“Work It' is the first single from Missy’s 2002 album Under Construction. The song was both a commercial and critical hit: It peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 (a spot it held for 10 weeks, being held off from the top spot by Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”), making it Missy’s biggest hit, and was named the best single of 2002 in The Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop poll. The song memorably features backward lyrics and an elephant trumpting. It also helped popularize the term "badonkadonk.” The song is a raunchy ode where Missy raps about sexing up guys. In his review of Under Construction, allmusic’s John Bush said the song, “turns the tables on male rappers, taking charge of the sex game, matching their lewdest, rudest rhymes.”

This music video features the young hip hop dancer, Alyson Stoner, who in 2015 choreographed a tribute to Missy Elliott for “the opportunity to dance for [her] and now carve a path of [her] own.”