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Missy
Elliot
This Is Not a Test
label: Elektra/Asylum
released: 11.25.03
our score: 2.0 out of 5.0
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After
arguably the most critically and commercially successful album
of her career, last year’s Under
Construction, Missy Elliot has unfortunately taken a
turn for the worse. In the shortest album turn-around of her career,
she seems to have somehow thrown together 15 tracks of re-hashed,
recycled material that tends to run together all too often.
Missy
Elliot is the unofficial queen of originality in hip hop, with
each album creating a completely unique formula all to itself.
She has defied gravity with her groundbreaking music videos and
a flow that no one could touch. That formula somehow stopped with
this album. It feels more like Under Construction ‘s
ugly bastard child, if anything. Missy tries to put creativity
to the maximum by having guests almost every track, (the nails-to-chalkboard-annoying
Elephant Man to Monica) but ends up falling flat most of the time.
“Pass that Dutch”, the first single, fizzled at radio;
but she takes the song with such boldness as if she was the first
person ever to use the dancehall beat. “Spelling Bee”,
while clever, has a painfully annoying hook and chorus.
“Toyz”, Missy’s ode
to masturbation, proves that she (not Britney) has the most fun
with herself out of any female musician out today. Over a fuzzy
70’s disco beat, she claims that “every girl must
have a toy/the way it make you feel”… The song, to
say the least, definitely woke me from my dozing off from the
first 8 tracks.
I tried hard to like this album. I really, really did. If you
are looking for the wacky, original beats, you are better off
with Timbaland and Magoo’s Under Construction part II,
which really matches up to the greatness of the first. It is a
bit much to ask of her to out-do herself with every single album,
and it would have made a very good debut album. We just have grown
to expect too much from her, and because of that, her spotless
reputation has become a bit tarnished with me. But there’s
really no need to panic. Missy is a musical genius, and geniuses
do have their ups and downs.
06-Jan-2004
5:10 PM
If you
liked This Is Not a Test...
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| Tracklist:
1.
Baby Girl Interlude / Intro
2. Bomb Intro / Pass That Dutch
3. Wake Up
4. Keep It Movin
5. Is This Our Last Time
6. Ragtime Interlude / I'm Really Hot
7. Dats What I'm Talkin About
8. Don't Be Cruel
9. Toyz Interlude/Toyz
10. Let It Bump
11. Pump It Up
12. It's Real
13. Let Me Fix My Weave
14. Spelling Bee Interlude / Spelling Bee
15. I'm Not Perfect
16. Outro
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