The Marvelous Miss E.

by Meat

Okay, so it was funny to see Missy Elliott on T.V., along with every washed up has-been and would-be hopefuls (she even did the whole Cojak lollypop thing throughout the whole show!), but when it’s all said and done, Missy belongs in the studio and away from the Boob Tube. Although, because of her little stint as a T.V. personality, some wondered if she would go down the road of Meth and Red and fall victim to the Hollywood rapper syndrome (they got Ice-T on lock and Ice Cube isn’t far…). Luckily for us, Missy seems to know better…a lot better.

Picking up where her last record left off, Missy Elliot’s latest effort, The Cookbook is a complete bombardment of Futuristic funk and boom-bap-like old school-ness. The first single, “Lose Control” sets the mood nicely by flipping an infamous Kraftwerk sample into another sure shot hit for club speakers. Featuring Cierra and Fat Man Scoop, Missy’s newest producer whose got a serious taste for Afrika Bammbataa and electro-induced beats, the song seems to capsulate Missy persona perfectly, at times silly, but always on point. This isn’t at all new for Missy, since her physical makeover, it seems that she, as well as Timberland, have made a very conscious effort to revert back to an era of shelltoes and adidas stripes, while maintaining a fresh dose of innovating production. We can all remember her revised version of Double Dutch, which re-opened the doors to some of Hip-Hop’s most over –used samples having another go-around. Fortunately, Tim and Missy flipped it just right (a skill I assure you so don’t everyone go try it), combining new production with classic songs, demonstrating their understanding of Hip-Hop’s audience (young AND old) and their potential as on-going hit-makers.

For this new album, not only does Tim end up giving it his best, it seems that everyone from Scott Storch to the Neptunes have decided to put forth some of their best work as well. “On & ON” for example, features a hard 808 drum kick with sinister synths, nicely balanced by Missy’s tounge-and-cheek flow, although, it’s “Joy”, which features Mike Jones, that seems to be the true gem. With a beautifully crafted beat and Mike Jones spittin’ an uncompromising gritty verse, the song demonstrates just how in tune Missy is with today’s sound and yet, her eagerness to try and change it up just bit.

This is probably the reason why shy continues to remain relevant while so many of her contemporaries have simply faded into VH1 memory lanes. Whether you’re a fan or not, you can’t deny that at one point, you’ve caught yourself humming along to one her tracks. The fact that she is continuing to push the envelope with every new release only shows that the girl definitely knows what she’s doing and that it’s no accident that her songs continue to climb charts. Every couple years, the sound she and Timberland create initiates so much imitation that it seems that they’ve decided to flip the script on everyone and focus their attention on past sounds. Hence, the return of a minimal 808 beat, track suits and hunger in their efforts. Unfortunately, they make everyone around them look just plain bad. The old school thing is nothing new (Although the mainstream always seems to lag way behind) but once this album drops everyone will trying so hard to catch up that they’ll probably start bring back hightops and Jeri Curls just in order to compete.