl Only Knew]]", "[[One in a Million (Aaliyah song)|One in a Million]]", "[[Hot Like Fire]]", and "[[4 Page Letter]]".<ref name= Allmusic /> Elliott contributed background vocals and/or guest raps to nearly all of the tracks on which she and Timbaland worked. ''One in a Million'' went [[double platinum]] and made stars out of the production duo. Elliott and Timbaland continued to work together for other artists, later creating hits for artists such as [[Total (group)|Total]] ("[[What About Us? (Total song)|What About Us?]]"; 1997), [[Nicole Wray]] ("[[Make It Hot (Nicole Wray song)|Make It Hot]]"; 1998), and [[Destiny's Child]] ("[[Get on the Bus (song)|Get on the Bus]]"; 1998), as well as one final hit for Aaliyah, "[[I Care 4 U (song)|I Care 4 U]]", before her death in 2001. Elliott also wrote the bulk of [[Total (group)|Total]]'s second and final album ''[[Kima, Keisha, and Pam]]'' and [[Nicole Wray]]'s debut ''[[Make It Hot]]'' (both released in 1998). Elliott began her career as a featured vocalist rapping on [[Sean Combs|Sean "Puffy" Combs]]'s Bad Boy remixes to [[Gina Thompson]]'s "[[The Things That You Do]]", (which had a video featuring cameo appearances by Notorious B.I.G and Puff Daddy), [[MC Lyte]]'s 1996 hit single "[[Cold Rock a Party]]" (backup vocals by Gina Thompson), and [[New Edition]]'s 1996 single "[[You Don't Have to Worry (New Edition song)|You Don't Have to Worry]]". In 1996, Elliott also appeared on the Men of Vizion's remix of "Do Thangz" which was produced by [[Rodney Jerkins]] (coincidentally the producer of the original version of "[[The Things That You Do]]").

Combs had hoped to sign Elliott to his [[Bad Boy Records|Bad Boy]] record label. Instead, she signed a deal in 1996 to create her own imprint, [[The Goldmind Inc.]], with [[East West Records]], which at that time was a division of [[Elektra Records|Elektra Entertainment Group]], for which she would record as a solo artist.<ref name="How They Made It"/> Timbaland was again recruited as her production partner, a role he would hold on most of Elliott's solo releases. Missy continued to work with other artists and appeared on [[LSG (band)|LSG]]'s song "All the Time" with [[Gerald Levert]], [[Keith Sweat]], [[Johnny Gill]], [[Faith Evans]], and [[Coko]] in 1997 on Levert Sweat Gill classic album. The same year, she rapped in "Keys To My House" with old friends group [[LeVert]]. In the center of a busy period of making guest appearances and writing for other artists, Elliott's debut album, ''[[Supa Dupa Fly]]'', was released in mid-1997; the success of its lead single "[[The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)|The Rain]]" led the album to be certified platinum.<ref name= Allmusic /> Elliott wore an oversized trash-bag looking jumpsuit in the music video, and at [[Lilith Fair]], an outfit media articles have considered one of her most recognizable "fashion moments".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/photos/missy-elliott-most-iconic-fashion-moments/5-missy-elliott-im-better-ft-lamb/|title=Missy Elliott's Most Iconic Fashion Moments: From 'The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)' to 'Throw It Back'|magazine=Billboard|last=Saunders|first=Nicole}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/-28407/missy-elliott-the-rain-supa-dupa-fly-28493/|title=The 100 Greatest Music Videos|magazine=Rolling Stone|location=Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/missy-elliott-shares-incredible-fan-made-tribute-to-her-hit-the-rain-2741757|title=Missy Elliott shares incredible fan-made tribute to her hit 'The Rain'|work=NME|date=August 31, 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4762705/met-gala-2017-solange-photo/|title=Solange Knowles Pays Homage to Missy Elliott's Iconic Trash Bag Ensemble With Her Met Gala Look|magazine=Time}}</ref>

The success was also a result of the music videos of her single releases, which were directed by [[Hype Williams|Harold "Hype" Williams]], who created many groundbreaking hip hop, Afro-futuristic videos at the time. The album was nominated for Best Rap Album at the [[1998 Grammy Awards]], but lost to [[Puff Daddy]]'s ''[[No Way Out (Puff Daddy album)|No Way Out]]''. The year also saw Elliott perform live at the [[MTV Video Music Awards]] show on a remix to [[Lil' Kim]]'s "[[Not Tonight (song)|Ladies Night]]" with fellow rappers [[Da Brat]], [[Angie Martinez]] and [[TLC (group)|TLC]]-rapper [[Lisa Lopes|Left Eye]]. Elliott continued her successful career in the background as a producer and writer on [[Total (group)|Total]]'s single "Trippin'", as well as working with several others in the hip-hop and [[Contemporary R&B|R&B]] communities. Elliott co-wrote and co-produced two tracks on [[Whitney Houston]]'s 1998 album ''[[My Love Is Your Love]]'', providing vocal cameos for "In My Business" and "Oh Yes". Elliott also produced and made a guest appearance on [[Spice Girls|Spice Girl]] [[Mel B|Melanie Brown]]'s debut solo single, "I Want You Back", which topped the [[UK Singles Chart]] in Brown's native United Kingdom and is Elliott's only chart-topping song in that country.