''Under Construction'' is the fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American rapper

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1, 1971), better known as Missy Elliott or Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She embarked on her music career with R&B girl group Sista in the earl ...

, released by The Goldmind Inc. and

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

on November 12, 2002, in the United States. The album was primarily produced by

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. He has received widespread acclaim for his innovative production work and distinc ...

, with additional production by

Craig Brockman Craig Xavier Brockman (born May 16, 1973) is a hip hop and R&B record producer, arranger, keyboardist, and instrumentalist. He mostly works with Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Terrace Martin, Warren G. He is also a member of The Soul Seekers. Pro ...

Nisan Stewart Nisan Cumming Stewart (born 31 March 1974) is a noted drummer, record producer and songwriter. Having worked with Timbaland and Missy Elliott on Missy Elliott's earlier work (''This Is Not a Test!''), he co-produced Karen Clark Sheard's 2002 album ...

, Errol "Poppi" McCalla and Elliott herself. The album debuted at number three on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 359,000 copies in its first week. It was also certified

double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA). The album received

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nominations for

Best Rap Album The Grammy Award for Best Rap Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums with rapping at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several categories ...

and Album of the Year. Elliott dedicated the album to

Aaliyah Aaliyah Dana Haughton (; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer and actress. She has been credited for helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and " ...

(who had died on August 25, 2001) and to victims of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

Controversy

The album's third single was intended to be a newly recorded remix of "Pussycat" with guest vocals by

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...

and featuring

Lil' Kim Kimberly Denise Jones (born July 11, 1974), Those giving 1974 include: * * * * * better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper and reality television personality. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, she lived much of he ...

. Elliott's label felt the song was too explicit to release and plans were withdrawn.

Reception

''Under Construction'' received general acclaim from critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, it earned an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 81 out of 100, based on 19 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The album was included in the book ''

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...

''. "It still sounds incredibly fresh, in all meanings of the word," observed the

Yeah Yeah Yeahs The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complem ...

' guitarist,

Nick Zinner Nicholas Joseph Zinner (born December 8, 1974) is an American guitarist for the New York rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs and a record producer. Zinner is an accomplished photographer. Musical career Before forming the Yeah Yeahs Yeahs with Karen O and ...

. "

Karen Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic l ...

, Yeah Yeah Yeahs' singerand I listened to it all the time. We used to play it before we'd go onstage... 'Funky Fresh Dressed' is my favourite track. I don't know what else to say other than it's amazing."

Commercial performance

''Under Construction'' debuted at number three on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 359,000 copies in its first week.. The album stayed on the chart for a total of 36 weeks. On July 14, 2003, the album was certified

by the

(RIAA) for sales of over two million copies in the United States. By November 2015, the album had sold 2,142,000 copies in the US.

Track listing

Notes * denotes co-producer

Production

Executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

s –

* Producers – Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Craig Brockman, Errol "Poppi" McCalla * Vocal assistance – Tweet, Lisa Crawford *

Engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

s – Jeff Allen, Carlos "El Loco" Bedoya, Josh Butler,

Jimmy Douglass Jimmy Douglass, also known as "The Senator", is an American recording engineer and record producer. His career has spanned more than four decades. Career In the early 1970s at Atlantic Records studios in New York City, he started his studio ...

, Guru, Mike "Hitman" Wilson * Assistant engineers – Marc Stephen Lee, Steve Penny, David Snyder, Cory Williams * Mixing – Jimmy Douglass, Timbaland * Mixing assistance – Steamy * Mastering – Herb Powers *

Design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

and

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

– Anita Marisa Boriboon, Lili Picou * Photography – Roberto Fantauzzi

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2002 albums Missy Elliott albums Albums produced by Craig Brockman Albums produced by Missy Elliott Albums produced by Timbaland Elektra Records albums