Playing 15-minute sets with cartoonish energy, the
Rapper donned an inflatable costume to become middle America’s worst nightmare: a gigantic, powerful black woman
Created in 1997, Lilith Fair was intended as a testament to female creativity and empowerment – a Lollapalooza-style touring caravan that would consist solely of female solo artists and bands led by
Women. That said, the festival, co-founded by Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan, promoted a narrow form of feminism in its initial incarnation: Tracy Chapman and
India.Arie were among the few black artists on a roster that skewed towards the “sensitive” end of the musical spectrum, as the Observer put it at the time.
The festival’s second incarnation, however, branched out into edgier territory with the likes of Erykah Badu, Liz Phair and a
BREAKING rapper hailing from Portsmouth,
Virginia, named Missy Elliott. She already had a platinum-certified 1997 debut album, Supa Dupa Fly, and an iconic image immortalised in video collaborations with Hype Williams. But her sets at Lilith Fair, beginning in Palm Beach,
Florida, on 26 July 1998, would be her first live performances; ones that demonstrated the potency of this legend in the making and expanded industry perceptions of what gigs could even be.