The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott, Episode 4: Honky-Tonk Hip-Hop

Last week on The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott, each performer made a tribute out of recycled materials. They were divided into four groups to perform Missy Elliott songs at her old high school. Yelawolf was sent home over Melissa because she gave Missy the unexpected.

We start out this week where we left off last week, Yelawolf’s exit. Everyone is shocked and they express their frustrations by singing and rapping. Melissa says in an interview that she knows she screwed up and she has to make it better now.

We are reminded of Dallas’ track that was given to them. Deltrice says that she is trying to memorize her song to the track while Frank B. and Akil try out their own raps.

Nilyne feels like she’s in a rock band because they go two or three days without a shower and people are wearing shirts that they wore two days ago. They all try to figure out what city they are going to next. Nic thinks they are going to Atlanta and follow through to California. Well, Nic is wrong because they stop in Nashville, Tennessee. Oh boy, I can just see what’s coming already.

Steve gets them off the bus to perform their next road challenge. They must each sell sixty tickets for three dollars each for an upcoming performance. They are broken up into three groups. Group One is Akil, Frank B., Marcus, and Melissa. Group Two is Eddie, Jessica, and Deltrice. Group Three is Nic, Nilyne, and Matt. If they meet their target, the prize is that they all get to move from their gross bus (or as Nilyne so eloquently put it in episode one, “The Thing”) to a nice bus. They have 45 minutes to sell their tickets.

They all start selling and Frank B. apparently thinks that lying is the best way to get people when he says, “There’ll be some hot girls… strippers.” Akil’s group starts to rap for people. In an interview, Akil admits that it was tough. Nic says that he looked to sell to his target audience – women. Nic, stop shocking me. I can’t take it anymore. In the end Akil’s group makes exactly $60. Eddie’s group makes $58.70, but Matt’s group picks up the slack and then some because they made $74. They can all move onto the nice bus, which Marcus hopes he will stick around long enough to enjoy. I think he’ll be around for a long time.

Some (probably all, but we’re not shown everyone) go onto Dallas’ bus to perform their song on the track. The most notable is Jessica’s, who Dallas says reminds him of when he started writing TLC’s “Creep.” That’s a huge compliment, which Jessica understands.

Steve brings everyone out of the bus onto a trolley. They stop outside a Nashville studio where they are told about their performance challenge. They will be put into three groups and will have to revamp a classic country song into their own song. Needless to say, nobody looks particularly excited.

The first group is made up of Nic, Nilyne, and Frank B., and they will be performing Billy Ray Cyrus’s supposed classic “Achy-Breaky Heart.” The second group, Jessica, Matt, and Melissa, will sing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.” Jessica comments that Melissa has her Teena Marie flavor, Matt has his Justin Timberlake flavor, and she has her Lauryn Hill flavor and she think they’ll do well. The final group is Akil, Deltrice, Eddie, and Marcus who will be performing Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings’ “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up To Be Cowboys.”

Each group gets a chance to rehearse this song with a band. Frank B. is annoyed saying, “What the hell can I do with ‘Achy-Breaky Heart?’” Jessica is less peeved saying that they want to keep their country. Nic wants to make a small dance to their song which Frank B. isn’t so crazy about. Eddie thinks that the Nashville audience will be very open minded to black urban kids. Marcus wants to make his performance soulful.

Steve gets Nic to see Mona, who wants to ask him a question. In an interview Missy says that she told Mona to ask everyone who they think is the weakest. Nic says Melissa. Deltrice says Nic. Jessica says Melissa. Eddie says Frank B. Frank B. says Nilyne. (Huh?) Akil, Marcus, Matt, and Nilyne say Melissa. Melissa admits that she would be the worst, though why she would actually say it is beyond me.

In an interview Missy says that she likes to see people out of character and to show some originality. The performers enter the honky-tonk bar to a crowd of elderly white people. Oh, they’ll all love this. The judges sit at a table far away from the stage.