Missy Elliott has reached uncharted territory — as apparently the first rapper with music in deep space.
NASA announced earlier this week that their Deep Space Network successfully transmitted Elliott’s 1997 song “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” from Earth to Venus at the speed of light. It marks the first time a hip-hop song has made the 158-million-mile trek.
The Grammy winner recently embarked on her aptly-named “Out of This World” tour and, in a glowing statement Monday, explained she chose Venus as the destination herself — “because it symbolizes strength, beauty, and empowerment.”
Elliott added at the time, “I still can’t believe I’m going out of this world with NASA through the Deep Space Network when ‘The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)’ becomes the first ever hip-hop song to transmit to space!”
The National Space Agency confirmed Monday that Friday’s transmission was made by a 112-foot-wide radio dish antenna at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California, and took nearly 14 minutes to reach the yellow-white planet.
Elliott has always had a flair for spaced-out music videos that suggest a passion for all things intergalactic. For Brittany Wong, director of the Digital and Technology Division at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., choosing Elliott was pretty easy.
“Both space exploration and Missy Elliott’s art have been about pushing boundaries,” she said. “Missy has a track record of infusing space-centric storytelling and futuristic visuals in her music videos so the opportunity to collaborate on something out of this world is truly fitting.”
Prince Williams/WireImage/Getty Images
Even more fitting is that Venus is the only planet named after a female god, though ancient Greece knew her as Aphrodite. “The Rain is now the second song NASA has ever beamed directly into space after their 2008 transmission of “Across the Universe” by The Beatles.
“Send my love to the aliens,” founding Beatle Paul McCartney reportedly said at the time.
Elliott naturally celebrated her follow-up transmission by sharing pictures of planets and dancing aliens on social media. For the Virginia-born rapper, whose real name is Melissa Arnette Elliott, the feat is merely one of many she’s accomplished over the past few years.
Elliott not only received a coveted Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards but also celebrated her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2021 and became the first female rapper inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year.
She wrote Monday on X, formerly Twitter, “The sky is not the limit; it’s just the beginning.”