Also, Missy was the first to leave Da Bassment. Puff watched that crew heavily to the point where Devante did not want Puff taking his artists as he saw Puff kinda jack the look of Sista for Total:
When Missy left, of course Puff pursued her, but Missy was NOT interested in being an artist. Puff convinced her to jump on some songs (Gina Thompson's "The Things You Do" and MC Lyte's "Cold Rock A Party") and because of the reception, she got the confidence to do more than just write. At the time, Timbaland and the rest of Da Bassment were still in limbo, so she was spending a lot of time around Puff, which led to her getting work on songs outside of what she would eventually do with Timbaland and the rest of the camp. And get this, Aaliyah's
One In A Million was originally supposed to be helped by Puff & The Hitmen, but Aaliyah was set on using producers and writers who were relatively unknown.