Like her many cars, Missy Elliott's music career is in overdrive. Since she got her big break six years ago, she has shaken up the sound of hip-hop and the way sisters do business in the industry. Rapper, songwriter, producer, label CEO--she's bombarded the airwaves with hits that have her more-than-Midas touch. But it hasn't been all good all the time. Behind the 28-year-old mega-artist lies a history of sacrifice and struggle. Moving beyond a world of silence and pain, Missy shares the triumphs and troubles that have made her the artist and businesswoman she is today.

WATCHING MISSY "MISDEMEANOR" Elliott saunter across Manhattan's bustling Forty-Second Street, one could easily mistake her for just another one of the city's resident fly girls steadily chatting on her celly. Clad comfortably in sneakers and a custom-tailored denim suit (comically adorned all over with teeny replicas of The Simpsons characters), she bears none of the typical harried visage of a young music mogul in the making--no security guards, no entourage, no diva attitude. She even turned off her cell phone for this interview.

There really is a disarming easiness about this multimillionaire rapper, songwriter, producer, label CEO. Whether she's laying the groundwork for new tracks for multiplatinum entities like Janet Jackson, the Hot Boy$, Aaliyah and 'N Sync or planning studio sessions for artists on her fledgling label, The Gold Mind, Inc., or just kicking it with her mama (a habit she indulges in at least four times a day) or her girls Lil' Kim and Mary J. Blige, Melissa Elliott moves through the world with understated aplomb. Still, the signature finger waves and wristfuls of sparkling jewels are a dead giveaway to the throng of teenage fans gathering quickly outside the video arcade where Missy and I are scheduled to get our play on. With a warm southern girl's "Wassup?" she patiently signs autographs for all.

But don't let her kindness fool you. After a few rounds of Lazer Tag, race-car driving and shooting games (and some ego-bruising losses), it becomes clear how the young phenom folks are calling Puff Mommy rose to the top of her game. Even when she's busy at play, it's obvious this is one sister who never loses sight of her mission. Clearly, her mantra is: Stay focused, come a little different each time and murder the competition. Not only was she focused as all hell as we played, it was virtually impossible to predict what Missy was going to do next. If I turned right, Missy took it left. If I shot my wad all at once, Missy saved her rounds and blew me out at the end.

That know-your-game strategy has produced two platinum albums (Supa Dupa Fly and Da Real World) and earned her three Grammy nominations and three MTV Video Music awards. In addition to her success as a performer, Missy and her production partner, Timbaland, comprise one of the most sought-after songwriting-production teams in today's music. With more than 20 hits between them (including tracks for pop divas Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey), the duo's signature style of infectious staccato beats and deliberately decelerated tempos is sure to be remembered as one of the defining musical marks of this era.

At a mere 28 and with only six years in the business, Missy has attained full grasp of that coveted triumvirate that so often eludes women--money, power and respect. In an industry and genre rife with sexism, Missy has not only redefined the music game for female rappers, she has also transcended the very term. And after recently signing with the uber-agency William Morris, forays into acting, screenwriting and development (a cartoon featuring Missy and fellow rhyme master Busta Rhymes are in the works) are imminent.

To say it plainly, Missy's got it going on. "I don't think of her in the way we traditionally think of an emcee," says Nelson George, author of Hip Hop America. "I think of Missy as a complete artistic entity. In addition to rapping, she does background vocals, writes, produces and sings. She's more like a Valerie Simpson, who's a great writer, piano player and singer. Missy also has an immense amount of creative control. That's rare in not only hip-hop but R & B. Not that many women have that."

Sylvia Rhone, Elektra Entertainment Group chairman and CEO who had the insight to sign Missy as an artist and businesswoman, agrees. "In this fiercely competitive business, you have to earn respect," she says. "Missy has developed into one of contemporary music's most original starts, without succumbing to negative stereotypes or sexual cliches. She's opened many doors for other African-American female artists and executives."

How did she get it? Talent, of course, and knowing how to package and repackage herself for the masses. With her dark-brown body, short hair, full lips and a sensuously ample flame, Missy (along with The Practice's endowed Camryn Manheim and the booty-blessed actress-singer Jennifer Lopez) has also emerged as a bit of a cultural icon, challenging limited assumptions about Black and female beauty. In her collaborations with Hype Williams (who directed videos for megahits The Rain, Hot Boyz and She's a Bitch), she's appeared with exaggerated "bubba" lips, a bald head and blue-black skin, in blow-up neon suits and as a cartoon character. Doing serious damage to the notion that female artists must be weaved up and pared down to a size 4 to be successful, Missy paved the way for curvaceously healthy sistas like R&B newcomer Kelly Price to be accepted as is. This is a far cry from the days when full-figured powerhouse Martha Wash had to watch skinny girls lip-sync her songs in videos.

The accomplishment was a personal victory for Elliott, who was told in the earliest days of her career to stick to songwriting because she didn't have the right look to make it as an artist. "To know that people appreciated [the videos] and didn't look at my size--that they just looked at the concept and loved the record--made me say, Okay, I can be this size," the entertainer says with a smile. "I don't have to lose weight or get into a certain kind of clothing. I can just be me and people are going to love it." And although she recently lost 30 pounds, Missy's quick to note that it was a concession to her health--she suffers from high blood pressure and migraines--and not to screwed-up industry standards.

Such success is, of course, not without sacrifice. Play dates (even work-related ones like this one) are rare. Besides the blur of meetings that usually fill up her mornings, the business usually keeps Missy and her assistant Charles "Jamaike" Pinede, whom she calls her "right hand," in the studio for 15-hour stretches. "Every day is really the same day," she sighs during our quick cab ride over to Island Spice, her favorite Jamaican restaurant. "I'm usually in the studio from one in the afternoon until five in the morning. Fortunately I love being in the studio." Of course, there is the motivating ka-ching factor too. Missy's more-than-Midas touch is so much in demand that she easily commands six figures per track--a fact that still amazes her. "I always thought that if I could make five thousand [songwriting] here and there that would be enough," she confesses. "But to get a $300,000-plus cheek and then another one for $125,000 maybe two weeks later--it really makes you realize how blessed you are. Never in a million years did I think that I would make that kind of money."

So what does Missy do with all that hard-earned loot? Like any self-respecting starlet, she does her fair share of shopping. The confessed mall rat has "millions of clothes and sneakers." She owns six cars--three Mercedes Benzes including an SUV, a Cadillac SUV, a Lexus and a Jaguar XK8--and a lioness's share of diamonds. Her riches also allow this very wealthy only child and mama's girl to spoil her mother, Patricia Elliott. In addition to constant bouquets of flowers, mink coats and cash gifts of tens of thousands of dollars, Missy's building a minimansion for Mama and herself back home in Portsmouth, Virginia.