Nashville Scene JULY 5 - 11, 2001 "Taking Five" by By Bill Friskics-Warren www.nashvillescene.com

Missy Elliott, Miss E...So Addictive (The Gold Mind Inc./Elektra) "I know some of y'all sick of songs you be hearin' on the radio / So me and Timbaland gonna give you shit you never heard before," Missy boasts to open her third and latest opus. Well, I wouldn't go that far. But from the Next Power Generation grooves of "Dog in Heat" and updated synth-funk of "Old School Joint," to the Bhangra beatz of "Get Ur Freak On" and trippy electro-hop of "Lick Shots," the crazy rhythms she and co-creator Tim quilt together here are as fresh and kaleidoscopic as any out there. Elliott also raps less and sings more on this record, her sultry, natural-woman coos and commands no doubt keeping Mary J. Blige, the reigning queen of hip-hop soul, looking over her shoulder. The obligatory guests abound as well, but this is Missy and Tim's affair, and despite the occasionally irksome between-song skits, it more than lives up to its title. It's also the steamiest between-the-sheets record since D'Angelo's Voodoo, something of a sampledelic cross between "Sexual Healing" and Dirty Mind. That, and it does a body good to see the Divine Miss E laying claim to sex goddess status for zaftig sisters everywhere.