Let's talk about Missy's flow!

I think she really sucks as a rapper. and can someone tell her to shut up about the jeep.

Still sort of like her. I often think I'd love to hear a better rapper over timbalands beats, but then I wonder am I thinking this because his beats actually just take from the rapping.

Shes weak, fat and... how did she get all that paper? She should stay behind the scenes.

What Missy's done finally, I think, is bring her voice under control, and taken those overberaring verbal tics into the essense of her style, subliminated almost. Compare with Corin Tucker.

Wait, I'm confused. Missy Elliot has flow?

I will admit that she's much more on point in "Son Of A Gun" than she usually is, but can we really forgive the rhythmic atrocities of "Hot Boys" that easily (even if the music is a glorious opium haze)?

If it's one thing I truly abhore, it's ridiculous hip-hop slang. Missy's "flow"? Makes it sound like you're discussing her menstruation cycles. Bleccchhh!

Hey asshole, you got a better word to use for the signature rhythmic and melodic style of a rapper? No? Yeah, well fuck you.

Also, use of the term "flow" predates rap.

michael gira's flow on the new angels of light album is excellent.

(nb: i'm talking about his menstrual cycle.)

I'm glad I'm not the only one to get confused. I'm looking forward to So Solid Crew's declaration "They don't know about my flow!" being the soundtrack to feminine hygiene product ads featuring skydiving and trampolining.

But then, I found Panty Smile hilarious.

One thing I've been meaning to write about is the different sort of values one can attach to a rapper's flow. It's well established now that a rock singer can do things any way they like and still be enjoyable or clever, but the same is rarely acknowledged for hip hop. I love Missy's flow, and quite obviously that has nothing to do with the complexity or smoothness of her rhymes. Quite the opposite in fact - I love their ramshackle spontaneity, the way she'll make up words or interject herself with grunts, growls, incoherent shouts (see "Watcha Gon' Do", for example). She makes me laugh.

When she suddenly busted out into the opera thing on "Scream aka Itchin" I was totally petrified. But I think it was in a good way.

Tim is OTM here.

Wow, Sterling - EASY COWBOY.

I agree with Tim as well. Missy sounds more like Da Brat every day, all croak and insinuation. I think she's better than she's ever been.

For a serious treat, try the secret white label CD full of remixes by artists from the Tigerbeat 606 roster: Kid 606, Blechtum from Blechdom, maybe even Cex. Missy Elliot gets chopped/diced/sliced and blenderized into satanic glitch-crazy goodness! Who knew she had that kind of potential??

Sounds great! But before I buy it, could you just tell me if there's a single solitary second on it that's actually surprising?

meow Tom.

I think this thing about a rapper being able to do things any way they like is all very well. But isn't that just the debate we're having anyway. you either like the style or you don't. To me personally, Missy is unorthodox in a bad way, she's different because she doesn't rap as well. Perhaps theres a preset standard in my head about what a rapper should sound like, but I don't think that's so closed minded. I still wonder what I'd think of Missy if she had a different producer, I said somewhere yesterday that it often seems like Timbalands beats make it harder for a rapper to impress.

That's really true about Timbaland's beats actually. The only rappers whose flows he actually tends to improve are Jay-Z and Missy.

My point about the different criteria for judging flow is more to do with what I consider to be the unchallenged acceptance of certain criteria rather than the relative worth of any artist to whom those criteria are applied. It doesn't mean that Missy's a good rapper (though I think she is) but I don't think it's particularly productive to judge her according to rules which are clearly ill-suited (verging on irrelevant) to her.

I notice that thing about Timbaland on Bubba Sparxx album alot, as much as I think it's a pretty good album theres some songs where theresm just too much going on to listen to bubba sparxx, it's unfair to say his voice is boring, but it often seems like that with really exciting shit going on behind. you're probably right about the way missy is judged, but that's always going to happen her since she's such a big star in the hiphop world. Having criticised her alot I still think I should probably hear her album, as I'm really only making a judgement on the few songs I've heard.

In 3rd year of college my housemates & I had Missy's "beep beep who got the keys to the jeep? vrooooommm" on our answering machine for 2nd semester.
It replaced 1st semester Thurston Moore from Whitey Album singing "get into the groove", & I think both were pretty much worth listening to for the same reasons. deadpan delivery = classic.