Missy Elliott Album: “This Is Not a Test! [Edited]”

While THIS IS NOT A TEST! is definitely not the highlight of Missy Elliott's discography, it is by no means a bad album. This is still signature Missy with her R&B balladry and alternative rap "freshness". The production is flawless and the arrangements are as unpredictable as ever. Missy spits rhymes and croons sultry ballads. Yet, THIS IS NOT A TEST! does have its high points as well as low points.

As per the other Missy Elliott's albums, the album begins with an intro which in this instance features Mary J. Blige. Then when proceed into "Pass That Dutch", one of the albums better tracks, but it isn't stellar by any means. It lacks the hit quality that songs like "Get Ur Freak On" (MissE...So Addictive) or "Work It" (Under Construction) had. It is still fun nonetheless.

The next song is "Wake Up" which features Jay-Z. While the background arrangment and drum programming are cool, the song has flaws. Missy's rhyme is fine, but Jay-Z surprisingly delivers a rather average if not mediocre performance, a surprise for the great Hov. Either way, the hook to this selection is surprisingly catchy, which saves it.

Skipping "fillers" such as "Keep It Moving" feat. Elephant Man and "Is This Our Last Time" feat. Fabolous, the next mega moment of THIS IS NOT A TEST! is "I'm Really Hot". This is by far the highlight of the album. Not only is it signature Missy, its hook is really catchy making it easily comparable to "Get Ur Freak On" and "Work It". This makes the album worth it. Following it is a not too shabby, fun duet with R. Kelly called "Dats What I'm Talkin'About" in which Missy goes into R&B diva mode with the great Pied Piper of R&B himself. Sure, it can't compare to the classicism of say "Take Away" which feature Missy & Ginuwine (MissE...So Addictive), but it is again, a better track.

"Don't Be Cruel" is okay, yet it doesn't hold its own against tracks such as "I'm Really Hot". "Toyz" is fine as well, but you begin to see diminishing quality, which makes THIS IS NOT A TEST! slightly weaker than Missy's previous titles. Still, as "I'm Really Hot" states... "radio says I'm killin' 'em"; That statement couldn't be truer, even on this lesser effort. Missy is what creativity is about and what music is about; she tries not to conform which makes her different and makes each and every album she releases very unique, engaging, and exciting. I've already reviewed and listened to THE COOKBOOK and Missy raises the bar, just as she did on previous albums. Either way, this is still a 3.5 to 4 star album for me. I highly recommend Missy!

With "Under Construction," Missy mixed old school rhymes with futuristic Timbaland backbeats and created an album that matched the experimental "...So Addictive" in creativity. Now, with "This is Not A Test," she has mastered alternative dance and has created a funky album unlike anything she's done before.

With alternative dance comes alternative lyrics; Missy showcases her ability to rap about black society on both the intro and the outro, but especially the outro. On the brilliant "Wake Up," Missy shouts out to a nation of blacks over a simple drum and bell backbeat. Jay-Z adds a second punch to the song but is outrapped by Missy.

As opposed to using his own vocal effects as he has in the past, Timbaland mastered the effective use of the turntable a la Jam Master Jay on "This is Not A Test." The irresistable "Let It Bump" is an alternative piece of pie with percussion iller than ?uestlove's beats. "I'm Really Hot," hopefully the second single, lets Missy play back and forth with a funkadelic turntable during its chorus, and "Pump It Up," the more likely second single, gives Missy a chance to break back and forth with a turntable and Nelly.

Missy's new album also gave rise to what seems her trademark; futuristic sounding dance grooves that rely on Timbaland's unmatchable percussion and Missy's rhymthmic hooks to break into the mainstream; "Pass That Dutch" is the best example of this, in which Missy orgasms and gasps to a clap-back beat sicker than Wayne Wonder's "No Letting Go." "Don't Be Cruel" is a great song that gives Monica a chance to take the stage like Tina Turner and lead a rusty-pipe jam to a reggae schooling from Beenie Man, who outdoes Elephant Man in his appearance on "Keep It Movin'," a song that finds its primary interest in Missy speed-up slow-down style. "Is This Our Last Time" is a rock-beat over which the quiet-mouthed Fabolous drops some of the cleverest rhymes on the albums.

Missy relies a little too much on the ballad on this album; "Dats What I'm Talking About," "I'm Not Perfect," and "It's Real" are all soppy ballads that just take up space that more alternative hip hop could have filled. "Toyz," however, is a beautiful funk masterpiece and probably the first ode to the Mega Blaster.

FIRST: let me say ; she looks WAY too airbrushed on this cover.

Anyway, I loved Missy Elliott ; but when she lost the weight, her talent disappeared with it. "Supa Dupa Fly" and "Miss E...So Addictive" were great albums. But Missy has changed since then, trading in hot beats & lyrics that are above a 6th grade level for mediocre beats & insanely stupid lyrics. Like, it started with "Work It", and ever since, the lyrics have just been really stupid. She thinks her average beats can carry tracks, and they just don't.

"Pass the Dutch" was a club banger for a few seconds, but then people realized how bad of a song it was. I think Missy should re-think this new image, because her music is suffering. "I'm Really Hot" gets no radio play because it's not a good song - but Missy will always be able to make a good video. It started with "The Rain" & "Beep Me 911" (classics - pick up Supa Dupa Fly), & even with the singles on this album, she manages to do hot videos. Other weak tracks: "BS&Violence" - she tries to teach a lesson, but she fails miserably. "Let Me Fix My Weave" - come on, what self-respecting musician does a song like that? ESPECIALLY if it's not funny - like this one. I really can't say that i have a favorite song, because honestly, i don't really like any of them.

I heard Timbaland didn't do as much on this album, and it shows. This is all Missy's work, and you can see "This is Not a Test" is a notch below the old Missy. Missy is trying to bring back "Old School" hip hop - and she's failing miserably.

This CD is not worth $15, unless you want a really expensive coaster or something. I would suggest buying "Supa Dupa Fly" or "Miss E...So Addictive" with that money instead - they are both classics.

I remember when Missy was on 106 & Park promoting this album, they asked her how she got the album done so fast. Missy bluntly replied that her record label made her. (It was released, more or less, just a year after Under Construction. For some reason, instead of trying to promote that excellent album, they stopped everything and made her go back and record another. It goes to show you just how dumb the people at Elekatra Records were. Since then, the record label has fallen to pieces and their artists have been handed over to Atlantic Records. Sylvia Rhone, who used to be the head of Elektra, went to Motown Records and is screwing up eveything there,too.)

So probably even Missy knows this is not her best work. The prodcution is nice and I can listen to the whole album without skipping a song, but some just sound plain and rushed. Missy starts doing some of her own production on here, which is alright. Even Timbaland's beats do not sound as fresh.

Don't get me wrong... I really like this album, and if anybody else recorded it, it would've been fine. I'm just expressing that this is not her best work ever. As I said before, I can listen to the whole album without skipping, so it is good. (I am not being generous with the rating, it's really four stars.) I would recommend buying this, maybe used, but buy Da Real World or Under Construction before. Those are her two best in my opinion. This is definitely nothing near to her worst, though.

What happend Missy? Missy Elliott female Hip Hop icon realeased her 5th album "This is not a test" last month, only a year since her last album "Under Construction". Its fair to say that "This is not a test" was completely rushed. "Under Construction" was such a fantastic album, most felt it would be hard for Missy to top it. Unforturnatly that happened, Missy didnt top "Under Construction". Theres just something "This is not a test" is missing, it dosen't have that spark. The album is doing very poorly on the charts, which is unusual for Missy. The first single "Pass That Dutch", was nothing special, and it bombed on the charts, not even making the top 20. When i first heard the single I said "This is no Work It", and it sure wasnt. Now, im not completely annoyed with this album because there are some good moments, but lets just say that there are more unsatisfying moments than pleasing moments.

Hopefully next time, Missy will take her time and not rush a new album out.