elle est mosse
Missy Elliott
Reviewer Luke Benedictus
June 2, 2004

Print this article
Email to a friend



Missy Elliott

Rod Laver Arena, May 28

Sure, she's the supafly soul sister whose dazzling production and off-kilter beats keep her light years ahead of the competition. But it was always going to be intriguing to check out how Missy "Misdemeanour" Elliott cut it live.

Most male rappers tend to revert to macho theatrics onstage. So how would the first lady of hip-hop win the crowd?

Sadly, she never did. Indeed, it was lucky that her first-ever show in Australia was part of her This Is Not a Test tour. Otherwise, she would have definitely flunked it.

The fundamental problem was her extreme reluctance to actually perform any of her tracks.

Of the 60-minute set, perhaps a third involved music. The rest was just Missy bumbling about the stage saying "Wassup Melbourne?" a lot.

Admittedly, she did claim to be suffering from bronchitis. But she wasn't working single-handed, backed by a hyperactive MC plus "the hottest dancers on the planet", who did actually live up to their billing, pulling off some insane breakdancing moves.

The show kicked off