The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott, Episode 3: Homecoming at Someone Else’s Home

Last week on The Road to Stardom, Deltrice, Jessica, and Eddie won the first road challenge and got to go bowling with Missy. The remaining twelve had to perform an original song to a track produced by Dallas Austin. Cori was given the boot for not being able to adapt.

The bus stops in Norfolk, Virginia, which is Missy Elliott’s hometown. Missy says in a voiceover that it’s hard on the road. You don’t get so see your family. This segues into Yelawolf looking at pictures of his wife and kids and saying that he misses them a lot.

They stop at a Norfolk recycling plant. Yelawolf reads a message from Missy saying that they have to take whatever they can from the junkyard and build an homage to something in their life. This turns out to be their unspoken street task.

Missy and Missy’s useless dancers (who will now be referred to as MUD because they aren’t important enough to take up so much space) come in and view the... Sculptures? Heaps of junk? Whatever you want to call them is alright with me. Frank B. is first and it is a tribute to his father. Nic’s is a tribute to his son, Legend. Why does Nic naming his son Legend not surprise me? Nilyne’s art is dedicated to music because she contemplated suicide and music is what saved her. Eddie has a tribute to black women. He has a slow sort of rap-type story about the strong women in his life. Deltrice is a little surprised by it but loves it.

Marcus has a tribute to his family, especially his mother who is a single parent. Melissa has a tribute to being a kid. It’s basically a mini tree house. Okay... Matt changes the pace with his tribute to Jesus, who he says is who he’s living for. Deltrice has a tribute to her parents. She misses them a lot and starts to cry. Deltrice cries a few times in this episode. Yelawolf has a tribute for his grandfather, who was a father figure to him. He makes a very touching speech that makes one of MUD cry as well as Yelawolf himself.

Jessica’s tribute is to herself. It’s not nearly as pompous as it sounds. Her mother, as were learned in the first episode, was a crack head and her father was not there. This one makes everyone cry too. The last tribute is from Akil, and it is a tribute to his family. He says he is a black Jew and does a small rap with mixed stereotypes of both Jewish and black people. It’s sardonic and very smart.

Everyone has a group hug. Nic says that besides the birth of his son, it was one of the most touching moments in his life.

Everyone gets a reward and has dinner with Missy at Chinese restaurant where Missy comments that nobody knows how to use chopsticks. Yelawolf is sitting next to Missy and talks to her about the track from last episode. Yelawolf says that he doesn’t like it and Missy puts him in his place. In an interview Yelawolf says, “The track is still wack.” Why would tell her this? Honestly, what advantage does it give you? You don’t see Apprentice candidates telling Trump they don’t like his hair, although they should.

Road manager Steve goes on the bus and tells them that they are all going to see Missy perform at her high school. Later on, Mona comes on the bus saying that Missy is under the weather and won’t be able to perform. They will have to fill in for her and it will also be their performance challenge. They are all shocked and unprepared, especially when they hear they have to perform Missy songs. And they don’t know the words. I’m really surprised by this actually. Not only is it dumb not to know about the person you’re auditioning for, but how do you not know Missy songs? She is one of the only female rappers on the radio today. Eve hasn’t done much since she got her own show and Da Brat is on The Surreal Life, even though she wanted to call it The For Real Life. Nice try.

They all go to Missy’s old school, Woodrow Wilson High School. Teena, Dallas and Mona watch from a TV in another room. Mona introduces the performers who are on in groups of two or three.

Deltrice, Marcus, and Jessica, a.k.a. “The Freaks,” sing “Get Ur Freak On.” They get past line one and Deltrice says start over. They don’t know the lyrics very well and do okay. I’m not very impressed, especially by these three who have shown to be very good.

Yelawolf and Akil, a.k.a. “Aladelphia” (Yelawolf is from Alabama and Akil is from Philadelphia), perform “Gossip Folks.” Akil beat boxes and break dances at first while Yelawolf raps... not “Gossip Folks.” Akil then raps not “Gossip Folks” also. It’s good but I was under the impression that they had to rap Missy’s songs.