(b. Melissa Elliott, 1972) One-woman HIP-HOP hit factory turned MTV-lionized rap superstar. A Portsmouth, Virginia native, Elliott began her career as part of the short-lived trio Sista (whose first album was recorded for, but never released by Elektra) and quickly moved on to a more fruitful behind-the-scenes role, writing, producing, and, occasionally, guesting on a string of R&B hits (by Aaliyah, SWV, Ginuwine, New Edition, Gina Thompson, and others). Elliott's first solo single, "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)," became a hit in the summer of 1997, thanks in no small part to its eye-catching Hype Williams video, in which the already stocky Elliott sports a leather suit pumped full of air.

Her debut album Supa Dupa Fly, made in collaboration with the influential producer Tim "Timbaland" Moseley (and featuring celebrity cameos from Lil' Kim, Busta Rhymes, and Da Brat, among many others), offered a sleekly distinctive mix of syncopated beats, judicious samples, outright pop hooks, and Elliott's onomatopoeic stream-of-consciousness rhymes ("The Rain" yielded the year's hip-hop catchphrase/philosophical riddle: "Beep beep, who got the keys to the JEEP?").

Elliott oversees her own record label, an Elektra subsidiary called The Gold Mind, Inc. The top-three success of Supa Dupa Fly even brought Elliott to the attention of THE NEW YORKER, which in October 1997 dubbed her "The New Negro"; she remains more commonly known as "The Heehaw Girl"&£45;- an allusion to her signature giggle, discernible on many of her songs.

(c) alt.culture