After years of waiting, fans are finally getting to celebrate the music of one of Hip-Hop’s all-time legends live in concert, Missy Elliott. From breaking barriers and opening doors for women to have a bigger platform in Hip-Hop, to pushing the envelope with her creative music videos, Missy Elliott’s impact on the culture is being recognized all these years later, with recent inductions into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Hollywood Walk of Fame. While it’s been almost twenty years since Missy Elliott released a full-length album, enough time has passed for the longevity of her music to be proven, as her hits still move dance floors to this day, and her fan base is now ready to see her go on her first ever arena tour as a headliner.

Dubbed The Out Of This World Tour, you know the look and feel of this concert would have Missy Elliott’s artistic vision on full display, and she would be joined by an all-star lineup of artists who similarly personify raw creativity. Joining Missy Elliott on this tour would be day-one supporter and mentor, Busta Rhymes, who recently cancelled his own BLOCKBUSTA Tour so that he can be available for this. Also joining the tour would be frequent collaborator and RnB star Ciara, as well as world-renowned producer who worked on the bulk of Missy Elliott’s albums, Timbaland. Along with Missy Elliott consistently going platinum on each of her six albums, all of these artists have hits for days, making for what was bound to be a hype party from start to finish. Having toured across the US and Canada all summer, this stop in Toronto would be the third-last stop of the tour.

As fans made their way inside Scotiabank Arena, Timbaland would set off the party vibes and had fans dancing early on. Rather than perform a typical DJ set, Timbaland would actually take the front of the stage on the microphone while his son spun the records from behind the DJ booth, hyping the crowd up as they played some of the iconic records he’s produced for other artists besides Missy Elliott over the years, including Aaliyah’s “One In A Million” and Beyonce’s “Drunk In Love.” They’d play a dope transition between Jay-Z’s “Jigga What, Jigga Who” and “Big Pimpin'” with Jay’s flow on the former seamlessly fitting over the beat on the latter, and Timbaland would actually perform his own vocals on his Nelly Furtado collabs “Promiscuous” and “Give It To Me.” Some fans may have been hoping to see the Canadian Pop star make a surprise appearance for the Toronto crowd to perform these songs with Timbaland, but that moment never came.

Showing his diverse range as a producer, Timbaland continued to drop hit after hit while showing off all aspects of his production style. He’d play club records like Keri Hilson’s “The Way I Are” and 50 Cent’s “Ayo Technology,” and RnB classics like Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody” and Ginuwine’s “Pony.” After rocking the crowd for almost an hour, Timbaland would close out his set with a couple Justin Timberlake classics, getting everyone to sing along to “Cry Me A River” and cranked the energy up one last time with “My Love.” While Timbaland has a vast production catalogue with hundreds, if not thousands of songs he could have pulled from, he curated a dope selection to get the crowd ready for the Missy Elliott vibes that were coming later on.

The scheduled set times had Ciara listed to perform next, but the fans were in for a surprise as the show runners flipped the script and the jumbo screens played an epic intro telling the crowd to “prepare for The Dragon!” Yes indeed, a platform from underneath the stage elevated to reveal the man himself decked out in a royal outfit looking like the ruler of his own planet, Busta Rhymes!

It doesn’t matter if it’s a small nightclub or a huge arena, Busta Rhymes will get the energy cranked anywhere he performs. As usual, he’d set it off with one of the most hype songs in Hip-Hop history, M.O.P.’s “Ante Up Remix,” and he’d show off impeccable chemistry and coordination with his DJ, Scratchator, and his hypeman, Spliff Star. After seeing him perform twice on 50 Cent’s Final Lap Tour last year, much of Busta Rhyme’s setlist was familiar, as he did his routine of playing with the microphone levels during “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” and got the crowd to raise their hands and clap along to the beat on “Make It Clap.”

Busta Rhymes would do an energy check with the crowd, revealing that there were a lot more women in the building than men, and would be sure to perform a few of his more romantic songs for the ladies. He’d do a full performance of his Mariah Carey collab “I Know What You Want,” with Spliff Star getting to perform his featured verse and the crowd singing along to both Busta and Mariah’s sung vocals on the hook, and would follow with his Janet Jackson collab “What’s It Gonna Be.” He wouldn’t stay in that RnB lane for long though, next performing two of his most iconic featured guest verses from two different eras his career, getting the crowd to jump to A Tribe Called Quest’s “Scenario,” and taking a moment to express his gratitude to the fans before killing his rapid-fire verse on Chris Brown’s “Look At Me Now.” An authentic Hip-Hop artist at his core, Busta Rhymes would be sure to highlight that there are no special effects or added vocals when he performs these technically proficient raps that require skill and precision to execute.

Continuing to showcase some of his famous featured verses as well as some of his fastest rapping, Busta would perform his verse on DJ Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win,” a hit guaranteed to get arms waving, and would get DJ Scratchator to play Queen’s “We Are The Champions” just for the vibes. The most epic song would come next, as Busta Rhymes and Spliff Star would do their routine for “Break Ya Neck,” stopping the song just as Busta yells “stop!” mid-verse to check the crowd’s energy, and would restart it from the top and have Busta nail both his verses with impeccable execution. He would then tease the hook from his 2020 song “Outta My Mind,” which got the crowd singing along to the sample of Bel Biv DeVoe’s “Poison,” and would cut it off right after shouting the line “Don’t this shit make my people wanna-“

Before getting into the obvious hit that was coming next, Busta would take a moment to acknowledge his partner-in-rhyme, Spliff Star, getting massive applause as they announced that he had recently beaten cancer, and gave DJ Scratchator some love before closing out the set. As they usually do, Busta and Spliff would each pop a bottle of champagne to spray on the crowd as they performed that classic hook to “Pass The Courvoisier,” getting the fans to jump to the beat one last time before leaving the stage. Although there were plenty of classics Busta Rhymes left off the setlist and much of the performance was routine from last year, it was dope seeing him perform in Scotiabank Arena and witnessing the energy of having this massive crowd behind him. Before leaving the stage, he would promise the Toronto crowd that we would definitely get to see him again.

There would be a break for the stage to be set up with additional screens and lighting, and pretty soon it would be time for Ciara and her team of dancers to grace the stage!

With an additional platform being added to the stage for Ciara to make her entrance on, the hype in the building got cranked once she appeared at the very top singing the opening lines to her debut single, “Goodies.” Her team of dancers would gather at the bottom and Ciara would dance her way down the walkway to them while singing the full song, her microphone built into a headset so she could show off her dance moves. While I personally hadn’t listened to Ciara’s music since I was a teenager, she immediately brought that nostalgia factor with her first few songs coming from that era, getting the crowd moving with her 2006 single “Get Up” and returning to her 4x platinum debut Goodies with the classic “Oh.” While I wasn’t familiar with all her songs from later in her career, hits like “Ride,” “Body Party” and “Promise” resonated with the crowd, as she showed off some dope choreography with her dancers and had the fans moving too.

After performing her new 2024 single “Run It Up,” Ciara would mark the halfway point of her set by taking a seat and getting the fans to light up their cell phones as she sang her way through the slower paced “I Bet,” getting the ladies to vibe to the more emotional song about a cheating boyfriend. The energy would quickly pick back up as she got into her featured appearance on Field Mob’s “So What,” and got a dance-off going between her dancers, even bringing a fan named Bumba from Guyana on stage to join in. After another relatively newer joint with “How We Roll,” Ciara would bring back that nostalgia factor with some fan favourites from the 2000s, getting the energy in the room cranked for “Like A Boy” and the classic “1, 2 Step.” While that latter single was a major catalyst in Ciara’s early career featuring Missy Elliott herself on the track, Missy didn’t come out to perform the song with her, but Ciara made sure to speak on the mentorship Missy provided in those early days to help her achieve her major successes.

With one last burst of energy with “Level Up,” Ciara would thank the crowd for reciprocating that energy throughout her performance and making the third-last stop of the tour a memorable one. The crowd was hyped after Ciara’s set, as she put on a display of the incredible dance choreography she’s known for to go along with her Pop and RnB hits, bringing back memories of her music videos. There would be another break for the stage to be prepped for Missy, and the anticipation built as the wristbands we were all given upon entering the arena started to light up. It was time for the main event!

With the stage and the jumbo screens portraying a spaceship, the theme around Missy Elliott’s setlist would be an outer space journey, treating each of her music videos and albums as different planets. Animated images of Missy’s various looks from different eras of her career would appear on the screen, welcoming fans to what would be an hour and fifteen minute flight for the Out Of This World journey, and the stage would depict a spaceship landing that a team of dancers and Missy herself would appear from. The crowd was hyped off the epic intro alone!

While many fans came for the throwbacks, Missy Elliott would be quick to show that she can still get parties moving with new music, opening her setlist with the first two songs off her 2019 ICONOLOGY EP, “Throw It Back” and “Cool Off.” The songs played like the beginning of a sporting event, as the dancers made full use of the space on stage to get the crowd hyped, and Missy showed off some dope choreography with them as she rapped. She’d continue on with the high-energy singles “We Run This” and “4 My People” before pausing to give a shoutout to the day-one fans, and getting tons of cheers when she asked if she could take it back to 1997. The crowd was ready as a dramatic beat built up to become the Supa Dupa Fly throwback “Sock It 2 Me,” and an image of the superhero version of Missy from the music video played on the big screen as she nailed her vocals and choreography. The party was just getting started!

Getting the crowd to make noise, Missy would bounce between eras as the “Ragtime Interlude” from 2003’s This Is Not A Test played, and flames would shoot up from the sides of the stage as the interlude transitioned into “I’m Really Hot.” Missy performed the hype, dance-inducing single with the beat flipping midway to k-os’ “Superstar Pt. Zero” just as it does in the music video version of the song. The lights coming from the wristbands given to the fans made for a cool added effect to the stage lighting, as the entire arena was lit up in red lights timed to the beat during “I’m Really Hot,” and transitioned to a cool blue as the stage cleared for a tap dancer to do a solo dance to “Singing In The Rain.” This would of course be used to introduce Missy Elliott’s own ’97 single “The Rain,” to which she came out wearing an all-black outfit similar to the original music video.

After doing just one verse from “The Rain,” Missy would pull out a more obscure single with 2017’s “I’m Better,” her team of dancers pulling off some skillful moves with bouncy exercise balls while laser lights added to the effect. Missy would head underneath the stage while her dancers kept the crowd engaged during “I’m Better,” and her hypeman would introduce the next song by channeling Too $hort’s “what’s my favourite word?!” chant. With the fans recognizing the beat, the energy got cranked as Missy emerged from under the stage wearing a massive black cape as she performed the 1999 classic “She’s A Bitch,” again pulling imagery from her original music video.

Continuing to amaze fans with the visuals just as much as the music, Missy Elliott would lose the cape as she boarded a platform that would take her above the crowd for the next song. With the platform lifting her above the fans, she pulled out a single from her highest-selling album, 2002’s Under Construction, rocking the high-energy “Gossip Folks” and getting the crowd hyped from the floating platform. Next she would return to the ground level to follow up with the more soulful 1999 single “All N My Grill,” nailing her sung vocals in the first verse. She then took it to her 2001 album Miss E…So Addictive for the next few songs, performing the classics “Get Ur Freak On,” “Lick Shots” and “One Minute Man,” with plenty of dance choreography and another outfit change in between.

Similar to Busta Rhymes, Missy would take a moment to check the energy of the crowd and see if there were more men or women in the building. Looking for the men to make more noise, Missy used this segment to get into another classic with “Hot Boyz,” the flames shooting up at the sides of the stage again, and would follow with a groovy performance of “Beep Me 911.” By this point Missy had been serving up hit after hit, delivering all of the essentials for any Missy Elliott playlist, but she’d also be sure to pull out some deep album cuts for the diehard fans. She’d perform another 2019 cut with “DripDemeanor” before pulling out a few joints from her lesser talked about 2005 album, The Cookbook, rocking “Meltdown” and “Bad Man” while still getting the same energy from the crowd.

There would be another interlude that featured a DJ spinning records and a dancer getting down, giving Missy time for yet another outfit change, and she’d return with her team of dancers decked out in neon outfits, performing her joint from the Step Up 2: The Streets soundtrack, “Ching-A-Ling.” This would be followed by another obscure single, 2015’s “WTF (Where They From),” and she’d briefly leave the stage again for her dancers to have a dance-off as the DJ played Method Man’s “Bring The Pain.” As the dancers did some breaking to “Bring The Pain,” it brought back memories of Missy’s remix to that same song off her Under Construction album, but rather than perform that deep album cut, she’d return with arguably her biggest and most recognizable hit single from the same album: “Work It.” The timeless dance classic got the whole arena moving, and Missy would actually go down to the floor and run a lap around the arena as she performed the song, dancing and clapping hands with the fans as she rapped.

Returning to the stage, Missy would do another early 2000s single with “Pass That Dutch” before taking a moment to praise her backup dancers. She’d speak on the work her dancers put in to nail their choreography throughout the entire tour, some of them being on their first ever concert tour, and would single out one dancer named Amanda who was actually from Toronto to do her own solo dance for her hometown. Continuing to spread the love, Missy next brought out her OG production partner, Timbaland, and would give an RIP shoutout to Magoo as they performed the Timbaland & Magoo cut for the day-ones, “Up Jumps Da Boogie.” The special guests continued to come through as Missy next brought back Busta Rhymes and Spliff Star to do a hype performance of “Touch It,” although she didn’t do her own verse from the remix.

The last guest to join Missy on stage would be the most epic, as she performed her 2005 classic “Lose Control” with her dancers breaking it down around her, and Ciara of course came up from underneath the stage mid-song to slay her verse. This would be the grand finale of the concert, as fireworks shot off from the back of the stage at the end of the song and Missy Elliott, Ciara, Busta Rhymes, Spliff Star and Timbaland all took to the front of the stage to thank the fans. With Missy being the last one on stage, she would pull one last visual spectacle as she ran back to the spaceship she entered from and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Overall, The Out Of This World Tour was the creative chaos we expected Missy Elliott to bring to the stage for her first ever headlining tour. Not only did she perform all the classic records from each era of her career, but almost every hit had its own unique visual to it, often emulating themes from the original music videos that accompanied them. There was never a shortage of action on stage between the dancers, videos, pyrotechnics, levitating platforms and Missy herself. The special guests on the tour also complemented Missy Elliott’s performance nicely, as you had an originator with a like-minded approach to Hip-Hop in Busta Rhymes, a younger artist influenced by Missy who became a star on her own in Ciara, and of course the foundation of Missy’s style and sound as her day-one producer, Timbaland. It goes to show that Missy Elliott’s impact goes beyond her own catalogue of music, as you could see her influence on every artist who graced the stage, whether direct or indirect.

This proved to be an appropriate celebration of one of Hip-Hop’s all-time greats, as it encompassed every era, every album, and every style Missy Elliott has brought to the culture. If there’s one word to describe this concert, it would be the same word Missy has strived to bring to Hip-Hop throughout her entire career: fun.

The last chance to catch The Out Of This World Tour is this week with two shows in Rosemont, Illinois (just outside of Chicago). Dates and tickets can be found here!

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