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| The Cookbook | 
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| Artist: Missy Elliott
Label: Atlantic / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $7.98
Buy New: $2.47
You Save: $5.51 (69%)
New (32) Used (49) Collectible (1) from $0.53
Avg. Customer Rating:  111 reviews
Sales Rank: 38863
Format: Enhanced, Explicit Lyrics
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 83779
UPC: 075678377921
EAN: 0075678377921
ASIN: B0009F2BOO
Release Date: July 5, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Joy (Featuring Mike Jones) | | • | Party Time | | • | Irresistable (Featuring Slick Rick) | | • | Lose Control (Featuring Ciara & Fat Man Scoop) | | • | My Struggles (Featuring Mary J. Blige & Grand Puba) | | • | Meltdown | | • | On & On | | • | We Run This | | • | Remember When | | • | 4 My Man (Featuring Fantasia) | | • | Can't Stop | | • | Teary Eyed | | • | Mommy | | • | Click Clack | | • | Time and Time Again | | • | Bad Man (Featuring Vybez Cartel & M.I.A.) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
With The Cookbook, the innovative Missy Elliott proves to the masses she is a musical mad scientist whose artistic abilities are unparalleled and without peer. Elliott is a quadruple threat: rapper, singer, songwriter and producer; add that to her woman-empowered lyrics and Missy's ability to be a musical and mental role model is inarguable. As a producer, Missy Elliott knows how to build a great project by incorporating the best talent available, an easy task since so many want to work with her. Not surprisingly, The Cookbook is filled with a world-class guest list. That very large list includes American Idol winner Fantasia , cRunk&B queen Ciara , old-school rapper Slick Rick , dancehall sensation M.I.A. (on the drumline-heavy "Bad Man") and the current queen of soul, Mary J. Blige . In a reversal of roles, "My Struggles" finds Missy singing "Ya'll don't really know my life, y'all don't really know my struggles" while Mary J. raps over a sample of herself from "What's The 411." One unexpected surprise is Missy sings out more than on previous releases. The bare-bones "Remember When" is a definite standout, a 70's-inspired slow jam highlighted by her honest lyrics, sweet falsetto and jazz-affected tones. The beautiful melancholy of "Teary Eyed" is another standout, an amen-inducing testament to a relationship gone wrong and the beginning of the healing process. To hear Missy sing with full rawness and no bravado is a further testament to her talents and will likely bring an even larger audience into her fold. -- Denise Sheppard
Album Description
Missy's back with her 6th album The Cookbook. The first single, "Lose Control" features R&B princess Ciara and hip-hop motivator Fat Man Scoop. Album also features additional production by long time friend and collaborator Timbaland and The Neptunes. Special guests include Tweet, Fantasia, Slick Rick, Mike Jones, Mary J Blige, Grand Puba and Lil Kim.
Album Description
Missy Elliott hits us with her 2005 The Cookbook, which features production by long time collaborator Timbaland, plus Kwame, Ric Harrison and The Neptunes. Special guests on the album include Tweet, Fantasia, Slick Rick, Mike Jones, Mary J. Blige, Grand Puba and Lil Kim. Initial Import pressing will include the track 'Bad Man' (feat. Vybez Cartel & M.I.A.) & a skit that will be removed from all future pressings of this album due to the controversial nature of the content. Atlantic. 2005.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 106 more reviews...
 Missy Survives Without Timbaland - For Now. July 9, 2005
24 out of 32 found this review helpful
You have to at least give Missy Elliott credit. On her sixth album, the hip hop multitasker (rapper, singer, producer, designer, Gap model, and Lord knows what else) spreads her wings a bit and examines life without Timbaland. All but two of the cuts on "The Cookbook" are produced by outsiders, and some succeed better than others. The red-hot "Meltdown" (produced by Scott Storch) is butter smooth, while the Neptunes (two producers who need no introduction) deliver some expectedly trippy beats on "On and On." The Queen of Hip Hop Soul Mary J. Blige crashes the party on "My Struggles," while Missy and American Idol Fantasia show great chemistry on the r&b-ish "4 My Man." But a couple of lackluster tunes surface, including the single "Lose Control," featuring the vocally talentless Ciara. But all and all, I like and recommend "The Cookbook." It's not Missy's best, but I respect her for moving away from Timbaland and trying different sounds with new producers. But can she maintain a career and build her craft without him? Time will answer that question.
Missy's recipes sizzle July 5, 2005
19 out of 23 found this review helpful
Now with six albums under her belt, Melissa "Missy" Elliott shows no signs of turning down the heat with this sizzling Cookbook. With old pal Timbaland in tow, Missy recruits a Who's Who of talent, including the ubiquitous Neptunes, Fantasia, Ciara, Mary J. Blige, Slick Rick, Mia and Lil Kim, among others.
Starting with a humorous skit introducing the guest artistes, the album opens, literally, with "Joy", featuring Mike Jones, and produced by Timbaland. The lead off single "Lose Control" featuring Ciara and Fat Man Scoop is a dance-friendly fun track, as infectious as Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl".
Another hot track is "On and On" produced by The Neptunes, my other picks being "We Run This" which samples that `80s staple "Apache", "Bad Man" a Jamaican dance hall anthem featuring Vybez Cartel and Mia, and "Teary Eyed" produced by Warryn Campbell.
Her slower tracks simmer, but still burn, especially the sensual but X-rated "Meltdown"
Brutally honest, funny and sometimes salty, Missy's cookbook is a sure-fire bestseller.
Amanda Richards, July 5, 2005
 Where's The Real Missy????? November 8, 2005
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
I have always been a fan of Missy Elliot, that is until she came out with The Cookbook. Throughout the whole CD I had to keep reminding myself of who I was listening to. All I have to say about her sixth album is new look and definitly new sound.
Compared to her other five albums this one was most definitly a disappointment. Not only did The Cookbook lack that presence from beat specialist producer Timberland but it also lacked that certain lyrical content that Missy is known for. This album was filled with slow jam type of songs and a very poor use of sampling. All throughout track 10 "Cant Stop", I was thinking to myself that the song just was not right without Amerie voice on the track. Also the beat for the track titled "We Run This" is one that I would associate more with Carlton from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air instead of a hit single from Missy Elliot. Some people may say that you need to try something new every once and a while but in Missy's case she should have stuck to the old.
The songs that were actually tolerble to listen to were somewhat similar to her previous songs. The track "Lose Control" had to have been the best song on the album but may as well ben titled Work It Part II. The beats were somewhat similar and so were the music videos. Some of the other tracks were okay...Joy, Meltdown and Mommy.
After hearing singles like Work It, Gossip Folks, Pass That Dutch, Lick Shots, Get Ur Freak On, and I could go on nameing some of her classical hits, but I have to say I was just disappointed with this album and the lack of radio and club banging Missy hits.
Those that gave this CD a good review either have not listened to any of Missy's first couple of albums or are just completly tone deaf. All in all I would not recommend this album to anyone over her pervious ones. Even though this may have been the worst I have faith that Missy can come back with some more club banging hits in the coming years.
Like I said before new looking Missy and new sound.....where is TIMBERLAND?????
 Please Try Again July 5, 2005
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
How many popular songs can you sample in one album and still be considered original?? "Lose control" is basically Afrika Bambaata's "Planet Rock" instrumental with Missey hollering dance moves like a 69Boyz song. "We run this" is Sugar Hill's "Apache" just cut up and rehashed with Missey shouting "we run this". There are countless others that I do not feel like typing out. If missey runs "this" I don't want to have anything to do with it. This album lacks originality and Missey needs to get her own beats and quit Jockin the old schoolers. She has taken the hip hop community one step backwards. I need one favor from Missey....O R I G I N A L I T Y.
 After Falling Off the Last Few CDs, Missy's Back Artistically If Not Commercially February 26, 2006
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Missy Elliott is one of my favorite entertainers because just like Ludacris, she brings a certain "funness" to the Hip-Hop musical game infusing Pop, Electronic, House, R&B, early Hip-Hop into her music. Unfortunately, her 2003 effort, This is Not a Test, did not perform as well as its four predecessors, all of which went at least Platinum and produced two-three prominent singles. One of the criticisms of that 2003 CD was that Missy had lost her musical touch and had descended into the realm of predictability. There was not much that was new on that disc or that even epitomized Missy's larger-than-life persona. Well, with The Cookbook, Missy returns to form with her best CD since 2001's MissE...So Addictive.
Joy-Produced by Timbaland and Missy Elliott and featuring Mike Jones, this slower up-tempo is a nice appetizer to The Cookbook. It is a focused song with Mike Jones turning in a very self-lauding but energizing appearance. There is something about the instrumentation of the song that is hypnotic. B+
Partytime-Produced by Timbaland and Missy Elliott and containing elements of "Whammer Jammer" as performed by the J. Geils Band, this is reminiscent of a couple of Missy's 1999 efforts, She's A B**** & Shake My A**. It has that partytime, Missy vibe to it, and it let me know that this CD would be pretty good as it kicks off the CD. A
Irresistable Delicious-Produced by Craig X. Brockman and containing elements of "Lick the Balls" as performed by Slick Rick and featuring Slick Rick himself, this mid-tempo is a nice teaming of two crazy personas, one legend and one-soon-to-be legend. The energy that this song has is tight, and it changes tempo and the music several times throughout. Slick Rick raps in his accent, and Missy copies him. The only gripe is that this song is nasty. It's very explicit in what it's talking about. A
Lose Control-Produced by Missy Elliott and contains a sample of "Clear" as performed by Cybotron and "Bodywork" as performed by Hot Streak and featuring Ciara and Fat Man Scoop (Mariah Carey's It's Like That), this first single which took Summer 2005 by storm and was Missy's first re-visit to the Top Ten since 2002 was a party anthem, and it will go down as one of Missy's trademark cuts with its high energy video and party vibe. A+
My Struggles-Produced by Ur'an H. Goodman, featuring Mary J. Blige & Grand Puba and containing elements of "Backfire" as performed by Smokey Robinson and "What's the 411" as performed by Mary J. Blige, this mid-tempo works well as it is a revelatory song that chronicles the struggles of life that both Missy and Mary have experienced. Mary spits a little, and Missy sings. It is a nice connecting of the two even though it's not one of the best songs. A-
Meltdown-Produced by Scott Storch. This is probably one of my favorite songs on the CD. It has Missy singing, rapping and being her nasty, freaky-deeky self. Scott Storch provided a hot throwback meets the 21st century kind of beat to it. I also like the references to a couple of musical couples (Janet & JD and Beyonce & JayZ). It could've worked as a single if not for the provocative lyrical content. A+
Click Clack-Produced by Shandrae "Mr Bangladesh" Crawford (Ciara), this is Missy meets hard-core rap. It reminds me of something that Three Six Mafia or Dem Franchize Boys or even the Stiletto Pumps groups would do. However, it's good to see Missy showing that she can sing this hardcore music although she brings her craziness even to this song. B
On & On-Produced by The Neptunes and containing elements of "The Show," I am perplexed as to why this fresh, innovative, futuristic-sounding cut was never released as a single. Of all the cuts, this is one of the most commercial songs that could have really made some ends on radio. I knew it would never be a single once it was featured at the end of the Lost Control video. The flow is tight. The chorus is catchy, and the beat is just infectious and sick!! A+
We Run This-Produced by Rhemario "Rio Beats" Webber and containing elements of "Apahce" as performed by the Sugarhill Gang, this party joint is the third single off the release. While I support Missy because she's one of my favorite artists, I don't see this song really making any ends on radio. It's relatively lame, and it may would've worked in her early career, but it's too bubblegummish. It works as a CD track, but it probably won't work as a single. The sample is familiar which gives the song some edge, but overall, I don't like the song. B-
Can't Stop-Produced by Rich Harrison, here Missy meets Amerie as she tries out the go-go beats producer (Jennifer Lopez's Get Right, Beyonce's Crazy Love and Amerie's One Thing). The song fits Missy's style and flow even if it's nasty, but the listener can't help but hear the other songs that are similar to this one that it's hard to disconnect. The same phenomenon occurs with Toni Braxton's Take This Ring even though here, Missy makes this sound like her own with her crazy style and the way the vocals are arranged. B+
Time and Time Again-Produced by Saint Nick (Jagged Edge's 2003 Hard effort), this dark, slow jam is fun. It has Missy spitting with fire, and it has her singing over a hot beat. It's talking about her lover coming back again and again when she's over him and ready to move on...enough is enough. The song is hot especially after the lackluster two previous cuts. Saint Nick is a good producer. A
Remember When-Produced by Missy Elliott, Craig X Brockman and Nisan Stewart, this slow jam which has one of the tightest beats I have heard in a slow jam is a hot song. I could see this being released to Urban radio and making some ends. It puts a spin on most songs with Missy, as the woman, admitting to her man that she made a mistake and cheated but how he still accepted her back. It seems like Missy is a bonafide singer with the way the vocals are arranged and the way that she uses her somewhat limited singing vocals to bring the right interpretation and style to this song. Her rap also adds a little flavor to the song. A+
Mommy-Produced by Associates & Keith Lewis, this song is weird. I know the message it's conveying in trying to empower the many, many mothers out there and their hard work and their everlasting beauty. However, after Fantasia's Baby Mama and with the uptempo nature of the song, it's hard to appreciate the songs message when it was just done and the arrangement does not fit the theme. B-
4 My Man-Produced by The Avila Brothers and featuring Fantasia, this mid-tempo finds Fantasia repaying Missy a favor for producing some cuts on her own 2004 debut release including her hit Free yourself. Missy raps and Fantasia turns in a few goosebump-inducing runs and riffs. However, the song does not take off as much as it could've. It does seem like album filler at points, but it works. A
Teary Eyed-Produced by Warryn Campbell and with background vocals by Tweet, I will never understand why this was released as the 2nd single after the party blowout hit of Lose Control. This just killed any momentum the CD could've experienced as it is one of the most boring tracks on the CD. It talks about Missy giving up her lover and wanting to take out her wrath because of the way he mistreats her love. She sings good, but the song is just boring. C
Bad Man-Produced by Craig X. Brockman and featuring Vybez Cartel and M.I.A., here Missy meets some dark, high energy Reggae with this cut, which would've worked way better as a single than Teary Eyed. It's a nice closer even though semantically, it would've worked better at the beginning since it's so high energy. A
Overall, for me, this is Missy's most innovative and party-causing CD since 2001's MissE...So Addictive. Some complain about the many different producers, but I think that's what gives it a different feel rather than just Craig X. Brockman, Timbaland and Missy herself. From the songs, it seems that Missy should continue working with The Neptunes, Scott Storch, Saint Nick, Timbaland, Craig X. Brockman and a couple of others because they complement her style. Missy covers the gamut of different topics on the CD. She's in good voice and still brings that fire to her crazy spitting. However, the record label really dropped the ball and hindered any success with the singles they chose to release. Instead of Teary Eyed, why wasn't 4 My Man or Remember When released. They are similar songs, but the latter two are more commercial. Instead of the lame We Run This, why wasn't On & On, Meltdown or even PartyTime released? Hopefully, the next time Missy will stay fresh like this CD and have the right promotion. However, Missy's been doing it for almost ten years and has netted more than 15 breakout hits. She's one of the most sought-after producers and collaborators, and she still has her energy. She is a brand unto herself, so there's nothing lost even though this is her lowest-selling CD.
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