Missy Elliott shares sweet message after Usher’s surprise gesture before her show

Missy Elliott was grateful to have her friend Usher backstage at her recent shows, as he stepped in to help when she was suffering from an excruciating migraine.

The veteran rapper shared a grateful message to her social media on Tuesday (30 July), where she thanked the R&B star for turning up.

“Big up my fam @Usher who came to not just one of my shows but TWO [and] hopefully three,” she wrote.

“What [people] don’t know is I suffer migraines and I performed yesterday in [Atlanta] with the WORST migraine nauseated and all, and he came backstage and did pressure points on my hands. Yes he do it all.”

The “Work It” star, born Melissa Elliott, also shared a series of photos of her with Usher backstage, including the moment he applied pressure points to her hands.

Elliott continues her tour tomorrow night (1 August) in Baltimore. The dates mark her first ever headline tour, titled Out of This World: The Missy Elliott Experience, and also features performances from Busta Rhymes, Ciara and Timbaland.

“I didn't realise I never had my own tour,” she told the Associated Press ahead of the first shows. “The last real tour that I went on — like, consistent days — was with Beyoncé and Alicia (Keys).”

In 2019, Elliott became the first female rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Two years later, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and, in 2023, became the first female hip-hop artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“Getting those accolades, I feel like I've finally made it,” Elliott said. “It feels amazing. I feel so blessed.”

Her longtime manager, Mona Scott-Young, said the recognition was a sign of “the rest of the world catching up”.

Meanwhile, Busta Rhymes claimed that Elliott would turn down $10m (£7.8m) to do a show: “She’s super in control of her destiny in that way, and without compromise, is what made her super incredibly great.

“You can’t do nothing but love her for that. She’s a true artist in the purest form of the word.”

He added: “She doesn’t really tour and she doesn’t perform often. I just kind of understood my sister — the unspoken thing. You knew that if she decided to do this, go to the place where she was actually ready to tour, the s*** was going to be crazy because one thing Missy never did was play with her production.

“And you saw that in everything she did, from her shows to her videos.”