“The Rain” is as impressionistic as any lyric in rap; it sets a numinous mood. Furthermore,
this was Missy Elliott’s first single, and it also spawned her first music video. Timbaland produced and co-wrote the song and appeared in the video (the beginning of Elliott’s longtime collaboration with director Hype Williams until he was replaced by Dave Meyers). Elliott played up her size in the video by wearing an enormous inflated trash bag – a “screw you” to all the execs who told her she was too fat to make it in the music business.
The song samples “I Can’t Stand The Rain” by Ann Peebles.