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Missy Elliott Album: “This Is Not a Test! [Bonus Track]”
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This Is Not a Test! [Bonus Track] |
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Release Date:2004-11-08
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Type:Unknown
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Genre:Hip-Hop/Rap, Mainstream Rap, Today's Big Hits
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Label:WEA
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Explicit Lyrics:Yes
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UPC:4943674053681
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Review - :
Listeners shouldn't blame {$Missy Elliott} for slipping into a holding pattern for her fifth album, {^This Is Not a Test!} Early on she arrived at a distinctive sound -- the confident, clubbed-up jam with little melodic power but endless reserves of kinetic energy, courtesy of {$Timbaland}'s rubbery productions -- and she refined it well with hits like 2001's {&"Get Ur Freak On"} and the following year's {&"Work It"} and {&"Gossip Folks."} Still, although she remains by far the most interesting figure in {\hip-hop}, {^This Is Not a Test!} has more filler than {$Elliott}'s allowed on a record since 1999's {^Da Real World}. (Little surprise considering it appeared just over a year after 2002's {^Under Construction}.) Granted, listeners and club fans looking for hit material will certainly find plenty on display. While the single {&"Pass That Dutch"} is little more than a warmed-up {&"Work It"} rewrite (albeit one studded with auditory change-ups from alarm clocks to car alarms to audience noise to the whinnying of a horse), she compensates nicely with the blazing {\electro} shock of {&"I'm Really Hot"} and the down-and-dirty moaning of her {$Nelly} duet, {&"Pump It Up."} And {$Timbaland}'s productions are still above and beyond any others on earth, with a dizzying roster of next-generation beats -- conceived in ring modulators, echo chambers, torpedo tubes, rusty pipes; anywhere except a standard drumkit -- matched to dark, technoid effects capable of raising the eyebrows of even the most experimental laptop programmers. However, most of the guest features fall flat: {$Fabolous} wastes an excellent opportunity to match wits with {$Missy}, giving her the shy-guy routine on {&"Is This Our Last Time,"} while {$Jay-Z} is uninvolved on his feature, {&"Wake Up."} {$Elephant Man}'s bounce track, {&"Keep It Movin,"} works well, but the {$R. Kelly} duet, {&"Dats What I'm Talkin About,"} has {$Elliott} playing -- perhaps too agreeably -- the inexperienced young girl to {$Kelly}'s mature lover. There's no need to blame {$Missy} for not making a record that's tight all the way through, especially since few artists in the {\R&B} world are held to such scrutiny. Still, an album like {^This Is Not a Test!} is an effective argument for song-by-song downloads. [A Japanese version added a bonus track.] ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
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![Missy Elliott Album: “This Is Not a Test! [Bonus Track]”](http://www.rapmusiczone.com/covers_yaM/missy-elliott/2004_170_170_This%2520Is%2520Not%2520a%2520Test%2521%2520%255BBonus%2520Track%255D.jpg "Missy Elliott Album: “This Is Not a Test! [Bonus Track]”")