| Product Summary | | Label: Elektra/asylum Records | | UPC: 00075596283120 | | Release Date: 11/12/2002 | | Buy.com Sku: 60578922 | | Item#: MJQT3T | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 25140 | Format:  CD |
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| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | This is a Hyper CD, which contains regular auido tracks and also provides a link to the artist's website with the help of a web browser. | | Personnel includes: Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot, Method Man, Ludacris, Jay-Z, Ms. Jade, Beyonce Knowles, TLC. | | UNDER CONSTRUCTION was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Awards for Album Of The Year and for Best Rap Album. "Work It" won for Best Female Rap Solo Performance. The song was also nominated for Best Rap Song. "Gossip Folks" was nominated for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. | | This is a Hyper CD, which contains regular auido tracks and also provides a link to the artist's website with the help of a web browser. | | Personnel includes: Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot, Method Man, Ludacris, Jay-Z, Ms. Jade, Beyonce Knowles, TLC. | | UNDER CONSTRUCTION was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Awards for Album Of The Year and for Best Rap Album. "Work It" won for Best Female Rap Solo Performance. The song was also nominated for Best Rap Song. "Gossip Folks" was nominated for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. | | This is a Hyper CD, which contains regular audio tracks and also provides a link to the artist's website with the help of a web browser. | | The fact that Missy Elliott still considers her work to be "under construction" should, justifiably, send everyone else in the rap world scurrying back to the drawing board. No other commercial rapper sounded more in command of her production and flow than Elliott during 2002, and it's no surprise that Under Construction ranks as one of the best rap LPs of the year (granted, it came against relatively weak competition). While Timbaland's stark digital soul girds these tracks, Missy herself continues her artistic progression, trying to push hip-hop forward with an almost pleading intro and neatly emphasizing her differences from other rappers by writing tracks for nearly every facet of the female side of relationships. The hit single "Work It" turns the tables on male rappers, taking charge of the sex game, matching their lewdest, rudest rhymes, and also featuring the most notorious backmasked vocal of the year. Elliott more than keeps up with a dirty-minded Method Man as well on "Bring the Pain," strikes back at haters on the self-explanatory "Gossip Folks," and produced her own duet with Beyonc? Knowles, "Nothing Out There for Me," a track that finds her trying to lure Knowles out to a party (using her best Timbaland impression) over the wishes of the diva's home-bound man. She also recognizes the constantly changing aspects of sexuality, admitting how dependent she is on a man during "Play That Beat" but ruminating on the curious power of the female persuasion on "P***ycat." Elliott goes on a refreshing old-school tear with "Back in the Day," featuring Jay-Z having more fun than he's had in a while and Missy crooning, "What happened to those good old days, when hip-hop was so much fun/those parties in the summer y'all, and no one came through with a gun." The disc closes with the TLC duet "Can You Hear Me," a tribute to Aaliyah and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes. Missy Elliott obviously understands how important hip-hop can be when rappers concentrate on the music instead of the violent lifestyle; fortunately, her talents are just as strong as her vision. ~ John Bush | | Between the wide ranging effects of the September 11th terrorist attacks and losses of a more personal nature, Missy Elliott turned UNDER CONSTRUCTION into a project that simultaneously found her getting her lyrical freak on as well as trying to take everyone back to hip-hop's earlier, more carefree times. Teaming up yet again with creative soulmate Timbaland, Missy alternates between pumping up breakbeats and multiple sexual entendres on the immensely catchy single "Work It" and parading various hip-hop and R&B partners--all of whom serve as perfect foils to this enormously talented Virginia native. | | Jay-Z mixes it up on the nostalgia-laced "Back In The Day", Beyonce Knowles gets scolded for not going out with the gals thanks to a controlling boyfriend on "Nothing Out There For Me" and Method Man weighs in on the insistent "Bring The Pain." Most apparent throughout CONSTRUCTION is how much Missy wears her heart on her sleeve. The best examples include "Go To The Floor," a spoken-word plea for peace, and "Can You Hear Me," a heartfelt duet with TLC dedicated to Aaliyah and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes. | | Between the wide ranging effects of the September 11th terrorist attacks and losses of a more personal nature, Missy Elliott turned UNDER CONSTRUCTION into a project that simultaneously found her getting her lyrical freak on as well as trying to take everyone back to hip-hop's earlier, more carefree times. Teaming up yet again with creative soulmate Timbaland, Missy alternates between pumping up breakbeats and multiple sexual entendres on the immensely catchy single "Work It" and parading various hip-hop and R&B partners--all of whom serve as perfect foils to this enormously talented Virginia native. | | Jay-Z mixes it up on the nostalgia-laced "Back In The Day", Beyonce Knowles gets scolded for not going out with the gals thanks to a controlling boyfriend on "Nothing Out There For Me" and Method Man weighs in on the insistent "Bring The Pain." Most apparent throughout CONSTRUCTION is how much Missy wears her heart on her sleeve. The best examples include "Go To The Floor," a spoken-word plea for peace, and "Can You Hear Me," a heartfelt duet with TLC dedicated to Aaliyah and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes. |
Producer: Timbaland; Missy Elliott |
Musical Guests | | Jay-Z | | TLC | | Ludacris | | Beyonce Knowles | | Method Man | | Ms. Jade |
| | Artist Overview | | Missy Elliott is a multi-faceted career woman. Not only a ground-breaking producer whose work spans the pop market (Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, TLC, Da Brat), Elliott is also a skilled MC. Her 1997 debut trademarked Elliott's cartoon-styled videos and stop-start beats (aided by partner Timbaland). Elliott also runs her own label/production company, the Gold Mind, which nurtured R&B singer Nicole into a gold-selling debut. Through the late '90s into the next millennium, Elliott continued turning out skillfully produced, sexually charged albums, winning Grammys left and right. While she remained in Timbaland's orbit, she expanded to work with other producers as well, continuing to broaden her sound. |
| | Compilation Appearances |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 11/12/2002 | | Original Release Date : 2002 | | Catalog ID : 62831 | | Label : Elektra Entertainment | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00075596283120 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Rolling Stone (12/12/02, p.92)
- "...It sounds like habanero peppers, cinnamon and sweat."Rolling Stone (12/12/02, p.92)
- "...It sounds like habanero peppers, cinnamon and sweat." Spin (1/03, p.70)
- Ranked #7 on Spin's list of 2002's "Albums of the Year" - "...Old-school breakbeats flipped as cartoon sound effects, crazy Eric Cartman rapping, and an R&B jam called 'Pussy Don't Fail Me Now'..." Spin (01/04, p.96)
- "...Ingenious production tempers her nostalgia with a little shock of the new..." Spin (1/03, p.70)
- Ranked #7 on Spin's list of 2002's "Albums of the Year" - "...Old-school breakbeats flipped as cartoon sound effects, crazy Eric Cartman rapping, and an R&B jam called 'Pussy Don't Fail Me Now'..." Spin (01/04, p.96)
- "...Ingenious production tempers her nostalgia with a little shock of the new..." Entertainment Weekly (11/15/02, pp.129-30)
- "...With each album, Elliott has grown more confident and individualistic..." - Rating: B Entertainment Weekly (11/15/02, pp.129-30)
- "...With each album, Elliott has grown more confident and individualistic..." - Rating: B Q (1/03, p.121)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "...UNDER CONSTRUCTION is clearly a record with serious intent....Still, it never loses sight of its party-starting imperative..." Q (1/03, p.121)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "...UNDER CONSTRUCTION is clearly a record with serious intent....Still, it never loses sight of its party-starting imperative..." Uncut (1/03, p.122)
- 3 stars out of 5 - "...Elliott's fourth album of a miraculously productive career trounces all other hip hop and R&B releases in 2002 with unnerving nonchalance..." Uncut (1/03, p.122)
- 3 stars out of 5 - "...Elliott's fourth album of a miraculously productive career trounces all other hip hop and R&B releases in 2002 with unnerving nonchalance..." Mojo (Publisher)
(1/03, p.90)
- "...UNDER CONSTRUCTION is a nostalgia-fuelled work from a persistently forward-pushing artist..." |
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