| Product: |
Miss E So Addictive - Missy Elliot |
| Date: |
03/08/01 (4 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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The gauntlet is thrown down as soon as you press the play button. "I know some of y'all are sick of the songs you hear on the radio," croons Missy Elliott, her voice a warm hug. "So me and Timbaland gonna give ya that sh-- you never heard before."
From the start, giving us some unheard sh-- has been the unofficial mantra of Missy Elliott and longtime partner Tim Mosley, a.k.a. Timbaland. Beginning with her stunning debut, 1997's Supa Dupa Fly, Missy and Timbaland have created a groundbreakingly futuristic galaxy of slowed-down drum'n'bass and hip-hop-informed jeep-bangers, highlighted by "The Rain," which interpolated Ann Peebles' soul classic "I Can't Stand the Rain," and the percolating "Hit 'Em Wit da Hee." Her 1999 follow-up, the underappreciated Da Real World, saw Elliott's giggly, helium-stoked persona move into a darker, moodier realm via songs like the gritty "She's a Bitch" and the sultry smash "Hot Boyz," taking the formulaic world of R&B into edgier directions. Now she's back with a solid and seriously sexy CD that, as promised, is on some new sh-- — and then some.
The first taste of the newness is the leadoff single, "Get Ur Freak On" which, like all the tracks here, was co-written by Elliott and Timbaland and produced by the latter. Against a backdrop of tablas, percussive synths and a hip-shakingly distinctive rhythm that is both hard to dance to and impossible to deny, Elliott warns her many imitators, "Copywritten, so don't copy me," as she and Timbaland usher in the newest sonic phase of their forward-thinking R&B. The track is a call to party, and the theme of this album is that time-tested combo of rhythm and romance; in blunter terms, sex. On "One Minute Man" , which features a salacious rhyme from Ludacris (other guests on the album include Eve, Ginuwine, Redman and Method Man), Miss
y coos, "Work me off, show me what you got," while squiggly keyboards do a midtempo-grooved bump-and-grind.
The fusion of the club and the bedroom continues on the funk-filled anthem "Old School Joint" Bass-blessed and bouncing with an electro, boogie-worthy energy, the cut recalls such anthems as D Train's "You're the One for Me" and Parliament's "Flashlight," which is lyrically referenced here. Elliott throws her hands in the air, warning a potential lover not to overstep his bounds, and it is precisely that knowing, in-control sexuality (combined with the most savvy rhythms to date) which give this album an abandon and glee that, admittedly, was missing the last go-round.
Miss E ... So Addictive shows another side of Missy Elliott, yet unlike the calculations of other artists who morph themselves mainly as a marketing scheme, her dancing-sex-queen moves come through more like revelation than reinvention. Having broken the mold for estrogen-enhanced R&B, she continues to show that you can be womanly, wanton and witty — on the dance floor, and everywhere else.
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