This Is Not a Test!

by Elliott

Overview

Listeners shouldn't blame Missy Elliott for slipping into a holding pattern for her fifth album, This Is Not a Test! Early on she arrived at a distinctive sound -- the confident, clubbed-up jam with little melodic power but endless reserves of kinetic energy, courtesy of Timbaland's rubbery productions -- and she refined it well with hits like 2001's "Get Ur Freak On" and the following year's "Work It" and "Gossip Folks." Still, although she remains by far the most interesting figure in hip-hop, This Is Not a Test! has more filler than Elliott's allowed on a record since 1999's Da Real World. (Little surprise considering it appeared just over a year after 2002's Under Construction.) Granted, listeners and club fans looking for hit material will certainly find plenty on display. While the single "Pass That Dutch" is little more than a warmed-up "Work It" rewrite (albeit one studded with auditory change-ups from alarm clocks to car alarms to audience noise to the whinnying of a horse), she compensates nicely with the blazing electro shock of "I'm Really Hot" and the down-and-dirty moaning of her Nelly duet, "Pump It Up." And Timbaland's productions are still above and beyond any others on earth, with a dizzying roster of next-generation beats -- conceived in ring modulators, echo chambers, torpedo tubes, rusty pipes; anywhere except a standard drumkit -- matched to dark, technoid effects capable of raising the eyebrows of even the most experimental laptop programmers. However, most of the guest features fall flat: Fabolous wastes an excellent opportunity to match wits with Missy, giving her the shy-guy routine on "Is This Our Last Time," while Jay-Z is uninvolved on his feature, "Wake Up." Elephant Man's bounce track, "Keep It Movin," works well, but the R. Kelly duet, "Dats What I'm Talkin About," has Elliott playing -- perhaps too agreeably -- the inexperienced young girl to Kelly's mature lover. There's no need to blame Missy for not making a record that's tight all the way through, especially since few artists in the R&B world are held to such scrutiny. Still, an album like This Is Not a Test! is an effective argument for song-by-song downloads. ~ John Bush

Product Details

Release Date:	03/27/2020
Label:	Wea
UPC:	9325583022746
Rank:	182974

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Missy Elliott   Primary Artist,Vocals
The Clark Sisters   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Monica   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Featured Artist
Mary J. Blige   Primary Artist,Featured Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals
Elephant Man   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Fabolous   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Nelly   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
R. Kelly   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Jay-Z   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Featured Artist
Beenie Man   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Bless   Scratching,Scratching
Craig "Boogie" Brockman   Keyboards
Linda Fields   Vocals (Background)
Lyndsey Field   Vocals (Background)
Craig Brockman   Keyboards

Technical Credits

Timothy Mosley   Composer
Moses Davis   Composer
Timbaland   Composer,Producer,Executive Producer
Vadim Chislov   Mixing Engineer,Mixing Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Bless   Group Member
Soul Diggaz   Producer
Demolition Man   Assistant Engineer
Nisan Stewart   Composer,Producer
Jimmy Douglass   Engineer,Recording,Mixing Engineer
Safiya Lewis   Coordination
Anita Marisa Boriboon   Design,Art Direction
Roberto Fantauzzi   Photo Production
Craig "Boogie" Brockman   Producer
Carlos "El Loco" Bedoya   Engineer,Recording
Chris Puram   Engineer,Recording
Lili Picou   Design
Ian Blanch   Engineer,Recording
R. Kelly   Composer
Missy Elliott   Composer,Lyricist,Producer,Executive Producer
Yaneley Arty   A&R
Jay Brown   A&R,Producer,Executive Producer
John Jackson   Composer
Nelly   Composer
Demacio Castellon   Mixing Engineer,Mixing Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Herb Powers   Mastering
Merlin Bobb   A&R
Scott Kieklak   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Annette Coleman   Hair Stylist
Shawn Carter   Composer
O'Neil Bryan   Composer
June Ambrose   Stylist
M. Davis   Composer
Patricia Elliott   A&R
Claudine Joseph   Product Manager
Stacy Boge   Photo Production
Suzanne Burge   Product Manager
Marcella Araica   Mixing Engineer,Mixing Assistant,Assistant Engineer,Assistant Tracking Engineer
Karriem Mack   Composer
Lashaun Owens   Composer
Tats Cru, Inc.   Musician
Alex Harris   Musician
Senator Jimmy D   Mixing
Andre Johnson   Coordination
J.J. Jackson   Composer
Craig Brockman   Composer,Producer
Michael Kennedy   Prop Design