Missy Elliott

For her sixth album, the inimitable Missy Elliott gives fans another stellar collection of neck-breaking party jams that embrace the old school while taking hip-hop to brand new levels. Bubbling production, witty lyricism and soulful singing create a bouillabaisse of funkiness; cameos by Slick Rick, Grand Puba and Mary J. Blige spice it up even more.

On this benchmark album that half the beatoisie will sleep on because it has no "Work It" and Timbaland, after all, was the genius (which he was)--this benchmark album that given the vagaries of fashion could initiate a permanent commercial decline--Elliott showcases the musical health of African American pop. Oldschoolfreshbeathiphopr&b--run through Elliott's considerable talent and good heart or reasonable facsimile, these are meaningless categories. Elliott's disinclination to give it up to gangsta's thrill cult or black pop's soft-focus porn, plus her proven ability to work a good beat when she gets one, leads her naturally to a collection that ebbs and flows, peaks and dips, and pokes fun at any canon of taste you got. It's vital beginning to end--vital even when it's misguided, a matter on which your judgments may differ from mine, fine with her. (Grade - A-)