Missy Elliott deserves more acclaim than she gets, in my opinion. The woman is everywhere and has brought a sense of fun to rap. I think she and Busta Rhymes are the only legitimate "fun" rappers out there anymore with any sense of history for the genre and its roots.
Her debut album was pretty fresh/innovative, but I'd say she has sort of followed that same pattern since then (notice every lead single is sort of the same, even if there are a few diferences). Despite that, I still shake my butt and sing along to most of her songs.
She's the bjork of rap music. She never settles to sound like everybody else, and she is a couple of years ahead of the mainstream curve in terms of production and songcraft. If you don't like rap you won't like her and that's probablly your problem.
