Missy Elliott and Timbaland, Back in the Studio

Ever since Missy Elliott‘s guest appearance on the Super Bowl halftime stage with Katy Perry, fans were wondering when the rapper would release a new album. On Tuesday night, Elliott answered those questions. “Me & @Timbaland bk 2 the drawing board studio dirty beats,” she tweeted. Elliott and Timbaland have collaborated on a lot of projects together. The dynamic production duo has worked with Aaliyah, SWV, Total, and 702. The duo produced several songs on Aaliyah’s One in a Million album including “Hot Like Fire,” “One in a Million, “If Your Girl Only Knew,” and “4 Page Letter.” To date One in a Million has sold over ten million copies worldwide. 

After the rapper’s Super Bowl performance, her music sales increased by 1,000 percent. Elliott sold more than 70,000 downloads after her appearance, she only sold 6,000 downloads prior to the Super Bowl. During her career, the rapper has released six studio albums including Supa Dupa Fly, Da Real World, Under Construction, and The Cookbook. All of Elliott’s albums have sold over a million copies, and she is currently the only female rapper with six platinum albums.

To date, Elliott has sold over thirty million albums worldwide. Her 2002 project, Under Construction, sold over two million copies. The double-platinum album produced four singles including “Work It,” “Gossip Folks,” “Back in the Day,” and “Pussycat.” Under Construction was nominated for two Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album and Album of the Year. Although she didn’t win any Grammys in 2012, the rapper has won five Grammy Awards. Some of her five wins include Best Rap Solo Performance (“Get Ur Freak On”), Best Female Rap Solo Performance (“Work It”), and her production work won Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (“Lady Marmalade”). 

As a music producer, Elliott has worked with Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Destiny’s Child, Monica, and Ciara. Elliot’s new project with Timbaland will be a long time coming. Her last album, The Cookbook, was dropped almost ten years ago. The rapper was supposed to release her Block Party project last year, but the album was never put out because Elliott didn’t feel the songs were commercially strong enough for a worldwide release. The rapper said she would never just throw music out to the world, unless it is game-changing type material.