Search - Missy Elliott :: The Cookbook

"The Cookbook" - More Sweet Than Bitter

CrazyWhacko_88 | Not Telling You :P | 12/16/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Is this Missy Elliott's best album? If the critical and commercial response is anything to go by, "The Cookbook", Missy Elliott's 6th studio album & the successor to 2003's commercially abysmal "This Is Not A Test!", must suck to some degree because it barely surpassed U.S. Gold sales. Then again, lacklustre album sales usually don't define an album's quality - a fact that is strongly enforced on this 16-track-long disc, which once again displays Missy Elliott flexing her abilities as a producer, singer, rapper and songwriter. Before and/or after listening to this album, there are four things you should definitely notice.



Firstly, there's the cover art. Aside from Missy Elliott's surprising weight loss, her ladylike, elegant appearance in front of the vintage microphone starkly contrasts to the attitude-packing tomboy, the finger-wagging fat-s**t, the stone-cold face portrait or the dog-handling feminist displayed on the cover arts of "Supa Dupa Fly", "Da Real World", "Miss E...So Addictive" & "This Is Not A Test!", respectively. Perhaps this would indicate a re-invention of sorts, but "The Cookbook" is anything but. Obligatory club bangers like the Apache-sampling, horn-driven raunchiness of "We Run This" & the bland Crunk of "Click Clack" are still present, while many of the album's other tracks -especially the introspective "My Struggles" (featuring Grand Puba & an unexpected rap from guest singer Mary J. Blige) and the Slick Rick featuring/sampling "Irresistible Delicious", one of the album's many endeavours into part-singing/part-rapping raunchiness- are laced with old-school musical inflections.



Secondly, Missy Elliott's female-empowerment shtick is virtually nowhere to be found. "Mommy", a minimalist club joint that aspires to uplift female parent strippers, turns out sounding less like a female-empowerment anthem than another dodgy shot at raunchiness; the aforementioned "We Run This" & "Can't Stop" -featuring Rich Harrison's trademark Go-Go production (e.g. chuck a sexy old-school guitar riff/loop or a bombastic horn sample over lively drum patterns & presto)- are more meaningless displays of unapologetic lewdness ; and the raunchiness factor hits its peak on "Meltdown", which -in the vain of the aforementioned "Irresistible Delicious"- alternates between viciously crude, detailed 16-bar rap verses & an overtly sexual singing hook over smooth, hypnotic production, courtesy of the omnipresent Scott Storch.



Thirdly, "The Cookbook" has more ballads than most of its predecessors, most of which work out a lot better than expected. "Remember When", despite the occasional (and possibly annoying) shots of "YES" and "HOLLER", is a beautiful ballad where Missy Elliott croons with sincerity and emotion about her thankfulness for her boyfriend's forgiving response to her unfaithfulness; "Teary Eyed" displays emotions of vengeance and regret through sharp songwriting and Missy Elliott's emotional singing vocals over a minimalist beat, as does its lesser counterpart "Time And Time Again".



Finally, Timbaland, Missy Elliott's long-time collaboration partner, is only present on 2 of the album's tracks - more specifically, "Joy" (featuring a surprisingly good rap from Mike Jones) & "Partytime" (featuring a short, blunt stab at Sisqo's current irrelevance). The former track, with its weirdly accentuated intro skit, minimalist bounce, ethereal vocal sample, late-track slow-motion effect and Missy's boastful lyrics, is definitely the better of the two tracks, and possibly one of the duo's better tracks in their whole catalogue. While Timbaland isn't direly missed, I would've preferred any of his better concoctions than "On & On", a suitably (but unfortunately) titled chunk of filler, featuring weak production from The Neptunes, an annoying vocal hook from Pharrell Williams & more of Missy Elliott's boastful threats and self-aggrandizement. Thankfully, the Dancehall collaboration between Missy, M.I.A. & Vybez Cartel on the ruthlessly upbeat "Bad Man" (on another note, the conclusive skit is nothing but downright filthy s**t that ought to be banned or restricted or something) and the classic lead single "Lose Control" -an infectious club tune that incorporates smartly chosen samples (Cybotron's "Clear & Hot Streak's "Body Work), Missy Elliott's club-ready attitude, Fatman Scoop's energetic chants and Ciara's sweet vocals (not to mention a short rap and a sweet a Capella break) into a tight Electro/Hip-Hop/Pop jam- does more than pick up the slack.



Altogether, this is a very good (and highly sexual) album that, with or without deep examinations of its purpose or content, is well worth the purchase. 4 stars!



5 Best Tracks:

"Lose Control (feat. Ciara & Fatman Scoop)"

"Bad Man (feat. M.I.A. & Vybez Cartel)"

"My Struggles (feat. Mary J. Blige & Grand Puba)"

"Joy (feat. Mike Jones)"

"Remember When"



Worst Tracks:

"On & On (feat. Pharrell Williams)"

"My Man (feat. Fantasia)"

"We Run This"

"Click Clack"

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