I'm just gonna come out and say it: I don't think we're getting Missy Elliott back.

And by that what I mean is, we're probably never going to see another Missy video that makes our jaws drop or hear another beat that sounds unlike anything we've ever heard before — in a good way.

Elliott's as-yet-untitled seventh studio album is in the works and scheduled to drop before summer. The first single is presumed to be "Ching-A-Ling", a track that will also lead the Step Up 2: The Streets soundtrack. And ultimately, it's this fact that is symbolic of this track and Elliott's recent material as a whole. A throwaway soundtrack cut. While "Ching" is considerably better than her last soundtrack contribution — and even the majority of her most recent studio album — it's still nothing that shocks and awes. Sure, you'll shake your ass, but it's not going to be remembered years from now like "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" or even "Gossip Folks".

Missy's never exactly been the female Rakim when it came to lyricism, but nowadays the elementary rap style sticks out even more sore thumb-style. I guess it's because we don't have these wacky beats that we have more time to analyze the lyrics. Which brings us to the next problem: a severe lack of Timbaland. 

It wouldn't be the first time Tim Mosley has abandoned one of his former collaborators in favor of some new shiny toy (ask Ginuwine, who's toiling in legal drama with a record label and has ceased to be relevant without his former mentor). It was hard to imagine him skipping out on Miss, though, with whom he had crafted some of his earliest as well as best material. I guess it's like Missy eerily, though incorrectly, prophesied once in her rhymes: "Me with no Timbaland is like Puff with no Ma$e". Well, we all know how that one ended.

Missy has said she's not done recording for the album and that she hopes to work with Timbaland for the album. But nowadays, Missy is going to have to jump in line behind a plethora of superstars who are still raking in the cash with Timbaland's new electro-style (Nelly Furtado, Nicole Scherzinger, Justin Timberlake, and soon Beyonce, just to name a few). Only time will tell if he can make a little time in his dayplanner for her.

So the question remains: are we ever going to get Missy back? She was once lauded as Hip-Hop's Go-To-Girl, and while she still holds plenty of clout in the music community, she lights up far fewer lights than she used to. We'd all like to hear Tim and Miss back together, but the true test for her will be to see if she could pull off a magnificent album without him. Otherwise, a once unstoppable force may quietly fade to a new generation of noisy beats with forgettable lyrics.

–J from the Bay