Work It (4:21)

“Work It” is a hip hop song written by American rapper/singer Missy Elliott and her producer Tim “Timbaland” Mosley for Elliott’s critically acclaimed fourth studio album Under Construction (2002). The song’s musical style, and production by Timbaland, were heavily inspired by Old school hip hop from the 1980s, and includes a portion which samples Run-D.M.C.’s “Peter Piper”. The beginning of the song samples Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three’s “Request Line”. Released as the album’s first single in the fall of 2002, the track reached the number two position on the U. S. Billboard Hot 100, becoming Missy Elliott’s most successful single to date.

The single spent ten consecutive weeks at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States behind Eminem’s huge hit “Lose Yourself” (about this Elliott confessed: “I just wanted to die those ten weeks, I mean, it wasn’t cool”), and reached number one for five weeks on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The song is tied with Foreigner’s 1981 hit “Waiting for a Girl Like You” as the longest-running U.S. number-two single that did not reach number one. “Work It“‘s music video was directed by Dave Meyers. A remix of this song features 50 Cent. The end of the song samples “Peter Piper” by Run-DMC, and the synth pattern in the rhythm track samples the intro to “Heart of Glass” by Blondie.