Under Construction

Eh, I see how people can like this but it’s not for me.

i feel like it should be classified as late boom bap, i did like it even though i thought i wouldn't

Ok

738/1001 2026.11.04 🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑

4/10

Not sure why she felt the need to blog during her album, but OK.

Really fun and enjoyable.

🙄🙄🙄eh

I was a bit afraid about how I would feel regarding this album, because I barely like her debut, but turns out this is very solid pop rap. From what I can remember when I listened to "Supa Dupa Fly", my main complains were its length and not so captivating performances and beats. However, in this album it seems both the artist and the bases improved significantly, as I find it everything quite entertained throughout the whole runtime. The rapping is good, the soft R&B singing is very pleasant and beautiful, and the beats are very nice and minimalist while being very infectious. There is also variety of tone, which is to be expected from a combination of hip-hop and R&B, having its very soft moments and more serious ones. On one hand, from the smoothest parts I would highlight "Pussycat", "Nothing Out There for Me" featuring Beyonce, and "Can You Hear Me" including TLC, and having these features is very clear that these tracks are going to stand out for the great and passionate singing. On the other side with more attitude, I really like "Gossip Folks" and the weird performance from Missy Elliott and serious beat, and also "Work it" which probably has the best flow and most memorable choruses. With that being said, the album still is pop rap, so even the more "menacing" moments still are very infectious and made for dancing. Another worth mentioning aspect are the great features. I already mentioned two of them, but there are also "JAY-Z" and "Method Man" doing some fantastic appearances. And ending with the positives, I can't not mention my appreciation towards her work trying to break taboos and encouraging women to be open about expressing their sexual desires. Now, if I have anything negative to say concerning this album to is that I'm missing impactful value. Everything is solid and catchy, but I'm not really getting my mind blown for the performances or production, neither the sticky hooks get engraved into my head. So in the end, it is very entertaining and well made, having some great rapping, singing and beats, but I also think is not super memorable.

Excellent album. Favorite tracks: Bring the Pain, Slide, Work It

Great album. Super encouraging vibe to the whole experience. 4/5 just for that honestly, but of course, the singles are bangers, and I had no idea she had all those great features, specifically Method Man. Missy is legit one of the greats.

a 3 is worthy here, I should rate this higher. it's more 2.9 but I like missy.

This album is… well, not my kind of go-to record, for sure. I can appreciate certain things, what can be appealing, some nice productions. And that is why I consider that is is not bad. It is even enjoyable sometimes. But I cannot say that I’ve liked it either. It is pretty repetitive sometimes, pretty uninteresting too. And, to be honest, it would have benefited from being shorter. Some songs are just not appealing at all. So, maybe in this case I appreciate it more than I like it. I can understand what is remarkable. It is just not remarkable for me.

Can’t stand this kind of hip-hop. All guest vocals shouting and wailing, juvenile and poorly written lyrics, and repetitive beats being the only reason she stays in anyone’s consciousness. And spare me the spoken word bollocks throughout this album which sounds like it was recorded off the cuff and someone went “ooh yeah that adds authenticity”. Garbage.

I don't feel strongly one way or the other about this record.

meh par contre ça m'a donné envie de retourner écouter un peu de jay-z donc merci j'ai passé un bon aprem

Je trouve que ça s'écoute bien mais je n'y retournerai pas je pense

i really enjoyed the talking moments in between the songs

I like Missy Elliott, but this was a little disappointing. The hits are there and there are some strong tracks. I didn't like the spoken bits, it felt a bit like a primary school show-and-tell. The tributes to Aaliyah and Left-Eye should have been poignant but felt a bit forced

#128 We got Missy's debut album last week, and it honestly did not impress me. This was much better, with a couple songs I already knew. Highlights: Gossip Folks, Slide, Can You Hear Me

Never sleep on Missy! This is a solid album from front to back. Admittedly, I came to Missy’s music later in life. I knew her major hits, but that was about it. My younger sibling was a huge fan back in the day, but I dismissed her, which is a real shame because she is electric. Great voice, solid rhythm, and an unbelievable flow. The guest appearances are well-placed without taking away from her genius. I’ve already saved this album, and it’s definitely going on repeat.

Let’s just say this: I never listened to Missy Elliott’s albums back in the day, and after hearing this, my opinion hasn’t changed. The lyrics feel weak and sleazy, and when she’s not rapping, she’s talking and that’s even worse. The lyrics aim to be witty and obnoxious, but they don’t have the kind of substance to stand the test of time. Her talking sections, often about how women can keep their men from straying, come across as more scolding and nagging than helpful, which is ironically counterproductive. That said, I always thought she had strong production behind her, and I’ll admit, the music production here is still just as catchy and fun as it was back in the day. Her sound has been heavily sampled and used by other producers and DJs, so she’s definitely made her mark. Even so, this album doesn’t make me want to go back and revisit her music.

Heard some hits from Missy in the early 00s. Oh thank god finally a woman who raps. This is fantastic, great variety in the beats and the songs are catchy too. When I went to Wikipedia and saw that Timbaland produced the album it suddenly made sense. Of course an early 00s album with Timbaland on it is good. And Missy rocks 3/5

A breath of fresh air on a lost that paradoxically offers very few. Thank God for missy Elliott

"you don't see bill gates and donald trump arguing with each other cuz both of them got paper and they got better shit to do"

I'll admit I haven't thought about Missy Elliott for quite some time before this. She was kind of everywhere for a period in the early 2000s, but has faded from consciousness a bit since then. This has aged reasonably well, apart from the slightly cringe-worthy opening intro. Work It is the obvious track that everyone remembers, with the others blending into nothing a bit. Not really my scene but nice to visit once in a while.

It's good. Good collaborations. Not great instrumentals, but nice enough. 3,5/5.

Crazy people complaining about this being dated? Yeah, but rock from the 60s/70s is 'classic'. This was, is and always will be fantastic.

I have a hunch, I'm not the target audience.

Hip Hop not my thing but this was better than expected.

Great beats, memorable tracks, solid features and some of the most effortless rapping to come out of the 2000's. Missy has some tremendous charisma. It sure sounds like its era, the intro has aged hilariously, but the overall experience isn't any worse off for sounding like a time capsule. She's still one of a kind.

With the exception of Work It, this is kind of a big nothing burger, isn’t it?

Enjoyed first half more. Standout songs: Gossip Folks Work it Funky Fresh Dressed

Круто

Undisputed greatest female rapper of all time! While Supa Dupa Fly is accepted as one of the greatest debut albums ever, the old-school feeling and smash hits here cannot be denied. This is smooth and fun. Had me grooving all morning. The hate for this album in this project is mind-boggling to me. You don't like rap? Okay, fine. I don't like country. But I can recognize good music when I hear it and show some respect. This is particularly weird coming from the Brits (and a ton of it comes from the Brits). What, you can't handle the colonists producing quality music? And it's super weird that the country that survived the blitz freaks out over a couple of n-bombs.

I have never really cared for Missy Elliott as a rapper, but the beats are pretty good.

I guess I only listened to Missy Elliott's singles and heard her as guests on other songs. She had better rhymes than I was expecting. I do think the talking portions could have been removed to make the album a bit tighter. I was shocked at the number of huge stars that guest starred... (Ludacris, Jay-Z, TLC, 50 Cent and Beyonce)

3.5 - I wasn’t aware that I liked Missy Elliott this much. That tribute song with TLC is pretty cringey though.

Under Construction sounds very much for its time for early 2000s hip hop production, and there are good reasons to why it was such a hit record for the time, especially in NYC. I think it's a bit amusing at best and just fine at worst. I'm not the target demographic for this to give this a proper 'music review'. I think after almost 25 years later, the sound for this record in terms of its legacy is fairly dated. Not that it's a bad sounding record, just that it sounds exactly like what hip hop was in the early 2000s. She's talking like radio ads and bringing up magazines and the fucking lyric in Intro/Go to the Floor saying "You don't see Bill Gates and Donald Trump arguing with each other/ 'Cause both of them got paper and better shit to do". Look yeah they were both rich back then and household names but like, fuck man. tl;dr: okay record but sounds very dated, good if you're a new yorker with nostalgia for post 9/11 tragedy or whatever

Ehh it's... It's music... I guess

Still don't get Hip Hop, but I'm closer to it with this than I have been. Great beats, great rapping great production. Although the "This is a Missy Elliott exclusive" thing got really off, really fast. But let me get political here for half a moment. Elliott makes the not unreasonable point that male rappers have been talking sex for years, but when women do it they get told it's inappropriate. Which is fine and inarguably true. But whether its men saying "Bitch, my dick so big you'll love it" or women saying "I wanna keep my man so pussy don't fail me now!" isn't it just the same old sex based male female power narrative? Instead of just playing into the same old same old how about just... you know.... growing up.

I enjoyed this album much more than I expected. It's very early 2000s, I was in high school at the time, and I have a soft spot for that sound. The nostalgia definitely helps, but this is a fun album, nothing more.

This album is mostly hip-hop and I don't care for that. But there are a few R&B tracks that I did like. This seems like an interesting album, but I wouldn't come back to it.

Listened before?: i've listened to Work It many times over the years. never bothered to listen to a full Missy Elliott album though Go to the Floor - 3/5 Bring the Pain - 4/5 Gossip Folks - 4/5 Work It - 5/5 Back in the Day - 2/5 Funky Fresh Dressed - 3/5 Pussycat - 2/5 Nothing Out There for Me - 1/5 Slide - 3/5 Play That Beat - 3/5 Ain't That Funny - 2/5 Hot - 2/5 Can You Hear Me - 3/5 Work It (Remix) - 3/5 Average score: 2.9/5 ⭐⭐⭐ i must say, it's kinda funny hearing her talk about seducing/keeping a man when we all know she's gay as fuuuuuck. you're not fooling anyone ma'am aside from Work It, i didn't really care for many tracks off of this album. like i said, it's really hard to take the tracks about men or sex all that seriously. besides that, i didn't really find the other tracks all that noteworthy, and the album as a whole just barely lands within 3-star territory for me idk if i'd consider her the best female rapper, but she's undoubtedly left her mark in the history of hip hop and has been influential to the female artists who came after her. i don't think it's super necessary to listen to this album in full before you die, but i think it's worth checking out some of her most popular tracks (Work It, Get Ur Freak On, etc.) i haven't listened to Supa Dupa Fly yet, so we'll see how i like that in comparison later

I don't need the thematic explanation...either do it with the music or don't do it. Timbaland hit his apex working with Missy. A lot of guest spots on this album, not complaining. Method Man, Ludacris and Jay-Z is a pretty strong late 90s lineup of MCs. Work It has always been one of my least favorite rap songs that was a hit, the backwards talking is dumb. Rappers love to do the retrospective hip hop shout out song. Back in the Day is not my favorite one though. Hearing Pussycat for the first time is when Nicki Minaj, Cardi B and Meghan Thee Stallion realized what they wanted to do with their lives. This album is not bad. The song with Beyonce is a highlight. The number of times she says "This is another Missy Elliott exclusive" makes DJ Khaled seem restrained. The back half of the album is the better half. The exclusive thing is super annoying. The sad song about Aaliyah and Left Eye is corny as hell. Nice little chat at the very end, CDs were super stupid.

no

This is such a nostalgic record. Missy is so charismatic and she can sell any song no matter how ridiculous it might read on paper.

The singles off this one were and still are great. The rest is fun, but maybe not quite classics. Missy is one of the great rappers throughout though.

Esperaba mucho más de un álbum que contiene Work It, pero bueno. Que se yo. Nota: 3.4

Eh

More monologues/commentary than expected!

I don't mind hip hop usually. This was very annoying. I knew Work it. 1.5/5

8/10… hip hop / queen r&b / *2002

Missy Elliott's whole style I just find so dated. I think her whole vocal style is just to cheesy and really shows its age, which isn't really at all made up for with the beats or the lyrics, both of which are totally generic. She may have been super popular at the time, but I really don't think that Missy Elliott deserves two whole entries. Plus Supa Dupa Fly was a lot better anyway, so there really is no need for this one.

Huge step up from her other album on the list - shorter, higher quality and all around a great rap album

I feel this raises the bar on her other album on this list, but I'm not completely sold on her. She's not a bad rapper, but her vocals are just fine (you can hear the difference most with that Beyoncé song). However, she understands the world context around her, and it shows.

A wild mix of raw 90's hip hop and goofy 00's hip hop that made me both nostalgic for 2002 and so happy we've moved way past it. Work it is still a banger and the list of guest appearances was both impressive and a snapshot of the time. All in all, a fun listen even though it isn't high art.

Not "great" music but I had fun listening

An enjoyable listen, tempted to go a little higher but a 3 for now.

Uninspiring. What is this run we are on?

I've never listened to a Missy Elliott album before now, and I thought this one was pretty good. Like most hip hop albums of this time, I can do without the speaking interludes and/or skits, but the music was pretty good.

Normalize artists coming in periodically through their albums to examine their intentions. Love Missy's assertion that Donald Trump doesn't have time for petty squabbles. Like...petty squabbles is kinda his thing. This record is a banger though, at least thw first half. "Go downtown and eat it like a vulture" always makes me gag, and then marvel at her delightful fearless weirdness. The entirety of "Pussycat" is another example of this. It was funny hearing her lamenting the current state of hip hop because listening to this had me missing this era. Love the guests too, Methodist Man (autocorrect made him into this and I will call him that forever more) always multiplies my enjoyment of any song by at least two.

Mostly harmless.

Brought me right back to gr. 8. Didn't habe enough appreciation for Missy Elliott at the time.

Timbaland's production was pretty good at this time. There's some half decent features on the album. I like Missy's style and she's got a few good quips in here. I like her point that men get to chat about sex and tits and ass on their songs so why shouldn't she represent for the ladies? When it gets a little more R&B it loses me a bit, but when the raps are tight, I'm pretty well in.

Some pretty solid Southern pop rap. Missy also makes some excellent points about why women shouldn't be comfortable discussing their sex lives in music, since men do it all the time with much less flack.

This was fine. Some good features, good beats. She's got good flow. Some lyrics that kinda caught me off guard. Nothing I'd want to listen to again.

IF YOU GOT A BIG [sfx: 🐘], LET ME SEARCH IT! This is a fun one. Sometimes you just need a no-frills rap album with good beats, and I feel like that's exactly what this is... but then it's also inexplicably jam-packed with high-profile features?? Great performances all around. Standouts: Bring the Pain • Gossip Folks • Work It • Back in the Day

I misjudged this on first listen. It's heat. Much like the Tupac album we recently had, this sounded like a lot of the same until I listened very very closely. Then I was able to hear how fun it is and how fantastic the beats are. I know it annoyed some people but I loved her little pop-ins between songs. It reminded me of when Kanye was actually funny and before he became a lunatic.

It's fine, but there's better rao albums out there.

I am so tired of this vulgar lyrics. If I could listen to an instrumental version of the album, I would most likely rate it slightly higher. But these 'lyrics' are just unbearable. Not the worst music I've ever heard, but it's still pretty bad. I think one of the last lines in her spoken word-thing at the end of the album sums it up: "I just love music and if you don't like it, I don't give a ****" Missy Elliott, I love music, good music. But the problem is that your music represents the opposite. //End of rant. ★

Solid 3.5/5.0, maybe 4.0

I own this album but had forgotten about the spoken word intro where she suggests that Donald Trump doesn’t waste his time on petty hating. That got me worried that this might not have aged well, but I should have had more faith in Missy. Still love it

It was good, but I didn't like the weird mission statements here and there. Great songs but a less great album.

Corny

Elliott is an undeniably positive personality, and she pulled some of the biggest rappers and R&B singers into the mix. Ultimately, though, it all does little more than entertain me for the moment. "Work It" is incredible, though.

This was pretty decent, though I'm not super into hip hop generally so probably wouldn't listen to this again

I can't imagine many paradigm-shifting philosophical tracts are written with this playing in the background. The two most interesting thoughts I had while listening were... 1 - If Method Man and Missy Elliott did go half on a baby there would be an immense amount of pressure on that kid to be a good MC (Missy Man?). 2 - The themes on Pussycat and Jesus Take the Wheel could provide very fertile material for Carrie Underwood and Missy Elliot to collaborate on a song.

Great album, flow is crazy and it feels like she's talking to you. Purr soul and truth in every song.

Missy Elliott has some sick beats and a flow to match. I enjoyed my time with this album, I just wish she had different topics to cover besides money and pussy. Gets a bit preachy.

Why do I know all these songs? And why do I like them?

*all-time.

6/10 - good hip hop, not as hardcore as her earlier stuff

I enjoyed this. I own the song Work It and I knew Gossip Folks. It had good featuring artists.

aight

Missy Elliott grew up in my hometown, so she’s a hometown hero for me for sure. I used to drive by the mansion that she bought for her mom on my way to the beach. This album has a lot of nostalgia for me but I struggled getting through it this time for some reason. I don’t want to say it doesn’t hold up, but my tastes have definitely changed since I was a teenager.

missy !!! work it. c

2.4

Another one that made me flip flop for a bit, and one that you have to give a couple listens. Final verdict? This bumps. It’s not the best “hip hop” performance I’ve ever witnessed. Her lyricism doesn't outshine anyone in her class. BUT. These beats go. The producing on it is exceptional. Feature list is stacked. And it makes me wish, instead of being an infant, that I was a 20 something in the early 00s so I could experience this club scene. No, not a great, flawless work. But one that instantly brings the mood up and gets people moving. And isn’t that just as valuable? Give this a couple runs, and enjoy it for fun. I’m not sure it’s a full four, but it’s damn near.

I'm just a little white boy and I still popped my pussy to this

Less chaotic than I expected, but I’m not overly enthused.

some solid songs on here. Less into the chat,

Nice

DAMN! I'm enjoying this A LOT! New soul and still sounding very fresh thanks to Timbaland's production. Great collaborations and enough variety to make this an engaging listen. Despite the fact I like by 4 song, 38 minute albums, I am finding this a lot fun. But then, after about 35 minutes, my boredom started to kick in. Still, a 3 star album for me.

I think its pretty repetitive, I've never been a Missy Fan I know that's sacrilegious Best Song: Work It Rating: 5.5/10 Stars: 3

This is a really fun record, though I don’t like the production as much as her 90s stuff.

Missy is a legend and “Slide” is one of my favorite songs from the early 2000’s.

Bounce baby! Awesome album.

This album is delightful. I would like to listen to its again but oftentimes I have my kids with me and the content isn’t always appropriate for them which definitely is a common theme in my relationship with rap. I had it on kind of low I was enjoying and the kids weren’t really paying attention and then Jay-Z shows up and drops the N-word like 10 times in six seconds. I can say that this isn’t an album that necessarily shines unlimited to front seat volume, but anyhow, I really really do like it and the other Missy album that we’ve already visited.

This was really good. A lot of interesting songs and sounds. Solid 4 and glad it was on the list.