Editing Missy Elliott (section)

=== 2002–2004: ''Under Construction'' and ''This Is Not a Test!'' ===
For her next outing, Elliott and Timbaland focused on an old school sound, utilizing many old school rap and funk samples, such as [[Run-DMC|Run–DMC]]'s "Peter Piper" and [[Frankie Smith]]'s "Double Dutch Bus". Elliott's fourth album, 2002's ''[[Under Construction (album)|Under Construction]]'' (see [[2002 in music]]) is known as the best selling women rap album with 2.1 million copies sold in the United States.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Caulfield|first=Keith|date=July 8, 2008|title=Ask Billboard|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|publisher=[[Nielsen Company|Nielsen Business Media]]|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1044856/ask-billboard|access-date=August 1, 2008|archive-date=August 1, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080801171830/http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1044856/ask-billboard|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2002, Elliott won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for "Get Ur Freak On".<ref name= dispatch/> In 2003, ''Under Construction'' received Grammy nominations for [[Grammy Award for Best Rap Album|Best Rap Album]] and [[Grammy Award for Album of the Year|Album of the Year]].<ref>[http://www.hollywood.com/news/Grammy_Nominations_Announced/1735316 Grammy Nominations Announced] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110326151555/http://www.hollywood.com/news/Grammy_Nominations_Announced/1735316 |date=March 26, 2011 }}. Hollywood.com. Retrieved on December 12, 2015.</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' designated ''Under Construction'' "this year's best hip-hop album".<ref>{{cite news| first= Kelefa| last= Sanneh| date= December 22, 2002| url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E3DA153DF931A15751C1A9649C8B63&scp=1&sq=%22those+who+rap%22&st=nyt| title= Hip-Hop Divides: Those Who Rap, Those Who Don't| work= The New York Times| access-date= September 14, 2008| archive-date= March 29, 2021| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210329042742/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/22/arts/hip-hop-divides-those-who-rap-those-who-don-t.html| url-status= live}}</ref> Elliott released two singles off of [[Under Construction (Missy Elliott album)|Under Construction]]. The lead single, "[[Work It (Missy Elliott song)|Work It]]" reached No. 2 on ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''{{'}}s Hot 100 chart and won the "Video of the Year" award at [[MTV]]'s Video Music Awards. The second single, "[[Gossip Folks]]" featuring [[Ludacris]], became a Top 10 hit on ''Billboard''{{'}}s Hot 100 chart, was one of the most-played music videos on [[MTV]], [[MTV2]], [[BET Jams|MTV Jams]], and [[Black Entertainment Television|BET]] in 2003 and was embraced by the dance community, as well as the mainstream, due to a [[Fatboy Slim]] remix.<ref name=VH1-5>{{cite web| url= http://www.vh1.com/shows/events/hip_hop_honors/_2007/honoree_detail.jhtml?id=missy&page=5 |title= Missy Elliott – She Puts Her Thing Down, Flips It, Reverses It| website= VH1.com| access-date= September 14, 2008}}{{dead link|date=November 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> A third single was never released, though a video was shot for "[[Back in the Day (Missy Elliott song)|Back In The Day]]" featuring [[Jay-Z]]<ref>{{cite web| first= Corey| last= Moss| date= January 21, 2003| url= http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1459570/20030117/elliott_missy.jhtml| title= Missy Elliott, Jay-Z Go 'Back in the Day' For New Video| website= MTV.com| access-date= September 14, 2008| archive-date= January 14, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090114175927/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1459570/20030117/elliott_missy.jhtml| url-status= dead}}</ref> and Elliott was.

In between albums, Elliott produced the "American Dream Remix" (featuring Tweet's additional vocals) of [[Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna]]'s single "American Life", was featured rapper on Timbaland & Magoo's return single, "[[Cop That Shit]]", and produced "Fighting Temptation" (featuring herself, Beyoncé, [[Free (rapper)|Free]] and [[MC Lyte]]) for the soundtrack to the [[Cuba Gooding Jr.]] and [[Beyoncé|Beyoncé Knowles]] movie of the same name. The track reached No. 1 in Japan but failed to chart in the U.S. Hot 100. Elliott was also featured on [[Wyclef Jean]]'s "[[Party to Damascus]]" and [[Ghostface Killah]]'s "[[Tush (Ghostface Killah song)|Tush]]" singles, the latter of which became a minor 2004 dance hit, and had a pivotal role in the film ''[[Honey (2003 film)|Honey]]''. [[Gap Inc.|Gap]] approached Elliott later in the year to co-star in a commercial with Madonna, which received much media attention.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.ephinx.com/tvadverts/tvadvert.php?id=57| title= Gap Cord Jeans Missy Elliott and Madonna| website= Ephinx.com| access-date= December 12, 2015| archive-date= March 4, 2016| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084945/http://www.ephinx.com/tvadverts/tvadvert.php?id=57| url-status= live}}</ref> Elliott furthered her relationship with Madonna by performing the controversial 2003 [[MTV Video Music Awards]] show opening alongside Madonna, [[Britney Spears]] and [[Christina Aguilera]]. Also in September 2003, Elliott performed the theme song "The Opposite Sex" for the [[UPN]] sitcom ''[[Eve (American TV series)|Eve]]'' starring her good friend and fellow rapper [[Eve (rapper)|Eve]]. It lasted for three seasons.

A year after Elliott's most successful album to date was released, Elliott felt pressured by her label to release another album hoping to capitalize on her recent success.<ref name= recipe>{{cite news |title= Missy's recipe for hits |work= Sunday Mail |location= Adelaide, Australia |date= July 10, 2005 |first= Nekesa Mumbi |last= Moody |page= I5 |url= http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=10B4513B5EB9D840&p_docnum=9&p_queryname=14 }}</ref> Elliott's singles, "[[Pass That Dutch]]" and "[[I'm Really Hot]]", from her fifth album, ''[[This Is Not a Test!]]'' (released November 2003), both rose the urban charts. However, both were not as successful at pop radio in comparison to many of her previous efforts. ''This Is Not A Test'' sold 690,000 copies in the United States<ref name= recipe/> and has been [[Platinum certification|certified Platinum]] by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] (RIAA). Elliott has since stated that "the album ''This Is Not A Test'' came out extremely too quickly for me. I didn't want it to come out when it did."<ref name=yahoo>{{cite news| first= Nekesa Mumbi| last= Moody| date= June 29, 2005| url= http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/21240488| title= Elliott Offers More Conventional Formula| website= Yahoo.com| access-date= September 14, 2008| archive-date= February 12, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080212031423/http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/21240488| url-status= live}}</ref> In 2004, Elliott was featured on [[Ciara]]'s hit single "[[1, 2 Step]]", with her verse interpolating [[Teena Marie]]'s single, "Square Biz". Elliott premiered her own reality show on the [[UPN]] Network, ''[[The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott]]'' in 2005 even though it was not renewed for a second season. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, she sold more than 7.6 million copies in the United States, being a woman rapper with best-selling albums in the country, followed by [[Lauryn Hill]] (seven million), [[Lil' Kim]] (four million), and [[Eve (rapper)|Eve]] (four million) at the time.<ref name="ew sales"/>