Under Construction

by

Missy Elliott

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I am a 50-year-old white guy who grew up in Chicago listening to what I still consider to be the greatest music Americans have ever made: stuff like the Temptations, Smokey, Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, Wilson Pickett, etc. And while the over-the-top profanity bugs me on this Missy Elliott CD, it rocks like nobody's business. I put it on at the gym and the next thing I know, my hour on the Stairmaster is over and I'm spent and jacked up at the same time. Her point about the vulgarity is well-taken: Prince got away with it forever, why not the women, too? Most of it's funny and harmless and after awhile it's easy to overlook. But she's got a lot to say and does so with wit and wisdom and beats that will knock even an old fart like me off my [butt]. If you don't get an overwhelming urge to move while this thing is on, man, you are stone-cold deceased. It's a great record, no two ways about it. I've listened to it everyday for three straight weeks and can't put it aside. Funny: my 17-year-old daughter is in the other room listening to the Supremes Greatest Hits --you go, girl -- and I got Missy on. It's all good.

Missy's fourth music delivery is not far to be labeled from tasting like the first three. What makes "Under Construction" different from the rest, is the fact, that "Work It" made Missy an International Music Star, and established her as a main force in the top 40. But this album is really in touch with the old school Missy, many tracks find themselves lost in that early 80's oblivion, for someone who doesn't understand this, would find this record anoying and boring. But if we focus in the first two singles "Work It" and "Gossip Folks" I can asure there is no more delightful Pop-Rap-Hip Hop tracks around today, pretty music gems of the new millenium that will stand the test of time.