9th Inning

"9th Inning" is a song by American rapper, producer, singer-songwriter Missy Elliott featuring guest appearance by childhood friend and longtime collaborator Timbaland. Originally, a snippet was released on Elliott's official website on September 10, 2012. This song, along with the accompanying "Triple Threat", made its full debut via Ustream on September 17, 2012 and were both released as promotional singles on September 18, 2012.

Background

After many delays stretching from as far back as 2008 and after many choices for the lead single from Elliott's upcoming album Block Party, the songs "9th Inning" and "Triple Threat" were finally chosen and both released on September 18, 2012.

Composition

"9th Inning" is a hip hop song that features vocals from both Elliott and Timbaland, with Elliott being the main vocalist and Timbaland being the guest vocalist. Its lyrics talk about the two performers preparing for their return to the music scene with brand new material and comparing their return as being in the ninth inning of a baseball game.

Inning

An inning in baseball, softball, and similar games is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team playing defense. A full game typically is scheduled for six, seven, or nine innings, although this may be shortened due to weather or extended in the event that the score is tied at the end of the scheduled innings.

Gameplay

Each half-inning formally starts when the umpire calls "Play". A full inning consists of six outs, three for each team; and, Major League Baseball and most other adult leagues, a regulation game consists of nine innings. The visiting team bats in the first half-inning, the top of the inning, derived from the position of the visiting team at the top line of a baseball line score. The home team's half of an inning is the bottom of the inning, and the break between halves of an inning is the middle of the inning. If the home team is leading in the middle of the final scheduled inning, or scores to take the lead in the bottom of the final scheduled inning, the game immediately ends in a home victory.

Missy Elliott

Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1, 1971), better known under her stage name Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott or simply Missy Elliott, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Elliott embarked on her music career with all-female R&B group Sista in the early 1990s and later became part of the Swing Mob collective along with childhood friend and producer Timbaland with whom she worked on projects for Aaliyah, 702, Total, and SWV. Following several guest appearances, in 1997, she launched her solo career with the release of her debut album Supa Dupa Fly, which spawned the hit single "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" and "Sock It 2 Me". The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, the highest-charting debut for a female rapper at the time. Her following album Da Real World (1999), produced the singles "She's a Bitch", "All n My Grill", and the top five hit "Hot Boyz".

With the release of Miss E... So Addictive (2001), Under Construction (2002), and This Is Not a Test! (2003) Elliott established an international career and followed with the hits "Get Ur Freak On", "One Minute Man", "4 My People", "Gossip Folks", and "Work It", the latter of which won her a Grammy Award for Best Female Rap Solo Performance, eventually winning five Grammy Awards and selling over 30 million records in the United States. Elliott is the only female rapper to have six albums certified platinum by the RIAA, including one double platinum for her 2002 album Under Construction. Elliott is also known for a series of hits and diverse music videos, including "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", "Hot Boyz", "Get Ur Freak On", "Work It", and the Grammy award-winning video for "Lose Control."

The Royal

The Royal is a British medical drama series produced by ITV that ran from 2003 to 2011. The show comprised one-hour episodes which were normally first aired on ITV in the Sunday early evening slot.

The title of the series refers to the fictional "St Aidan's Royal Free Hospital", located in Elsinby, a fictional rural seaside town, portrayed as being close to Aidensfield, the fictional setting of the UK TV series Heartbeat. The series was shot in Whitby and Scarborough, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The Royal is an NHS hospital serving the local town, countryside and visitors. The show was set in the 1960s. It began as a spin-off from another popular ITV show set in North Yorkshire, Heartbeat.

Stars of the show included Ian Carmichael, Wendy Craig, Robert Daws, and Amy Robbins. The last episode of the show aired at 7.00 pm on Sunday, 31 July 2011 on ITV.

Overview

The Royal was introduced in the 14th episode of the 12th series of Heartbeat entitled 'Out Of The Blue' and The Royal benefited from this connection to the extremely popular parent series; several Heartbeat characters appeared in the first couple of series of The Royal, most notably Bill Maynard as a bed-ridden Claude Greengrass, but as the series progressed it generally dropped its character crossovers with Heartbeat to become its own entity.

Royal family

A royal family is the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, while the terms ducal family, grand ducal family or princely family are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning duke, grand duke, or prince. However, in common parlance members of any family which reigns by hereditary right are often referred to as royalty or "royals." It is also customary in some circles to refer to the extended relations of a deposed monarch and his or her descendants as a royal family. A dynasty is sometimes referred to as "the House of ...". As of July 2013, there are 26 active sovereign monarchies in the world who rule or reign over 43 countries in all.

Members of a royal family

A royal family typically includes the spouse of the reigning monarch, surviving spouses of a deceased monarch, the children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, and paternal cousins of the reigning monarch, as well as their spouses. In some cases, royal family membership may extend to great grandchildren and more distant descendants of a monarch. In certain monarchies where voluntary abdication is the norm, such as the Netherlands, a royal family may also include one or more former monarchs. There is often a distinction between persons of the blood royal and those that marry into the royal family. In certain instances, such as in Canada, the royal family is defined by who holds the styles Majesty and Royal Highness. Under most systems, only persons in the first category are dynasts, that is, potential successors to the throne (unless the member of the latter category is also in line to the throne in their own right, a frequent occurrence in royal families which frequently intermarry). This is not always observed; some monarchies have operated by the principle of jure uxoris.