Missy Elliott Dishes on Her Influence in Today's Hip-Hop + Why She Is the OG

We are so excited to honor Missy Elliott when VH1 Hip Hop Honors: All Hail the Queens airs live July 11 at 9 p.m. on VH1. Elliott is a queen in every sense of the word. With five Grammys and more than 30 million albums sold, Elliott is a rap tour-de-force whose impact still lives on the radio. Just listen to some hip-hop song released in the past five years, and you'll hear it.

"I hear a lot of influence from me and Timbaland's whole sound in a lot of records of today," Elliott told us in a Hip Hop Honors interview. "But if you have classics like that, then I'm sure you 'gotta expect that it's 'gonna influence some people. So, I'm fine with that."

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"Some people" is an understatement. Elliott paved the way for a new class of female rappers. However, when Misdemeanor emerged on the scene in the '90s, there was nobody like her. She quite literally was the OG.

"Before Missy, there was no comparison to what Missy was doing," Elliott said. "When you think of Missy, you can't say, 'Missy reminded me of someone else.' There was no Missy comparison before." No lies detected.

Watch more of Elliott's interview in the video above, and tune into VH1 Hip Hop Honors: All Hail the Queens airs live July 11!