She won.  She went viral first. To be fair, I never tried. It’s been officially 10 years now of me singing Missy Elliot “Work It” on every microphone I could get my hands on.  And she won.  Maybe it was her style, I certainly like her unique cadence, perhaps it was her very appropriate prop, or just really good videography.

This is what I am referencing if you haven’t seen it.

Not to try to steal her thunder, because her thunder is loud and powerful and victorious, but maybe to support her as my soul sister, I would like to kick it back to where it all started.

I lived in a little town in Arizona called Maricopa.  They had one bar.  It was called Native New Yorker. Now a days they just call it Native.  They had karaoke on Wednesday and Saturdays, and a shuttle that would pick you up at your house and take you there.  I had 4 friends named Jen that lived in Maricopa, and I would often (and by often I mean every Wednesday and Saturday) take the shuttle up with my friend Blond Jen to karaoke.  (The other Jens were Lawyer Jen, Brown Jen, something Jen, you get the picture)

I always let Blond Jen pick my songs because she was my pimp daddy/manager, and one special Wednesday night, she picked Missy Elliot, “Work It”, and we never paid for our drinks again.

For some reason, the song and I just became one. Here I was, this basic white chick mouthing off and spitting some of the filthiest lyrics out there to an unsuspecting crowd.  Some of my fondest memories are of singing that song in front of some very diverse crowds.  In fact, many of my closest friendships have been cemented after my performance of that song.

My Most Memorable Performances:

1. Singing it on my birthday in front of a large group of black women. At first, my friends were on edge, ready to throw down and protect me if I didn’t represent properly. My best girlfriend Uncle Ted vividly remembers her and her sister Abby cracking their fingers and necks warming up to protect me. But mad respect was had and by the end of the song I was given the nod and cheered on wildly.
2. Singing at Lone Butte Casino in front of what is I believe my largest audience to date, probably around 700 people. There were many stunned faces in the audience, but I was a celebrity for one night. PS: My friends point out the reason it was so epic was because it wasn’t Karaoke Night and there was no music. My Bad.
3. Street Karaoke in St Lucia. On the way back to a cruise ship with my friend Kate, there were locals performing street karaoke. Basically a karaoke machine on a car and people singing in the street. I look at a random and say, “street karaoke, good idea or bad idea?”  To which they replied, “good idea”.  Let’s just say our phones were dead so there is no proof, but we continue to search you tube for the footage as every local in st Lucia was recording the event.  My friend Kate says a cop walked by and I rubbed up on him to the part where she sings, “if you got a big… let me search ya”.  And I searched it.
4. Noon. Nowhere, Arizona. At a bar outside of Wilhoit that doesn’t open up until you get there. On your 4 wheeler. And once you arrive, the whole town shows up.  With a karaoke machine. Literally, you

   

   just wait at the entrance until someone drives by.  They call their friend who owns the place, and that person makes a call, and they play telephone until every person that lives in the town is in attendance.  And you eat pickled things. All the pickled things.  And they only take cash.  And if you don’t have cash they don’t have an ATM but if you sing “Work It”, you and your friends drink for free.

5. Hundreds of times at Romans Oasis, a country bar known for country music. Not Hip Hop.  I was quite the Belle of the Ball at that establishment.  Because after I was done, I would find the cutest cowboy in that place and make him spin me around the dance floor two steppin’ to Texas Country in my boots.
6. When I went to Madrid with my brother Jon and he said he was taking me somewhere and it was a surprise at 3am in the morning. We ended up in an underground Karaoke bar and I took that shit international.
7. In Hawaii at a company incentive trip in front of a table of my peers. Again, no music.
8. The first time I did it in front of my mom. Well that was embarrassing. I can’t just sing it normal, I have to do my dance routine. I gotta search for the big ones.

I literally just looked through 15,000 pictures on my phone trying to find proof of these memories for you. I even reached out to my entire top tier via one of those annoying group messages, and it seems

most of the memories of me singing Missy will only live in our hearts and minds and memories forever.  I’ve given you all I have for pictures, but if you have more, please leave them in the comments so they can live on the internet forever too.

Even though she won, I promise you I drove that bandwagon.  And the memories will live very strong in many hearts.  And I won’t stop.  But hopefully, there will be more proof of these epic nights and someday Missy Elliot will give me a shout out on the Instagram.  But if my chance is gone, it’s time to start thinking about my next go-to song.

Lisa

PS:  Here is the only video know to man to exist of me singing before Missy’s Funky White Sister. 

Lisa