Missy Elliott brings people together. A couple of weeks ago, Odd Future rapper Tyler, the Creator tweeted the hip-hop goddess’ praises: “Missy Is The Fucking Shit And Should Get More Credit. I Wish She Was Out Making Music Man, Her And Gwen. Da Shit Ayee.” To which the indie-rock band Grizzly Bear — of all the smart-phone typers on all the wireless networks in all the world — responded: “I miss missy so much. Bring her back!”
Now Missy really is back — a few months ahead of her first album in seven years — along with rap’s more recent Martian overlord Lil Wayne, on a remix of Busta Rhymes’ “Why Stop Now” (via Nah Right). The original track effectively functions as a sequel to last year’s similarly sparse tour de force “Look at Me Now” (it even features You Know Who). The newly surfaced remix is … just all right.
Thankfully, Chris Brown’s contribution to the track still appears to have as much to do with his chiseled torso as his prodigious hook-sneering abilities. Busta, though, comes back with some ridiculous, extra-gross, and — of course! — technically adept new rhymes about giraffe fellatio. Missy’s swaggering delivery is as charismatic as always, but her old knack for “did she just say that?” moments is sadly gone: “I slay these crows / Got more lines than corn rows,” OK, move along, nothing to see here.
s for Weezy, he’s on his Busta-chasing “Look at Me Now” flow; he’s not making a whole lot of sense, which is par for the Wayne course these days, but he does manage to invoke NBA short man Muggsy Bogues, compare genitalia to pig lips, and scream out his label’s name with a particularly blunt-clogged throat. If only he’d found room for a Linsanity reference.
So, is this “Why Stop Now” remix “uncompete-with-able,” as producer Swizz Beats declares in a neat coinage at the end of the track? Well, no, not really. Is it a few of rap’s wilder characters offering up a mixed bag of generally amusing verses over some sharply arranged electro-rap drone and buzz? Stop right there.
