Missy Elliott
“Me without Tim is like Jamaicans with no curry,” she rapped in 2002, and the two seemed so well matched that it was almost impossible to imagine them apart. Merging futurist beats that sounded like P-Funk as interpreted by Kraftwerk with a global vision of pop music broad enough to encompass bhangra and bluegrass, Timbaland redefined the rap landscape in the late 90s. He pioneered the age of the superstar hip-hop producer, helping to create a class of sonic architects who often seem more important than the rappers they work with. Clipse would be unbearable without the Neptunes, as many of the B-list MCs in the Wu-Tang Clan turned out to be without RZA. And there was once a time when conventional wisdom had it that Dr. Dre was propping up Eminem, a claim that sounds less absurd the more Eminem relies on his own lousy production.
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But on Elliott’s 2003 album, This Is Not a Test!, her relationship with Timbaland seemed shakier as he shifted toward an extremely minimalist style on songs like “Pass That Dutch.” He contributes only two tracks to The Cookbook, and they’re not the defining ones on the album–they’re solid but not particularly intense or surprising, featuring vocal samples woven around saxophones and thumping bass.
On The Cookbook, Elliott’s R & B songwriting is on equal footing with her rap skills, emphasizing hooks and melodies as well as rhymes. On “Irresistible Delicious,” she’s both rapper and chanteuse in a bit of sly sexual role play with Slick Rick, whose cartoonish style provides a nice counterpoint to her slinky vocals. The monogamy ode “4 My Man” features vocals by Fantasia Barrino and slow raps by Elliott over the dreamy sound of a harp. It’s about a happy relationship, but more than once she undercuts a romantic theme with a few barbs. On “Meltdown” she expounds on the delights of a new lover, but not before taking jabs at the old one, rapping “Every time we boned I had to fake an orgasm,” and cooing “My ex-boyfriend had to go, he didn’t know how to work that magic stick.”
Sick of daddy’s mouth till six in the morn’
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos/Warwick Saint, Jemal Countess/Wireimage.com.
