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more recent reviews Missy Elliott
Miss E ... So Addictive
CD, Gold Mind/Elektra, USA, 2001 If Missy Elliott were a man, she'd be the kind of guy who gives great foreplay and hits your g-spot hard but then comes too quick, stays the night and steals the covers. Both of her previous albums shot their biggest loads up front, then dragged on too long. The new "Miss E ... So Addictive" suffers from the same problem, but like "Supa Dupa Fly" and "Da Real World," it offers plenty of sleazy thrills before it starts snoring. Lovers both right-on and inadequate are, in fact, one of the album's lyrical concerns. A typically witty intro gives way to the one-two punch of "Dog in Heat," on which Redman threatens to leave Missy "on your daddy's front lawn with your hair all fucked up and one pump on," and "One Minute Man," where Ludacris promises the horny singer/rapper to "balance and rotate all tires." Method Man also chimes in for one verse of "Dog in Heat," while Jaz-Z takes the lead on an album-closing reprise of "One Minute Man." Unlike the superfluous cameos that pepper most rap albums (including, occasionally, this one), these four guest shots are not only side-splittingly funny, but also integral to the tracks themselves. Missy herself, however, takes the lyrical spotlight on the next two cuts, adopting a hillariously exaggerated drawl on "Lick Shots" (sample lyric: "Mr DJ won't you play that song / Tell the freaks shake they nasty thongs") and then shifting into a terse but nimble flow on "Get Ur Freak On" ("You know who I be / Your mammy never tell you not to f*** with me?"). Her singing's always competent, but it's her witty rapping and lyrics that display true genius. Here and elsewhere, Missy adopts all manner of screams, tics and twisted accents to fuel her rhymes. The style that emerges is part human beatbox, part performance art. | |
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