Missy Elliott’s hometown honors the Grammy Award-winner with a street name

Superstar Missy Elliott has received numerous accolades throughout her career in music — and now her hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia, is honoring the hip-hop diva with her own street name.

The Portsmouth City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to rename a section of McLean Street “Missy Elliott Boulevard.” The section includes the Tidewater Community College and the Victory Crossing Shopping Center. It will also house a development called the Portsmouth Rivers Casino, currently under construction.

Elliott, a Grammy Award-winner, was born in Portsmouth and grew up in the Hodges Ferry community. She previously donated $25,000 to her former school, Woodrow Wilson High School, now called Manor High School.

After learning of the recognition, Elliott, 51, hopped on Twitter to share her excitement, tweeting, “I am so Humbly Grateful.”

This honor is among a growing list of recognitions for Elliott in the past few years. The artist received a Video Vanguard Award at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, made history as the first female rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame that same year, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2021.

“Missy Elliott has broken through the barriers of the male-dominated hip-hop world, and music industry as a whole, as she has led the way for many women who have followed in her footsteps,” Hollywood Walk of Fame producer Ana Martinez said in November 2021. She added that Elliott “continues to break barriers year after year.”