Missy Elliott - Throw It Back

What this video is

Released August 23, 2019 as the lead single from Missy Elliott's surprise EP Iconology — her first body of work since 2005's The Cookbook — 'Throw It Back' functioned simultaneously as a career retrospective, a cultural reclamation, and a generational handshake. Its release was timed to Elliott receiving the MTV Video Vanguard Award, the first female rapper to receive that honor. Critically, USA Today described the…

Why it matters

Represents a landmark moment in late-2010s hip-hop and R&B music video production: a legacy artist wielding 4K-era production tools to consciously reconstruct the maximalist visual grammar of early-2000s hip-hop video culture. The video demonstrates that the spectacle-driven, high-concept,…

The director

Norfolk, VA-born filmmaker; graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in film. Became protégé of legendary music video director Dave Meyers after relocating to Los Angeles. Known for highly stylized, colorful, choreography-forward music…