"9th Inning"/"Triple Threat" Missy Elliott ft. Timbaland

In the seven years since Missy Elliott last dropped a new album, the music industry has seen radical shifts in its economic and artistic landscape. So when Elliott announced over Labor Day weekend that she was finally debuting two new singles from her seventh studio effort, Block Party, it was a moment of both excitement and apprehension for fans: Would Missy deliver the goods? Was there even still a place for her in the current rap game? On "9th Inning," Elliott (with assistance from longtime collaborator Timbaland) laughs off such questions, plotting her imminent return to the top of the charts over a racing piano arpeggio. She goes even further on "Triple Threat"—the superior track for its skittering, spacey, classically Timbo production—promising to "slap whoever said I'm irrelevant." Whether audiences are equally ready to re-embrace Elliott as rap's premier female emcee is to be seen; neither "Inning" nor "Threat" is as mind-bendingly catchy as her signature hits. But both have an authentic hip-hop vision that should leave Nicki Minaj quaking slightly in her stilettos—and hopefully stepping up her game. "9th Inning": B/"Triple Threat": A-