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Method Man

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This article is about Method Man. For other uses, see Method Man (disambiguation).
Method Man

Method Man (born Clifford Smith, April 1, 1971 in New York City) is a Grammy-winning American rapper, record producer, actor, and member of the hip hop collective, Wu-Tang Clan. He has appeared in films and TV shows such as CSI, How High, The Wire, Garden State, and Soul Plane, among others. He took his stage name from the 1979 film The Fearless Young Boxer, also known as Method Man. His name also refers to the slang "method", meaning marijuana in his native Staten Island.

Early life

Method Man was raised in Staten Island, New York. In an apparent precursor to his career in hip hop, he was introduced both to playing drums and to poetry by his father. Fans of Method Man often refer to him by the shorthand nickname "Meth"; the man himself has self-applied a variety of nicknames, the most common being variations of "Johnny Blaze."

Not only was Meth interested in music, he was also fascinated by comic books and particularly Ghost Rider, a fascination which manifested itself years later in several of his many rap aliases.

His pre-hip hop life was mostly split between drug dealing and low-paid jobs (including a stint working at the Statue Of Liberty, along with future Wu-Tang colleague U-God). He has often spoken out against the ways of his past and regrets having gotten involved in the world of dealing drugs.

He and eight friends formed the Wu-Tang Clan in the early 1990s.

Music career

File:Method man logo.jpg
The Method Man logo designed by Mathematics

Tical/36 Chambers

As Wu-Tang Clan ascended to hip hop stardom, Method Man was always one of the most visible members of the collective. He was one of only two members (the other being GZA/Genius' performance on Clan in Da Front) to get a solo song on the group's debut album Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers and he was the first to release a solo album under the Clan's unusual contract which allowed its members to release albums under any record label (Method chose to sign with legendary rap label Def Jam). Method Man's solo debut, Tical (1994) was critically acclaimed and extremely popular, entering the American charts at #4 and eventually selling in excess of one million copies. He soon collaborated with Mary J. Blige and Redman for a series of hit singles, one of which (the Blige duet "I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need") won a Grammy. He also appears on 2Pac´s album All Eyez On Me, on the song `I Got My Mind Made Up` and 'The What' on the Notorious B.I.G.'s album Ready to Die.

File:Wtforever.jpg
Cover of Wu-Tang Clan's 8x Platinum 1997 album, Wu-Tang Forever

Tical 2000/Wu Tang Forever

On June 3, 1997 the Wu Tang Clan released their Grammy-nominated multiplatinum double CD Wu-Tang Forever, the long-awaited follow up to 36 Chambers. The chart-topping phenomenon made CNN for the massive sales the group achieved without the mainstream or pop sound and appeal. The hip hop album has sold over 8.3 million copies to date worldwide.

His second solo album was Tical 2000: Judgement Day (1998), which was heavily influenced by the apocalypse theories surrounding the forthcoming end of the millennium, and which featured myriad guest appearances, from his fellow Clansmen to Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, D'Angelo, Chris Rock, Mobb Deep, Redman, and brief cameos from Russell Simmons, Janet Jackson, and even Donald Trump. The album sold even better than his first fueled by the party track Judgment Day and the D'Angelo collaborration Break Ups 2 Make Ups, earning Platinum and Gold certifications in the U.S. and Canada respectively. Reviews for the album were mixed and its long runtime and abundance of intermittent comedy skits were widely criticized.

Blackout!

Method Man was part of the hugely successful Hard Knock Life Tour with Jay-Z, Redman, and DMX. During this tour, Method Man & Redman recorded Blackout!, a light-hearted, bass-heavy, profanity-laced, party record with an EPMD-evoking emphasis on funky beats and the mischievous wit and cool flows of the two MCs. The album reached platinum status quickly, both in the U.S. and Canada, feuled by the hit party singles Da Rockwilder, Tear It Off and Y.O.U.

Their success would lead the duo on to star in movies and TV shows, become product spokespersons and household names, but also associated them with drug abuse in the media.

Tical 0/The W/Iron Flag

File:Tical0.jpg
Method Man's 2004 album, Tical 0: The Prequel

The Wu Tang Clan released The W on November 21, 2000 and Iron Flag on December 18, 2001. The W received both critical and commercial success for the group, while Iron Flag did receive some but not to the effect of The W. The efforts scooped up a couple more platinum plaques for the Wu Tang empire.

In 2004, Meth released his third solo album Tical 0: The Prequel, fueled by the hit party single "What's Happenin" with Busta Rhymes, but was poorly received both by critics and fans. It only had one charting single("What's Happenin'") with two singles that didn't get any push from Def Jam in "The Show" and "Rodeo". Despite this the album sold reasonably well. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA relatively quickly, but would not see the platinum success of his previous solo releases. There was trouble even before the album's release when Method apparently complained to the press about excessive interference from Def Jam over the album's beats (Meth supposedly desired more input from Wu-Tang leader RZA). On its release, many fans and critics were taken aback by its strong "mainstream" or "commercial" sound, highlighted by the guest appearances of pop-rap stars like Missy Elliot and P. Diddy.

Diddy was one of the executive producers for the album, although Meth later voiced his displeasure with the final product. "On the third LP, it was suggested to bring in Harve Pierre and P Diddy. Who am I to argue? Puff knows how to sell some records. But that wasn't the direction to go in, and I know that now."[1]

4:21/8 Diagrams

Method Man's fourth album, entitled 4:21: The Day After was released in August 2006 With guest appearances from the likes of Ginuwine, Ol' Dirty Bastard, RZA, Redman,Fat Joe, Megan Rochell, Raekwon, Lauryn Hill, and much more, with a star lineup of producers, Havoc, Erick Sermon, Scott Storch, Allah Mathematics, Mr. Porter, and RZA. This time around, a more focused Method Man went back to his hip-hop roots and both hip hop fans fans and the media took notice.[7] Despite this being one of Meth's strongest solo efforts to date, the album failed to do well commercially (although certified gold) due to it having no single or video, which Method Man has held discontent towards his own label for. However he has been touring strongly all over the world to promote the album, and has appeared onstage with fellow Wu-Tang member Inspectah Deck, as well as New York up and comers Saigon, and Gat Murdah. Meth contributed various reasons for the problems between him and his label, Def Jam. While he does take some of the blame himself, he puts most of it on personal agendas in the Def Jam offices.

In early 2007 Method Man confirmed that he has been in the studio with Rza working on the Clan's upcoming Summer 2007 release, 8 Diagrams.

In early May of 2007 Method Man's camp leaked the street single New York New York which became a popular track on the internet.[8]

Beef

File:MethodManSubway.jpg
Method Man

Wu-Tang Management

In 2003, Method Man criticized Oli "Power" Grant and Mitchell "Divine" Diggs, the managers of the Wu Tang empire.[2] "Number 1 on my shit list right now is Divine from Wu-Tang management. He took something major from me that he had no intention of giving back."[3] Divine is multiplatinum record producer Rza's brother who along with Oli "Power" Grant took over the business end of Wu Tang around 1997.

Aside from the financial issues, Method Man was also unhappy with the decision to bring Wu Tang into the fashion world for a brief period of time with Wu Wear, despite the brand being a major money-maker for the group. "When Wu-Wear started making shoes and sneakers and pants, it was shoddy material. I never rocked that shit."[4]

Wendy Williams

In 2006 Method Man had a highly personal and highly publicized conflict with New York radio host Wendy Williams on The Breakdown, an internet show on www.itshiphop.tv, an internet show. Williams talked about Method Man's wife having cancer on air, which was something he had wanted to keep private and even her own family members had not yet known about. He said that people who lived next door to him didn't even know, but Williams dug it up made it public over the radio.[5]

Dipping even lower, Williams reported rumors that Method Man had even been having an affair with his wife's doctor. "She said me and [the doctor] was fucking. What kind of shit is that, man? You don't do that to nobody." Method Man first heard of this when he while recording some tracks in Los Angeles, "I was ready. I was so mad, I was crying right there and I'm like I'm gonna kill some f**king body but my [Wu Tang] friends kept me in L.A."[6]

Acting career

In the Early 2000s Method Man began a successful career in acting.

Television

Method Man has had recurring roles in critically acclaimed television shows such as HBO's The Wire in which he plays the character Cheese, HBO's Oz, The Twilight Zone, and CSI. He hosted a series on MTV for a breif peroid called Stung and has made numerous appearances as himself on TV shows such as Mind Of Mencia, Chappelle's Show, and others.

He also co-starred with Redman in his own Fox sitcom called Method & Red in late 2004, however after only a short time on the air the show was put on hiatus and never returned. Method Man later complained in the press about Fox's influence on the show's style, claiming that "there's been too much compromise on our side and not enough on their side" and bemoaning the network's decision to add a laugh track. Before the show even aired for the first time, he was telling fans not to bother watching it.

Meth plays the recurring character Drops on CSI, a wealthy Las Vegas party promoter who clashes with the CSI team in their investigations involving his clubs or entourage. His first appearance on CSI as Drops was in the 2006 episode "Poppin' Tags", he resumed the role in the 2007 episode "Big Shots".

Movies

His first prominent role came in 1998 with the film Belly along with fellow rappers Nas and DMX. He has since added many credits to his name, including roles in the films Garden State, One Eight Seven, and many others, with starring roles in the feature films such as How High and Soul Plane.

On March 27, 2007 Redman confirmed on BET Rapcity that the sequel to How High is currently being written. The script for How High 2 is being written by Dustin Lee Abraham of CSI fame, who also wrote the first movie.

Other

He made a guest appearance in the music video for the 2003 "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys, where he played the role of her boyfriend. Beanie Sigel also called upon Method Man's acting skills for his 2005 video "Feel It In The Air", where Method Man played an undercover cop leading an operation against Sigel.

Method Man has fallen back from pursuing more acting roles after the situation with his sitcom on Fox left a bad taste in his mouth,[7] and now mostly just acts if the project is being handled by a friend of his, as was the case with CSI and The Wire.

Trivia

  • Meth's wedding was the most expensive thing he ever paid for.
  • Method Man was the only other rapper featured on the Notorious B.I.G.'s debut album Ready to Die.
  • He is a fan of online multiplayer PS2 and XBox 360 video games. He is a member of a clan in SOCOM, and a fellow player is featured on his album 4:21.
  • He has over 15,000 comic books in a warehouse, all bagged individually.
  • He hasn't talked to his father since 1994.
  • He has two sisters, Terri and Missy, as well as two children - a son (b. 1997) and a daughter (b. 1998).
  • Method Man has been featured in videogames such as Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style, Def Jam Vendetta, Def Jam: Fight for NY and Def Jam: Icon
  • Method Man is left handed.

Studio albums

Main article: Method Man Discography

Awards

Music videos

Main article: Method Man videography

Filmography

Main article: Method Man Filmography

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ [3]
  4. ^ [4]
  5. ^ YouTube clip: "Method Man disrespecting Wendy Williams"
  6. ^ [5]
  7. ^ [6]

See also

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