Back in the Day (Missy Elliott song)

Single infobox |
Name = "Back in the Day"
Artist = Missy Elliott featuring Jay-Z & Tweet


from Album = Under Construction
Released = 2003
Format = Digital download
12" single
Recorded = 2002
Genre = Hip hop
Length = 4:02
Label = Goldmind/Elektra
Writer = Missy Elliott
Tim Mosley
Shawn Carter
Producer = Timbaland
Reviews =
Last single = "Pussycat"
(2003)
This single = "Back in the Day"
(2003)
Next single = "Fighting Temptation"
(2003)

"Back in the Day" is a 2003 hip-hop song by Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, featuring guest vocals from Jay-Z and Elliott protégé Tweet. The song appears on her 2002 album "Under Construction" and was at one time planned for release as a single. (It peaked at #86 on "Billboard" Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart in 2003 before being scrapped as a single.)

About the song

Produced by Elliott's main producer and longtime collaborator Timbaland, "Back In The Day" is an ode to the classic era of old school hip-hop, when the hip-hop culture was, Elliott sings, fun and peaceful, compared to the more violent scope of modern-day hip-hop. "Back in the day/hip-hop has changed", she sings. During the bridge of the song she even makes a point of referencing "Self-Destruction", a 1989 collaborative benefit single for peace featuring a number of that era's hip-hop stars. Incidentally, MC Lyte's verse from "Self-Destruction" is sampled on another of "Under Construction"'s album tracks, "Funky Fresh Dressed".

Jay-Z contributes a rap verse in which he creatively references a number of hip-hop artists (for example, stating "I kill at will like solid water, dude", a reference to Ice Cube's 1990 EP "Kill At Will"). At one point during his verse, Jay-Z raps "so fuck Chuck Phillips and Bill O'Reilly/if they try to stop hip-hop, we all gon' rally", a reference to two of hip-hop's most vocal critics.

"Back in the Day" references

Below is a list of old-school hip-hop people and items Elliott and Jay-Z namedrop in "Back in the Day":

=Hip-hop fashions=

*British Knights
*Gold chains
*Phat laces

Dances

*Prep
*Cabbage patch

Hip-hop artists

*Salt-N-Pepa
*Rakim
*Run DMC
*Big Daddy Kane
*Heavy D
*Slick Rick
*MC Lyte
*Dr Dre
*LL Cool J
*Public Enemy
*M.O.P
*Tag Team
*Ice Cube
*Notorious B.I.G.
*2Pac
*KRS-One
*EPMD

Credits

* Lead Vocals by Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott and Jay-Z
* Background Vocals by Tweet
* Whistle by Timbaland
* Written by Melissa Elliott, Timothy Mosley, and Sean Carter
* Produced by Timbaland for Timbaland Productions; Co-produced by Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott