Missy Elliott becomes first female rapper in Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Hip hop artist Missy Elliott
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
Hip hop artist Missy Elliott holds a replica of her new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame during a ceremony for her, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021, in Los Angeles.

Missy Elliott is poised to make musical history as the first female hip-hop star inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The 51-year-old “Get Ur Freak On” rapper was one of 13 inductees announced by the Cleveland museum Wednesday.

The Hall of Fame lauded Elliott for forging “new paths for women in the music industry and society at large through her behind-the-scenes mastery and unapologetic ownership of her body, her sexual desires, and her Blackness in her music.”

An announcement about this year’s inductees called Elliott a “true pathbreaker in a male-dominated genre.”

Other new additions to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame are Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Rage Against the Machine, Kate Bush, The Spinners, George Michael, Chaka Khan, Bernie Taupin, Al Kooper, Don Cornelius, DJ Kool Herc and Link Wray.

In order to be eligible for the Hall, artists are “required to have released their first record 25 years prior to induction.” This year marked the first time that Elliott was eligible under the requirement.

Elliott and her fellow inductees are scheduled to be inducted in November at a ceremony in Brooklyn, N.Y.

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