Aside from Eminem, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott's the most interesting pop persona of the moment. Unlike other video stars, she has yet to attempt a beatless hip-hop album (I'm looking at you, Lauryn Hill), disrobe on TRL in a psychotic rage (Mariah Carey), or project herself as finger-licking jailbait for repressed pedophiles (take your pick). With superproducer Timbaland lacing her tracks, Missy's been able to achieve the level of popularity usually reserved for people half her size, and her bizarre sci-fi costumes and off-the-wall attitude conjure a mainstream, female version of Kool Keith-- albeit one without the hip-hop pedigree, lyrical skills, or off-camera insanity. And yet, despite her spunk and Timbaland's funk, hip-hop headz have a hard time accepting her as anything other than a (very) lovable MTV personality who makes great club-hop.

While it's doubtful that anything Missy ever does will touch Critical Beatdown, Under Construction shows that Missy's much more than the product of an extraterrestrial focus group, and that she deserves to be taken seriously among hip-hop aficionados. 'Course, it doesn't hurt her cred that the theme of Under Construction gives an au courant nod to classic hip-hop forms. From the weak graffiti in the liner notes to the two-inch-thick gold chains, it's obvious she's mining the same nostalgia trip as countless underground acts-- only Missy doesn't have the burden of having to spend years laying broke in the gutter, studying the nuances of the culture.

Naturally, it's not Missy's fashion appropriations that make this record tight; it's Timbaland's musical palate, thick with old-school samples and breaks. He even kicks off low-rider "Funky Fresh Dressed" with the same "here's a little story that must be told" sample that introduces DJ Premier's Deep Concentration. Tim lays down a classic break for the track's beat, with the hook cribbing the MC Lyte lyric, "Funky fresh, dressed to impress, ready to party," which seems appropriate considering Missy's status in today's musical climate. It gets better: as Ms Jade steps up to the mic for her cameo, Tim flips the track with the reverse-loop mindfuck of the Beasties' "Paul Revere". It's true, of course, that all these elements are overused and obvious enough to make Jurassic 5 blush. But they work because Timbaland makes them work, his frantic, chopped-up, bass-quake production recontextualizing them in a neo-futurist soundworld that, though using an eighth of the samples, hits with all the strength of a Bomb Squad fury.

Less auspicious is Missy's reworking of Method Man's '94 classic "Bring the Pain". Unlike the Wu classic, there's nothing raw or vital about this baby. The production is identical to the original but smoothed out on an R&B; tip with pop feel appeal to it, and even Missy's slick croon seems diametrically opposed to the spirit of the original. And Method Man took off time from endorsing Speed Stick to lay down a verse on this shit? The man's career is already a corpse; validating a painful rehash of a track from his peak isn't gonna win him any friends.

Fortunately, Jay-Z's guest appearance on "Back in the Day" carries a little more weight. Although the song reeks of both a Confucian historical reworking and old-skool hip-hop dilettantism, Jay delivers a smoothly masterful verse that name-checks personal heroes Showbiz and AG and calls out the narrow-minded moralizing of political pundits Bill O'Reilly and Chuck Phillips. One of the year's funniest lines is Jay comparing himself and Missy to "Rae and Ghostface". (So... is Missy supposed to be Ghost or Raekwon?) Missy's delivery ain't bad, either. I mean, it's not like she's composing anything traditionally deep or revelatory, but the ease with which she navigates the Timbaland's musical landmines is stunning-- these two were made for each other. And I haven't even talked about "Work It"... but do we really need to talk about "Work It"? If you don't already know it's the greatest pop single/video of the year, I suggest that you emerge from your dusty record crates and turn on MTV. Just for a second!! I bet it's on right now.

Even with all its clever samples and sideways acknowledgments, of course, Under Construction is to true-skool hip-hop what SI's Swimsuit Issue is to women's fashion-- but don't try and front like you don't salivate over that shit. Once you push the politics of it aside, Under Construction's a good record with some incredibly sick production work. Anyone who'd dismiss it for the sake of maintaining some bullshit underground cred is only playin' himself.

-Sam Chennault, November 22nd, 2002