Supa Dupa Fly

the take

I can still recall the earliest moment of me hearing this album on cassette blasting through the speakers in my mom's red 1990 Nissan 240SX. So I have a slight bit of nostalgia attached to Missy Elliott's debut album. In hindsight, though, this doesn't sound like an undeniable classic that I thought it was. That's not to say it's bad by any means, though. I still have plenty of favorites on here I go back to. Aside from the obvious banger "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", "Beep Me 911" and "Izzy Izzy Ahh" are among a couple of noteworthy deep cuts worth highlighting. Throughout the album, Missy Elliott displays her versatility by switching between rapping and singing, more often within the same song. (Which, y'know, isn't too surprising if you know of her previous group Sista from years prior.) Missy's rapping performances vary in consistency, while her vocals always remain in sync with the production and vibe. In the case of rapping, though, it can be decent at times, though not too memorable, which is more evident on the back half of the album. What saves this from being dragged down a lot is Timbaland's production. Current personal feelings about him aside, Timbo was in his bag with the beats that compliment Missy's style and flow, which has always a bit unorthodox in a good way (and especially even more so back in 1997). The end result is a debut album that's fun and full of confidence in yourself and those around you who are involved, like the usuals such as Magoo, Aaliyah, and Ginuwine, along with outside forces of the music industry at the time like Lil' Kim and Da Brat. Missy's "Supa Dupa Fly" might not be as highly regarded as I had it, but it's still an amazing album that I can spin and never lose interest until its end, nostalgic bias aside.