Pitchfork

It's Missy, bitches! "I got more hits than you can get out of a bat," Missy Elliott notes on new single "Ching-A-Ling", and man, no argument here. Six platinum albums! While the Virginia-born rapper's unmistakable delivery and bling-bling rhymes certainly had a lot to do with early-2000s smashes like "Work It" and, of course, "Get Ur Freak On"-- there's a reason Robyn copped those cadences for "Konichiwa Bitches"-- there's no mistaking the importance of co-writer Timbaland's production, especially his borrowing of elements from such diverse genres as bhangra. With Tim in high demand these days, "Ching-A-Ling" enlists another of the more audacious hip-hop producers of recent years, Swizz Beatz, and if the single doesn't quite reach her early heights, it's still a welcome return.

The word "crazy!" repeats in the background, much as it does throughout Swizzy's own One Man Band Man and its lead single, "It's Me Bitches". But "Ching-A-Ling" plays more like a cross between a Swizz Beatz production and a Timbaland track, starting with the chaotic sirens also heard in "It's Me Bitches" or Eve's Swizz-produced "Tambourine", then settling into a droning snake-dance rhythm, complete with erotic moaning. As for Missy, she's got a lot of money, apparently, alluding to Outkast ("so fresh and clean you can call me Irish spring"), T.I. ("big things pop, little things stop"), possibly Ludacris (lots of "Money Maker" talk), and, um, Ex-Lax. Like Britney Spears, she wears no drawers.

Stream:> Missy Elliott: "Ching-A-Ling"

BONUS: The Fader has posted a remix where Elliott is joined by another rap legend who has stacked some paper up, ex-Def Jam CEO Jay-Z. Hova is back on his made-man Kingdom Come tip here, but luckily his verse manages to build somewhat on the momentum of 2007's American Gangster, particularly in a couple of well-phrased lines about the Notorious B.I.G. What sound did you make on your way up the ladder, Jay? "Ha, ha ha ha." All the way to the bank-- or, given the title "Ching-A-Ling", at least to the cash register.

[from the Step Up 2 the Streets soundtrack; due 02/05/08 on Atlantic/Warner]