The rap icon will be joined by Ciara, Busta Rhymes and Timbaland on 'Out Of This World – The Missy Elliott Experience.'
It's crazy to think that the year 2024 could mark Missy Elliott's first-ever headlining tour -- when the rap icon has been "working it" for the better part of three decades.
But Missy told ET that the timing couldn't be more right for the upcoming Out of This World - The Missy Elliott Experience, where she'll be joined by friends and longtime collaborators like Ciara, Busta Rhymes, and even legendary producer Timbaland.
The North American dates for the tour being on July 4 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada, and will end on August 22 at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. Click HERE for all the dates.
"It was the time for it -- I feel like God aligned everything," Missy told ET's Nischelle Turner in a recent interview. "Ciara has been on me about going out on the road for, like, forever... But I knew in my mind, I wasn't ready then."
"And then I was just like... I'm ready to go," she said of what changed her mind this year. "People have always wanted to see that, and I said Ciara, Busta, all of that. Energy level is just gonna be through the roof."
Both Ciara and Busta admitted to ET that they were working on ideas for their own respective tours this year, but getting the call from Missy changed everything up.
"If I'mma really go to this place and get back into this bag, it's gonna have to be because I don't really got a choice, know what I'm saying?" Busta shared. "If I'mma be amongst this level of greatness... We are the ones that kind of birthed this whole freeness in the hip-hop thing -- this whole courageous and colorful and outlandish, having fun and just bringing the imagination to life in a new way."
"[Missy is] like one of the goddesses of this particular space," he added. "I find the most comfort going in this bag with my sis and with my other sis because this is what they've been doing anyway."
Missy and Busta's "twin" energy goes back to the very beginning of her career, with Busta providing intro and outro tracks to her very first album, 1997's Supa Dupa Fly, which the rap star admitted left her "in awe" at the time.
"This is somebody that I looked up to," she reflected. "He's the father of this, and nobody really wants to- I don't even want to go on after Busta, for real... It's hard to have such a long run and still have that energy, like he has that same energy that he's had in ['Scenario'] or Leaders of the New School, like, same energy."
And she has a similar connection to Ciara, as they prepare to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of their megahit, "1, 2 Step," later this year.
"It's such a special record," Ciara said of the 2004 single, which followed "Goodies" off her album of the same name. "It's still one of our biggest songs, which is crazy -- that's when you know you made something special."
"Twenty years and four babies later," Missy -- aka "Auntie Miss" -- teased of Ciara's growing brood with her husband, Russell Wilson.
But don't worry, Ciara says she has no qualms about hitting the road with her young family -- even after they welcomed baby No. 4, daughter Amara, last December.
"I'mma send [the kids] to Auntie Miss and Uncle Bust," she teased with a laugh. "We know they gonna come back a little different, but even better."
In all seriousness, the performer shared, "I always say, I think it's just organic with us, you know? It's who we are naturally."
And Busta had to agree.
"[I've] waited almost 30 years to be able to rock with my sis, my twin, one of my greatest inspirations," he praised of Missy. "I'm super grateful to be able to rock like this. This was something that I didn't really think was ever gonna be possible. I got to credit Ciara for beating this one until it came to fruition, manifested it, queen."
As for Missy, she also couldn't be more excited for the tour -- which kicks off July 4 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
"These two, they are someone that has contributed so much to the culture, and I want them to get their flowers," the legendary MC said of bringing Ciara and Busta on tour with her. "People gonna get a chance to see hit after hit after hit after hit, and they gonna be like, 'Wow.'"
Certainly, the tour, which Ciara called "energy overload," will also have some surprises, no?
"We got some surprises, yes," Missy confirmed, calling the vibe "out of this world" but keeping any cameos or new songs close to the chest. "We got to pull something off to make them want to come. We don't want to tell them everything [now]."
She said the same about new music, which Missy said might come full circle for her longtime fans.
"[They will] probably not understand it the first go around, 'cause that's how my music was the first album," she teased. "It was like, 'Do I like this? I don't know, wait a minute, let me hear it again.' So it might be that, but, you know, they'll catch on, like they had to catch on the first album."
Out Of This World – The Missy Elliott Experience kicks off July 4, in Vancouver, British Columbia, with Ciara, Busta Rhymes and special guest Timbaland.
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