Missy Elliott cooks up a storm

Missy Elliot

Missy Elliott is sitting in a hotel room in Jamaica, in one of those resorts where the only locals in sight are serving you drinks. She's come to the sunny shores of the Caribbean island to talk up her sixth album, The Cookbook.

Elliott needs this album to be a success, and The Cookbook is capable of returning her to the heights she temporarily left with her disappointing last album, 2003's This Is Not a Test. It wasn't an all-conquering, trailblazing triumph like its two predecessors, 2002's Under Construction and Miss E ... So Addictive from the previous year. That may be the reason her production partner Timbaland isn't all over the new album as he was on her previous five offerings. He produces a few tunes - including the first single Lose Control - but this is the first time they haven't collaborated extensively on a Missy Elliott album.

Clad in a green Adidas tracksuit (which isn't from the Respect Me line, her forthcoming collaboration with Adidas), with a matching bandanna and cap, Elliott is in a light-hearted mood and is rightly confident about The Cookbook. "With this album, I was comfortable but scared at the same time, 'cos Tim allowed me to use other producers and he was okay with that. I want people to know that me and Tim are always going to do records together, but as time goes on you have to expand and see what it's like to try different styles."

Miss E ... So Addictive was a turning point thanks largely to its classic first single, Get Ur Freak On.

Its Bollywood-style samples and hypnotic chorus helped it make a big impression with the pop audience and caused a fleeting craze in hip-hop and R&B for anything that sounded vaguely Indian.

Under Construction was equally momentous. Elliott unveiled her new slimline look, and her protege Tweet had been well-received by the soul crowd and was doing good business for Elliott's Gold Mind label. It was this album that prompted the clothes company Gap to team up Elliott with Madonna for an advertising campaign.

When Supa Dupa Fly was released in 1997, hip-hop was just about to take over the world. Suge Knight and P Diddy had shown corporate America just how much money could be made from hip-hop, and the back-to-basics Rawkus Records was just beginning to get a rep with artists like Mos Def and Company Flow (many Rawkus fans would criticise Elliott for what they saw as her lyrical deficiencies). With singles such as Sock It 2 Me and Beep Me 911, Elliott did more than any other artist to blur the lines between hip-hop and R&B. At first, it was difficult to put your finger on exactly what it was she was doing. But it worked. It wasn't just her videos that were widely copied. Her quirky ad-libs and peculiar, eccentric beats were also the subject of the highest form of flattery.

Her childhood surroundings played a large part in fostering her creativity. Who knows what's in the water in Virginia, because besides Elliott, Timbaland and The Neptunes, newer blood like Nottz (who will be working with Dr Dre on his swansong Detox) has emerged.

"We always got music real late," Elliott explains. "New York would always have the hot records but by the time we got it, they would have already moved on to the next thing. Everything was late coming to Virginia.

"We were very far away and very closed off. A lot of the kids were probably forbidden from even listening to R&B music 'cos down south they're more into church music.

They're very spiritual, you know. I don't think we did it consciously but because we didn't have the music to listen to we became creative."

Creative is what Elliott remains. And though she doesn't rely on collaborations, her albums are always guest heavy. The best collaboration on The Cookbook can be found on My Struggles, where Elliott touches on the brutal domestic violence she witnessed growing up. The track features Grand Puba (from true-school heroes Brand Nubian) and Mary J Blige rapping.

Another legend taking part is old-school lyricist Slick Rick. Irresistible Delicious uses the beat from Rick's Lick The Balls. "I try to get the artists who opened doors and who are icons in the hip-hop world."

She could be talking about herself. She is, by far, the biggest female hip-hop artist. Long may she reign.

Lowdown

Who: Missy Elliott

Born: 1971, Portsmouth, Virginia

New album: The Cookbook (out Monday)

Past albums: Supa Dupa Fly (1997); Da Real World (1999); Miss E ... So Addictive (2001); Under Construction (2002); This Is Not a Test (2003)

- INDEPENDENT