Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott stepped into the spotlight on VH1’s “Behind the Music.” The hour-long special documented how Melissa Arnette Elliott changed the face of music with commentary from her family and friends including Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Ciara, Timbaland, Magoo, and MC Lyte.

“I thought I had something that was unique,” said the hip-hop innovator. “I wanted to break down all barriers and be a risk taker.”

She opened up about being sexually abused by her cousin, witnessing her father try to kill her mother, losing her friend and collaborator Aaliyah, and her more recent battle with Graves’ Disease, plus reflected on happier times when she met Timbaland, received calls from Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Janet Jackson in the same month, and bought her mom a house.

Missy is now looking to the future and is working on her new album Block Party with Timbaland.

“I was telling somebody that we have been so far left in trying to stay creative and being different; we had to go back to the drawing board and just do it the way we loved to do it, and not be concerned with trying to outdo ourselves,” she recently told the Los Angeles Times.

Watch the full episode of “Behind the Music” below.