On Monday, MTV announced the nominees for the 2018 Video Music Awards, including Cardi B, The Carters, and Childish Gambino — all genre-pushing artists who have used music videos as a way to artfully define themselves in a very noisy landscape. But none of them would be here without Missy Elliott, an artist who has continually redefined the limits of what music videos could and should look like. More than anyone, she deserves to be given the VMAs’ highest honor, the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.

The prize was awarded in 2017 to Pink, who joined the ranks of past winners including Madonna, Peter Gabriel, Guns N’ Roses, Beastie Boys, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Kanye West, and Rihanna. 22 of the award's 33 winners since it was first awarded in 1984 have been white men or bands made up of all white men, one of the VMAs whitest categories. LL Cool J was the first rapper to win the award when he received it in 1997. Hype Williams, one of Missy's closest collaborators, was actually given the honor in 2006, but Missy is still empty-handed.

This year, I urge the VMAs to correct a historical error by giving the award award to Missy. Below is just a small taste of her culture-shifting work, which shook the whole medium.