Once upon a time – well, in the early ’90s, hip-hop music was all about fun. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, MC Hammer and Kris Kross were the leaders of the pack with their light blend of repetitive dance beats and amusing lyrics.
While the hip-hop sensibilities may be gone (lost in a sea of rap murders), they are far from forgotten – Missy Elliott’s latest album “Under Construction” is proof of that.
Influenced by “old school flavor,” Elliott just continues doing what she does best, by combining danceable beats with her own sense of humor.
Elliott even sings about her new influence on “Back in the Day,” a ballad-esque song with a hip-hop twist. The song, featuring a guest appearance by Jay-Z, reminisces about the days before the division of hip-hop into East and West Coast sub-sects, when it was all about kicking back and having fun.
“Work It,” the first single off the album and perhaps the most fun, is one of those songs written to be danced to. The song’s lyrics may be about working her own new body for the guys, but the real greatness of the song rests in its ability to mock itself. Elliott, never previously known as a sex symbol, sings about her newly discovered sexuality with the attitude that also produced such hits as “Get Ur Freak On.”
With her own unusual word inflections, Elliott sings, “Don’t I look like a Halle Berry post-ah/See them Belvedere playin’ tricks on ya/Girlfriend want to be like me nev-ah/You won’t find a b**** that’s even bett-ah.”
Similarly, the video for the song perfectly matches the sensibility Elliott brings to her music – bright, colorful and full of more of the revolutionary camera work she pioneered (Elliott’s video for “The Rain” helped popularize the fisheye lens).
Elliott shows she does have another side in her ballad “P***ycat” (the real name of the song, not a censored version of the title). The song showcases Elliott’s vulnerability, as she worries about her man leaving her for someone else.
Her somewhat blatant lyrics notwithstanding, her words – “I gotta turn this n**** out/so he don’t want nobody else/but and only me” – truly show a softer side of Elliott.
Elliott lets Destiny’s Child vocalist Beyoncé Knowles use that same vulnerability on another song, “Nothing Out There for Me,” but without the same effect. Instead, Knowles sings about wanting to stay at home with her man instead of cruising with her friends, but the lyrics suggest the man in question isn’t so much lonely as he is controlling.
Knowles opens the song with “My man don’t like my friends/he said they influence me.” Because it does seem like Knowles’ “friends” want her to come out to look for guys with them, the message is muddled, making for a somewhat weak song.
This song also leads into a tonal change on the album. Instead of maintaining her fun-is-good attitude, Elliott turns darker, going for a harder sound that is too much in contrast to her other tracks.
Elliott more than makes up for the change with “Can You Hear Me,” the most powerful and beautiful song on the album. With the help of T-Boz and Chilli of TLC, Elliott says her farewells to two young mavens of the hip-hop community, Aaliyah and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, the other member of TLC. Because every singer on this track was so close to these two lost artists, the intensity of the song is brought out, especially with the parts featuring the TLC women.
“We hope that you’re proud of us/TLC has come a long way/but it’s never been the same since you had to go/’cause the healing process will be long as snow.”
The song’s message is also the inspiration of the album’s title. After the plane crash that took Aaliyah’s life, Elliott said she is trying to rebuild herself before more singers are lost. It’s a nice message, which rounds the good parts of the album out and makes it worth buying.
