Veteran American rapper, Melissa Elliott aka Missy Elliott, alongside pop royalty Justin Timberlake and conductor Alex Lacamoire are set to receive an honorary doctorate degree from the prestigious Berklee College of Music.
Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world.
Elliott 47, who will become the first female Hip Hop artist inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in June, is a five-time recipient of Grammy Award winner with nominations spanning three decades.
The college made the announcement via its twitter handle, https://twitter.com/BerkleeCollege
“ ANNOUNCEMENT: @jtimberlake, @MissyElliott, and @LacketyLac to Receive Honorary Doctorates at #Berklee Commencement.’’
The school President, Roger H. Brown would present Elliot, Lacamoire and Timberlake with honorary Doctor of Music degrees at the college commencement ceremony on May 11 at Boston University’s 7,000-seat Agganis Arena.
This year’s honorary doctorate recipients are being recognised for their “achievements and influences in music and for their enduring global impact.”
The veteran rapper, who is also a songwriter, dancer, record producer, and actress embarked on her music career with all-female R&B group Sista in the early-mid 1990s and later became a member of the Swing Mob collective.
Missy Elliot launched her solo career in 1997 with her debut album Supa Dupa Fly, which spawned the top 20 single ” Sock It 2 Me’’.
The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, the highest-charting debut for a female rapper at the time.
The music veteran also produced the singles “ She’s a Bitch’,“All n My Grill’’ and top five hit “ Hot Boyz’’. The remix broke the record for most weeks at number-one on the US R&B chart on the issue dated January 15, 2000.
Elliot has sold over 30 million records in the United States and is and is the best-selling female rapper in Nielsen Music history according to Billboard in 2017. (NAN)