Customer Reviews

Supa Dupa Fly [Vinyl]

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

This album would've been excellent if it was shorter. Some of the tracks are pure filler. The standout tracks are: Sock It 2 Me, The Rain, Pass da Blunt, Hit'em Wit Da Hee, Friendly Skies and Best Friends. After all these years, "The Rain" and "Sock it to Me" still sound new and exciting. Also, "Best Friends" is one of the most beautiful songs Missy Elliott has ever written.

As a member of the R&B group Sista, Missy Elliott went almost unnoticed. It wasn't until years later, when she placed her trademark "hee-hee-hee-hee-ha" lyrics on a Gina Thompson remix that she achieved recognition. Missy's songwriting credits include a number of R&B hits (SWV's "Can We" and Aaliyah's "4 Page Letter"), and her familiar vocal style has been featured on some of the year's hottest remixes, including Li'l Kim's "Not Tonight".

Produced by Timbaland (Ginuwine, Aaliyah), SUPA DUPA FLY showcases the studio whiz's unique recording techniques. The tempos here are much slower than on the average hip-hop release, with rhythms akin to dancehall music. Missy doesn't limit herself to rap, either. Many of the songs on SUPA DUPA FLY fall easily into the R&B bag, especially when Missy swaps her hard-core hip-hop lyrics for a smooth laid-back approach.

People, remember that the negative reviews of this album are only opinions, not facts, so please don't be discourage to spend your hard earn money on this album because it's Missy's 2nd best album ever (her best album was with Sista: 4 All Da Sistas Around Da World), regardless of what everyone else says. There isn't one song on this album that I skip or do not like. I love every song on this album, from beginning to end. I didn't really care for her "Da Real World" album, but this one is excellent. My favorite songs are: Busta's Intro, Hit 'Em Wit Da Hee, Sock It 2 Me, The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly), Beep Me 911, Pass Da Blunt, Friendly Skies, Best Friends, Why You Hurt Me, I'm Talkin', and Getaway, but the two tightest songs on this CD are: Beep Me 911 with 702 and Friendly Skies performed by Ginuwine. Unlike "Da Real World," this album is a consistent release and Missy doesn't have everybody and their mama on this album. Buy it 'cause you won't be disappointed.

Missy Elliot's Supa Dupa Fly is a revolutionary classic and makes an extremely strong case for best album of 1997. In 1997 Timbaland's beats were new and fresh to the industry. While he and Missy did earlier work on other's albums (Ginuwine- Pony, Aaliyah One In A Million, SWV Release Some Tension, Total's album and others) this was their first real full-length collaborative effort. Each has gone to record numerous solo efforts and have laced and are lacing countless hits for other artists today.

Missy's playful and simplistic rhyme style may turn off closed-minded underground fans. She does spit out an occasional jibberish line making you say huh. These momentary blurts give this album a raw freestyle feel. There is a thin line between being brilliant and being stupid or plum-dumb. Missy thankfully is on the brilliant side. Timbaland provides the nice, crisp, head nodding beats. Missy brings in her industry friends and they are all over this album. Guest artists such as Da Brat, Lil Kim, Busta Rhymes, 702, Magoo, Ginuwine, Aaliyah, Nicole and Space add to the pleasure.

On the real, I Love every song on here but I will give you my favorites on here. Sock It 2 Me featuring Da Brat is insanely tight with one of Timbalands best beats and Da Brat rips this up. The Rain, the super-mega hit that thrusted Missy into the public spotlight, is simply a masterpiece. This song wont ever get tiring. Missy's slow flow and Timbaland's uncanny skills behind the board is just simply amazing. Beep Me 911 is the most moving beat on the album and I love it. Friendly Skies is the prelude to Missy and Ginuwine's current hit Take Away. And to me, the best song on the album has got to be Best Friends featuring Aaliyah. Timbaland crafts an aural ear assault and Missy and Aaliyah's chemistry and harmonizing is beautiful.

To wrap this thing up, this was one of the most influential, and revolutionary recordings of the nineties. This effort along with others helped change the way beats were constructed and the way R&B songs sounded. It wounld not be a waste of money to buy this. If you like music and are open-minded I see no way that you can dislike this. Highly Recommended.

Whoever enjoys the sounds of Hip-Hop and R&B won't have a complete collection without Missy Elliot's Supa Dupa Fly! This phenomenal album was revolutionary in the music industry. How many people in the music business can sing, rap, produce, and write songs??? Missy Elliott is making a successful career out of all those things! It has to be one my all time favorite albums! Missy is one the most talented women in the industry during the 90's and even now. Her success will keep growing as her endless creativity keeps flowing!

TRACK LISTINGS AND CRITIQUE

2. Hit 'Em Wit Da Hee (featuring Lil' Kim) - SINGLE, AWESOME SONG!!!! Excellent beat!

3. Sock It 2 Me (featuring Da Brat) - SINGLE, one of my favorites!! Da Brat is awesome, and Missy is stellar.

4. The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) - SINGLE, the song blows my mind away! It has everything, great vocals, rapping, lyrics, and beat!

5. Beep Me 911 (featuring 702 & Timbaland) - SINGLE, another fabulous song! 702's ballads are awesome! One of my favorites!

6. They Don't Wanna F*** Wit Me (featuring Timbaland) - PRETTY GOOD SONG, great beat!

7. Pass Da Blunt (featuring Timbaland) - OKAY SONG, pretty good beat!

9. Friendly Skies (featuring Ginuwine) - GREAT SONG, another favorite!

10. Best Friends (featuring Aaliyah) - THE BEST SONG ON THE ALBUM!!! I love this song soooo much. It has such a great meaning, and Missy and Aaliyah's performances were superb.

11. Don't Be Commin' (In My Face) - OKAY SONG

12. Izzy Izzy Ahh (featuring St. Nick and Aaliyah) - GOOD SONG

13. Why You Hurt Me - OKAY SONG

14. I'm Talkin' - GOOD SONG

15. Gettaway (featuring Space & Nicole) - GREAT SONG, the last favorite on the album!

Timbaland is the real star of this hip hop/ soul epic . His production techniques, clean drum programs, bass heavy synths and squiggly samples are what drive this LP into new and uncharted territory. While Missy Elliott is a moderately talented singer/songwriter, her real saving grace is her producer. Her lack of ACTUAL TALENT is evident on tracks like the horn-driven "Sock It 2 Me" where Da Brat steals the show with a rapid fire, tongue twisting, frenetic delivery that leaves Missy choking on her dust. The title track is simply brilliant with it's herky-jerky rhythms, bass lines and staccato snare drops over non-sensical verses. This is the LP that made Missy a star, but more importantly, it established Tim Moseley as the most innovative producer of the last decade. Forget the words, just listen to the grooves.

Missy Elliott is certainly not a star that most would call a great rapper. The thing is, she tends to lean more towards R&B with her excellent writing abilities and soulful lyrics. However, don't be fooled. Missy can rap, and she can rap WELL. This album, her debut, is a perfect example. Most of us who have heard of Missy are familiar with her excellent hits: "Supa Dupa Fly (The Rain)" and "Sock it 2 Me". But, there's much, MUCH more to enjoy with this delightful LP. Her soft voice carries the tracks wonderfully like a kite floating in the air. The guest appearances add some more spice to the action, but Missy is plain good by herself. I enjoyed all of the tracks as a whole. Of course, let's not forget Timbaland! His amazing skillful production of the album allows the tracks to be filled will memorable beats. Missy is very unique when it comes to stars in the rap world today. Her talents allow her to jump into many genres. I would recommend this album to anyone who is curious. You will find yourself enjoying every bit of this LP, and then will go back afterward to play it all over again.

I first heard "I can't stand the rain" on the radio and was hooked on the phat beats and the overall compostion and layout of the rhythm and her eclectic flow. The rest of the album showcases her productions skillz and singing. Overall, this album was refreshing, especially in today's Bad Boy rap industry. "Beep me 911" is one of the best jeep beats song this year. As time went on though, I started to get a little sick of it all, as I heard her cameo on every damn song on the radio, along with Timbaland and Magoo's voices in the background."Me I super fly, supa dupa fly";damn that gets REALLY tiring. She's definitely a great producer, along w/ Timbaland; it's just that her rapping style gets kinda tiring after awhile. Overall though, this album is pretty phat..i'd take it over Queenpen/CharliBaltimore/LilKim/FoxyBrown joint any day..

Supa Dupa Fly is not a party album, which is saying something given that Missy Elliott is the Queen of party hip-hop. Instead, this album has an intimate, down-tempo feel that I found very soothing and relaxing. Tracks like "Beep Me 911" and "Friendly Skies" have a transportive, daydreaming feel to them. This album is all about the beats n' bass (Timbaland) and Missy's vocals (rapping and singing) so it sounds minimalistic at times, but I think that's what gives the album its signature moody and ambiguous sound. It kind of has a Wu Tang Clan vibe, but the beats are totally different. My favorite tracks are "Beep Me 911," "Sock it 2 Me," "Friendly Skies," "The Rain," "Pass da Blunt," and "Izzy Izzy Ah." Busta Rhymes's intro and outro inject passion and energy into the album, which at times sounds dreamy to the point of wandering. Imo, the rest of the songs could be cut, they are not unique enough to stand alone. The songs mentioned above, however, are so good that I decided to give the album 4 stars even though it slowed down a bit too much in some places.

Missy Elliott had been a member of the band Sista where she also met up and coming Producer Timbaland, the band however didn't get much airplay and disbanded quickly. Missy teamed-up with partner in crime Timbaland and helped him record Aaliyah "One In A Million" and Ginuwine's "The Bachelor" both from 1996. The upcoming year it was time for her to record her own album "Supa Dupa Fly" and ofcourse Timbaland was the man behind this album aswell. The sound of this album would be revolutionary to both Hip Hop and R&B. Timbaland produced his first major Hip Hop album and the production style he used is still amazing to this day. Timbaland mostly produces his own music (without the use of samples) and he's heavily influenced by dance and new wave using a style that was nowhere to be found in the Hip Hop at this time with heavy bass bounce beats, synth stabs and diffrent kind of unpredictable sound effects and in many occasions he'd be mumbling a few rhymes in the backround of his songs aswell. Only a few years later many other producers would be copying his style and it the charts would be loaded with timbaland influenced copy cats. Missy Elliott is also one of a kind, she's a song writer, rapper and R&B Singer and her style can not be compared to anyone else around. While she may not be the best female rapper around, she's perhaps the most influentual and accessible with humouristic and improvising rhymes that are hardly deep but funny, sureal or just weird like on "The Rain" (Sway on dosie-do like you loco, Like CoCo, so-so / You don't wanna play with my Yo-Yo/ I smoke my hydro on the dee-low. Add all the funny sounds that she makes on her songs on top of this. Obviously "Supa Dupa Fly" is perfect for radio airplay but also artistic enough to stick out on it's own.



This serves a bluprint for both Timbaland and Missy's later music, but as diffrent that this album was when it came out and how much impact it later would have, it's impossible to not speak positively about it! I'll have to add that this is more R&Bish then many of her latter albums that goes further into the Hop Hop territory. Busta introduces the album but doesn't appear otherwise. After an all female first song called "Hit em wit Da Wee" with Lil Kim, one of the highlights arrive, "Sock It 2 Me". There's actually 2 versions of this song, one that samples The Delfonics "Ready Or Not" and the other one without the sample. DaBrat appeared on the video version with the sample. Her biggest hit of this album "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) samples Ann Peebles hit with the same name on it's hook and is obviously a highlight with it's unique sound lyrics. "Beep Me 911" which was also a single deals with a cheating boyfriend and feauture Magoo. This clearly shows a diffrent side of Missy more vulnerable and sensitive, ditto with "Don't Be Coming" where she demands respect from her man. "Pass the Blunt" borrows the hook from Musical Youth's reggae hit "Pass the Dutch" while Ginuwine and Aaliyah appear on "Friendly Skies" and "Best Friend", both slower songs that make up for the cocky and surealistic in your face uptempo's that most people associate with Missy's music. 2 more worthwile songs needs a mention "Izzy Izzy Ahhh" that is Missy in a nutshell and "Getaway" with Nicole Wray, both funny uptempo's. On the first one Missy sound high on something when she sings the hook and she also makes cat noises during the verse!. Busta does an outro and then the album closes with a short message fro Missy where she thanks her fans that bought the album and god for making it possible. You get 13 real songs, + one intro, outro, interlude and finale.



Overall, Timeless album and one of the best in Hip Hop I can think of, cause of it's originality, production and because it serves as a bluprint for both Timbaland and Missy's latter careers. This is also Missy's best album in my oppinion. Not only it was revolutionary but it combines uptemops with ballads and seriousness with wittyness. Something that some of her latter albums didn't have. Missy May not be Queen Latifah lyrically, but she's far more enterraining to listen to and her great combination of singing and rapping is rare in Hip Hop. She may not be very deep either, but I can ensure you that you'll find enough funny words and phrases in her playful lyrics that makes up for that. Having said that, This is a classic and I'll be recommending it to anyone that wants originality and great and well produced music.