Missy Elliott’s Epic VMAs Performance Was the Toast of Twitter

Last night, Missy Elliott was finally, rightfully awarded with MTV’s Video Vanguard Award. The artist has been cranking out innovative, highly influential videos for decades–consider the unforgettable black blow-up suit in “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly);” the UFOs in “Pass That Dutch;” the spit in “Get Ur Freak On?” Her win last night was a deserved, long overdue honor. And her performance was, as expected, epic.

Missy performed a medley of some of her biggest hits (“The Rain,” “Get Ur Freak On”, “Work It”, “Pass that Dutch”, “Lose Control,” and her latest single, “Throw It Back,” which was just released on August 23rd) in a seven minute-long performance that incorporated no less than five costume changes. She reenacted scenes from some of her most beloved and best-known videos–to the audience’s mass delight, Alyson Stoner, the little girl from the “Work It” video, took the stage for a highlighted solo performance. At one point she became a scarecrow? And the dancers were, of course, incredible.

The performance was so special. Missy Elliott is a visionary. A visionary! Her acceptance speech was moving; she paid homage to her video influences (Busta Rhymes, Janet Jackson, Peter Gabriel, Madonna) and referenced her friend and protegé Aliyah–the 18th anniversary of her death was this past Sunday. And Missy, known for her videos’ unbelievable, stunning choreography, made sure to dedicate her award to “the dance community of the world.”

“I am so humbly grateful,” she said. “I thank y’all.”

Video of Missy’s performance has already racked up over 1.7 million views on YouTube. If you have not watched it, we would recommend that you correct that right away.

Both the crowd present at the awards and fans watching at home went wild for Missy’s performance. Twitter was on fire–with happiness, which is, uh, rare for Twitter. Here are our favorite reactions.