Melissa "Missy" Elliott
National Medal of Arts recipient Missy Elliott with President and First Lady Biden. Photo courtesy of White House
Bio
Four-time Grammy Award-winner Missy Elliott has attained unprecedented success as a solo musical artist, pioneering songwriter and producer, and cultural icon over the last three decades. Her six studio albums have generated more than 30 million sales in the U.S. alone, and each has been RIAA platinum-certified or better, marking her among the only female rappers ever to achieve that remarkable accomplishment. In 2019, she became the first female hip-hop artist and third-ever rapper to be inducted into the Songwriter Hall of Fame and to receive an honorary doctor of music degree from Berklee College of Music, celebrating her lasting contributions to music and popular culture. Further accolades followed in 2021, with Elliott named among the 12 inaugural inductees for the new Atlanta landmark, the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame, and later honored with her own star on the world famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2022, Elliott’s hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia, presented her with the Key to the City and renamed a portion of McLean Street as Missy Elliott Boulevard. In addition, she has earned eight MTV Video Music Awards over her career and was the first female hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2023. That same year she participated in the Grammy Awards celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, joining such icons as LL Cool J, Ice-T, Method Man, Busta Rhymes, and Salt-N-Pepa for a landmark performance honoring the genre’s diverse history. In July 2024, NASA’s Deep Space Network transmitted Elliott’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” to Venus, the first-ever hip-hop song sent into space.
White House citation:
For shattering glass ceilings with timeless beats. From a child singing in the church choir to becoming a best-selling female rapper and pioneering hip-hop icon, Missy Elliott’s genre-defying music and rhymes have elevated an industry into a global powerhouse and inspired generations to push the sound and movement of America.
Thank you first and foremost to God because if it were not for him I would not be here today… Thank you for being here for me through all times and for that I am forever grateful…
This is truly an incredible and humbling experience. To receive the National Medal of Arts is not just an honor for me but for everyone who has ever believed in the power of faith.
Music has always been my way of connecting with the world. It’s a space where I could be fearless and show that being different is beautiful and powerful. And to now be recognized and celebrated with this award means more than words can say.
But I didn’t get here by myself. This honor also belongs to my mother, who believed in me and taught me to believe in myself; to my creative collaborators, who challenged and inspired me; and to the fans, who embraced the vision I dared to put out into the world. Thank you to all of them but most of all to the dreamers, the ones who feel like they don’t fit into a box—this is for you, too.
The art of making music is not just entertainment; it’s a reflection of the world we live in. It can heal, unite, and inspire. I hope this moment reminds people that no dream is ever too big, too bold, or too impossible to achieve.
Thank you, President Biden, VP Harris, and the deciding committee for recognizing not only my body of work but also the power of music. I’m grateful, I’m humbled, but most of all I’m inspired, and I promise to keep challenging myself and pushing forward—for the culture, for the future, and for the love of the arts.