Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On
“Get Ur Freak On” is a song by American rapper Missy Elliott. It was written and produced by Elliott and Timbaland for her third studio album Miss E… So Addictive (2001). Based on heavy bhangra elements, a popular music and dance form from the region of Punjab in India,[2] the song features a six-note base that is a Punjabi melody played on a tumbi and rhythm and bassline played on tabla.[3]
Released as the album’s first single on March 13, 2001, the track reached number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Internationally, “Get Ur Freak On” became a top-10 success in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, where it became her first solo top-10 hit, peaking at number four. A remix of the song featuring Nelly Furtado was a dance club hit during this period. On the Billboard magazine issue dated February 21, 2015, “Get Ur Freak On” re-entered at number 40, more than a decade after its original chart run. This re-entry was spawned by Missy Elliott’s performance at the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show that occurred earlier in the month.
“Get Ur Freak On” marked the first time that Elliott would team up with director Dave Meyers, who would become a frequent collaborator on subsequent projects.[11] Elliott, a fan of his work, decided to consult Meyers after she had taken him to see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in theatre.[11] Nadine “Hi-Hat” Ruffin served as the videos’s choreographer.[12] In “Get Ur Freak On,” Elliott’s dancers throw shapes in “some kind of industrial underworld – crouched on concrete blocks, hanging upside down like bats,”[12] whilte Elliott herself act both “queenly and cartoonish: craning her head from her body; swinging from a chandelier; and in one memorably trippy, Matrix-like effect, spitting long-distance into a male dancer’s mouth.”[12] Rappers Ludacris, LL Cool J, Timbaland, Ja Rule, Busta Rhymes, Master P, Spliff Star, Lil’ Romeo, Eve, Nate Dogg and singer Nicole Wray make cameo appearances in the video.
