Missy Elliott says her hit single “Get Ur Freak On” was almost removed from her album because Timbaland was too tired to continue working on it in the studio.
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Missy Elliott almost dropped her now-iconic song “Get Ur Freak On” because producer Timbaland was too tired to continue working in the studio, the hip-hop pioneer revealed in a new interview.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Missy Elliott explained that the 2001 hit almost didn’t make it onto her third album, Miss E…So Addictive, because Timbaland was ready to call it quits.
“He started hitting everything,” Missy Elliott said. “He hits the keyboard because he’s ready.”
But Elliott countered that he firmly believed the project needed one final track. That’s when the magic struck.
“He hit something and I was like, ‘That’s right there.'” He said, ‘What? What are you talking about? I just went into the studio and made the record,” she said.
As Elliott wrote the lyrics, she envisioned the choreography that would ultimately define the song’s visual identity.
“I spend a lot of time with the dancers,” she said. “From my first tour, I had 22 dancers… When I made this record, I was thinking about my dancers. I could see them moving with it.”
The gamble paid off. In October, Rolling Stone named “Get Ur Freak On” the best song of the 21st century so far, cementing its place in music history.
Elliott, whose last album was 2019’s EP Iconology, has hinted at more music on the way.
“I’m onto something,” she said. “It’s just different. I’m experimenting again… and I’m getting something. Some fire.”
“Get Ur Freak On” was released in 2001 and remains one of Elliott’s most famous tracks.
