Fans Speak, Missy Elliott Listens

The Missy Elliott "comback" (I hate that word) has slowly been gaining momentum. She has producer credits for Keyshia Cole's "Let It Go" the #1 R&B/Hip Hop Airplay song and former #1 R&B/Hip Hop song last week. Bits and pieces of news on Missy's new album has also surfaced over the last few months. We heard Danja talking about being in the studio with Misdameanor for her new album. Then DJ Toomp confirmed that he too was working on the new project. Will over at Missy watch broke the news of the title of Missy's album which will be The Countdown.

So we have the name of the project and 2 producers on board but the real question on everyone's mind is: will Missy and Timbaland reunite? It seemed likely and only fitting that the duo would be back together in the lab breaking new ground, taking us on yet another journey to the planet of sound that they currently reside on. Then we were shocked: Timbaland told MTV that "Missy's too over-the-top for this hip-hop. It's a different era, it's not the same. Some of these songs that are out right now [are] songs that I know if we played two, three years ago, people would have laughed at us." It seemed as though Missy and Timbaland reunification was not to be.

Undiscouraged, my good friend James created the Reunite Missy & Timbaland myspace group. Fans from all across the world joined the cause and over night there were 700 members voicing their desire to see Tim and Missy do their thing together. Today that number has doubled to over 1500 members and counting.

So what's the latest? Rolling Stone got word of the group and asked Missy herself what she had to say about working with Timbaland again:

****In August, a group named "Reunite Missy and Timbaland" popped up on MySpace. It was a response from fans who feared the duo had split up because Timbaland was quoted saying that Elliott's sixth album was too over-the-top for hip-hop. "He was saying it in a good way," laughs Elliott. "Like, I'm so far-left, people might not be ready for me." If the disc's hyper pace is too crazy, Timbaland is partly to blame: he and Nate "Danja" Hills cooked up its rowdy, "fun-for-the-club" beats. T-Pain also makes a cameo on the album, which Elliott cut in Miami, New York and Los Angeles. "I never want to give them another 'Get Ur Freak On' or another 'Work It,'" she says. "We're trying different stuff, just going in blind and hoping that people will be with it."****

Add T-Pain to the The Countdown guestlist. Let's hope these "fun for the club" beats keep in the same MIssy Elliott style we all know and love. What started out as small voice turned into 1500 and counting which were loud enough to get Missy to listen. Congrats to James and the group!