Missy Elliot ft. Aaliyah: Best Friends

 

Released: July 15th 1997

Recorded: November 1996 – May 1997

Label: The Goldmind/Elektra

Supa Dupa Fly is Missy Elliot's debut studio album which was released in 1997. As you can tell, Aaliyah was featured as a guest appearance on the album for the track Best Friends. The song talks about how women go through the trials and tribulations of ending up with a man who just play and mess around with them, taking them for granted. It also talks about the true meaning of friendship, showing which people are down for you in your time of need, and which ones merely see you as a hinderance. I think this is very important as not many people understand the true value of friendship these days. People are so quick to jump into a relationship, yet they don't take the time to allow themselves to get to know one another. You can hear this from the first line of the track where Aaliyah sings – 

"My best friend say, 

She's sick of me cryin' on the phone 

telling how a man be doggin' me, 

My best friend say,

Don't tell her nothin' bout me and you 

cause she ain't showin' me no sympathy"

As you can see from the lyrics, a true friend is brutally honest no matter how much you would like to hear it or not. In the song, it's saying let go of all the drama that you put up with because no matter what, your best friend will be by your side to help you through it all. All I can say is that's real talk. I'm sure a lot of women can relate to this song when they have a heart to heart with their girlfriends about a man who is just being ungrateful and malicious. To anyone who is going through or has been through this, here's a song which will cheer you up for sure. Remember that true friends are hard to come by, so when you do come by them, make sure they are down for you and vice versa. As J.cole would say..."Watch out for the snakes". 

Speaking of J.cole, he also did a version of this song titled Best Friend, sampling the beat, where he is rapping over it. You can find this on his third mixtape Friday Night Lights (A great mixtape I must add!) Personally I think he did a great tribute in memory of Babygirl as it's something which keeps her memory alive for those younger kids who are not aware of her. He also does a nice spin on it, talking from the males point of view on how sometimes your lady's friend (her homegirl) can interfere a bit too much, since a relationship is between two people. I like how he stayed true to the theme of the song on this one. Nice work J.Cole! :o)