Missy Elliott has revealed the truth behind that massive hook from hit ‘Work It’, saying “that was a mistake”.
Elliott is the first female rapper to be nominated for the 2019 Songwriter Hall of Fame. She has written for Destiny’s Child, Ciara and Aaliyah.
There have been numerous theories that the backwards hook from ‘Work It’ has secret meaning, on the track you hear Missy rap: ‘Ti esrever dna ti pilf, nwod gniht ym tup’. Turns out, it was simply the finger slip of an engineer.
“The reverse thing, that was a mistake,’ she told the Associated Press. “The engineer happened to hit something, and it just went backward, and I was like, ‘Oh that’s kind of crazy’ because it went backward on the beat.”
“So, after that happened, I said, ‘Yo, keep that in there and I’m going to write around it.'”
“They thought I was saying all kinds of nasty stuff,” she said. “No, actually, I’m not, this time.”
The 2002 track was the first single from her fourth album ‘Under Construction’.
Elliott recently joined forces with the woman who went viral after her performance of ‘Work It’ was posted on Twitter. Mary Halsey became a viral star in August, after her impromptu BBQ performance received a huge reaction online.
After being posted on Twitter, the clip attracted widespread attention before being noticed by Elliot herself , who described Halsey as her “funky white sister”.