She's Habit-Forming

05/16/2001 3:00 PM, LAUNCH
Marci Kenon

Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott and her producer Timbaland are pushing dope again--dope beats, that is. The "Beat Biters" Missy addressed on her last album, Da Real World, will have an even greater challenge copycatting the hypnotic, tribal, and funky musical/lyrical styles found on Miss E...So Addictive, her third album for Elektra.

"I changed my lyrical focus because we have already been through being-so-in-love," Missy explains. "We have already been through the I'm-mad-at-you-I-hate-you-right-now. Then we went through give-me-my-money. Then we went through you're-broke-I-don't-want-you. I asked myself, what can I do without touching those topics? What happened to the Prince records? What happened to the 'Sexual Healing'-type records that were so big? So I decided to give them the sexy records. That's the record that is going to catch people's attention. Like, oh no, she said, 'I don't want no one-minute man!'"

"One Minute Man" is the next single off Miss E...So Addictive (after "Get Ur Freak On"), and it features Jay-Z and Ludacris on two versions that both appear on the album. "I have the guy representing for the fellas, and I'm representing for the females," Missy says. " I love Ludacris. I think his voice is just hot. He's got a very different style; he is a character, and I felt he and I would work beautifully together. I'm a big fan of Jay-Z. I'm cool with both of them, so it was easy to just make that call and say, 'Hey, can you do this for me?' Jay-Z was like, 'Cool--I'm there.' Ludacris met me in the studio and knocked it out."

The 16-song CD also features Method Man and Redman on "Dog In Heat," Ginuwine on the radio-ready ballad "Take Away," Da Brat getting funky on "Slap Slap," and Eve like she's never been heard before. "When I did 'This Is For My People,' I wanted it to be techno meets hip-hop," Missy says of her Eve collaboration. "It's a rave-type joint. I felt it would be dope for another hip-hop artist to get up there with me. I thought of Eve; when I asked her, she went straight into the studio and dropped it. Eve is giving up something different, because the track allows her to do something different."

Missy also gets Nelly Furtado to step out of her element on "Get Ur Freak On" remix. "She killed it," Missy says of Furtado's delivery. "She reggae-chanted on this. People are going to bug out when they hear it. She's hot on the pop side, but R&B people are going to respect her when they hear this."

Missy is pleased with her latest effort and is even planning to leave her comfort zone to support the new disc. "I spent so much of my time in the studio," admits the artist, who has written hits for 702 and Aaliyah, among others. "With this album, I'm going to get out to meet the fans--do a lot more instores, do a lot more parties. It's exciting for me. You really don't know how much people love to see you until you get out. I didn't realize that I was stuck up in the studio like that! People are going to see me a lot more than usual."