Transcribing Missy Elliott

As a kid growing up in New York City in the 80s, I loved rap, especially Run-DMC. In my teens, I moved away from it under the pressure of my rockist peers and other white nonsense. I found my way back into rap fandom as an adult, thanks in large part to Missy Elliott’s music of the early 2000s. “Get Ur Freak On” was especially undeniable, and it remains as fresh today as it was in 2001.

The track is my go-to example for Phrygian mode. I love that the plucky tumbi part doesn’t repeat identically; in the seventh repeat out of each eight, the last note is raised a half-step. (I marked these pattern-breaking notes in red in the chart below.) This is the kind of producerly attention to detail that makes a track grab you hard. Superb though Timbaland’s track is, though, my main interest here is Missy’s flow. I transcribed the first verse and the hook by writing a melody like I did for KRS-One and Lil’ Kim. Because I have Missy’s acapella track, I could assist my ears using Melodyne.

Hear my transcription on top of Missy’s vocal:

Because the acapella and instrumental are in wide circulation, and because the song is such a banger, “Get Ur Freak On” has been remixed in every subgenre of dance music. It’s not the easiest song to turn into house or techno, however. The nominal tempo is a laid-back 89 BPM, but it has an implied doubletime feel. So if you want to put it into a dance tempo, you either need to speed it up or slow it down or both. My favorite dance version is the Alvaro & Punish moombahton Remix. The sudden key change at 3:27 is especially delightful.

This Vibe Council mix deconstructs the track more heavily, and also brings in “Work It.”

I like the combination of half time and doubletime in this DJ Snake & Malaa mix.

A few days ago I was with the family at a park by SUNY New Paltz, and some students were having an outdoor drag show. The warmup dance party included a house remix of “Get Ur Freak On” interlaced with the acapella from Nirvana’s “Nevermind.” It worked! I wish I could find it online; you’ll just have to imagine.

There are a couple of rock covers of “Get Ur Freak On” out there too, all of which simplify the song and make it less interesting. I much prefer this mashup with “Back In Black” by AC/DC. For music education purposes, I’m less interested in straight covers and more interested in the idea of using the song as a template for new material. Here’s Ski Mask and A$AP Ferg, doing the exercise that Toni Blackman recommended for my music ed students, writing new lyrics to Missy’s flow. Be warned that it’s unspeakably filthy, and not in a fun Missy Elliott way.

Back in the dawn of history when I had a jazz group, I entertained fantasies of arranging “Get Ur Freak On” for them. Most of the time, jazz versions of rap songs only use the instrumentals, and then blow regular solos on top of them. They rarely engage the vocals. (I list some exceptions at the end of my KRS-One transcription post.) I would have wanted to have the horns play Missy’s vocal melody too, in all its dissonant splendor. Or maybe have them play the rhythm but choose their own pitches for glorious chromatic clashes? It feels like there’s an ocean of untapped musical possibility here.