It had to happen.  After five great albums (not a'ight, not mediocre, not cool, great), Missy Elliot had to make a dud.  Hell, Nas made Nastradamus.  Prince made For You.  The Velvet Underground made Squeeze (sans Lou Reed).  And now, Missy has The Cookbook.  While nowhere near in the league of the disasters just mentioned, Cookbook is Missy at her most formulaic; in other words, she's without Timbaland this go-round.  With a whole new batch of recipes and chefs in the kitchen, The Cookbook is not short on intrigue, but lacks the overall flavor of her previous releases (Come on, who could pass up such an easy metaphor?).

With so much new blood involved in this project, it's no wonder Cookbook takes so long to take off and dissapoints overall.  With only two songs produced by Timbo, Missy takes on a whole album alone for the first time and fails to match the funk of classics like Supa Dupa Fly and Under Construction.  She tries far too hard to make the next dance hit, struggling to recreate the magic that came easy with "Get Ur Freak On" and "Pass the Dutch"; the best example is the headache-inducing first single "Lose Control", which features Ciara and Fatman Scoop.  The numerous samples, the clap-on-clap-off percussion, and Fatman Scoop's incessant screaming is the musical equivalent of goulash.  When sh e hits the mark though, she's untouchable: "Can't Stop" will hit "Crazy in Love"-levels if she releases it as a single.  As always, she still has a taste for catchy R&B, as evidenced by the Baby Dubb-produced "Teary Eyed" and the "Let Me Love You"-biting "Meltdown".  Still, Missy is best with beats as thick and boistrous as Missy herself, and the Neptunes take over Timbo's usual role on "On & On", where she holds down a track that sounds like something Pharrell dreamed up while listening to electronica and watching Planet 69 from Outer Space.  Still, she gets bogged down too often by sap and failed dance tracks, respectively exemplified by "Remember When" and "Click Clack".  One adjective that does not decribe Missy's career is "unoriginal"; unfortunately, it too often describes this album.

Missy Elliot may still be the most talented female in hip-hop, but she's finally made a misstep.  Without Timbaland, Missy couldn't recreate the magic she usually brings; there's definitely something to the idea of working with new producers, but jumping in headfirst only made The Cookbook look like it could have been thought out a little better. While she doesn't neccasarily have to go back to Timbaland to get the spark back, she certainly needs to change the recipe (Sorry again).

iPod Worthy:  "On & On", "Can't Stop", "Teary Eyed", "My Struggles", "Joy"

Skip 'Em:  "Click Clack", "Lose Control", "Remember When", "Mommy", "Irrestistable Delicious"

Overall: 3.5 out of Six Shots