This week’s From The Vault salutes none other than Missy Elliott.

Beyond being a female rap pioneer, the multi-talented star serves as a visual trailblazer. Case in point the video for 2001 smash ‘One Minute Man (ft. Ludacris & Trina).’

Lifted from ‘Miss E… So Addictive’ – Elliott’s third studio album – the track hit #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on the UK’s Official Top 40. It peaked within the top 20 in a multitude of other regions.

Like most Missy offerings, the Timbaland produced bop was turbo-charged by its high-octane video.

Directed by longtime collaborator Dave Meyers, the clip showcased the trademark flair of Missy’s visual style. For it featured fire choreography, a multitude of set-ups, and quirks aplenty.

Beyond the video, lyrically the cut resonates for its unashamed embrace of female sexual agency. While women of the past were relegated to ornamental objects created for the male gaze (see: the 90s and 00s love affair with “video models”), the likes of Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, and Missy (with releases like ‘One Minute Man’) levelled the playing field by being unapologetic with their demands of the opposite sex. In the process, they created the definitive pinkprint for the “say it how we feel it” mantras of the City Girls and Megan Thee Stallion‘s of today.

Hot Girl Summer may be all the rage in the here and now, but this scorching June ’01 release undoubtedly serves as its original chapter.

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