Tical (album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 98.14.125.206 (talk) at 00:30, 23 October 2011. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Not to be confused with TiHKAL.
Untitled

Tical is the debut solo album of American rapper, and Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man, released November 15, 1994, on Def Jam Records. It was the first Wu-Tang solo album released after the group's debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Similar to all first generation solo Wu-Tang projects, Tical was mainly produced by group member RZA, who provided a dark, murky and rugged sound. The album features guest appearances from RZA, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, as well as several affiliates who would later appear on future group projects. The album's title "Tical" is a slang term for a blunt that has been laced with an adulterant, typically a sweetener or another psychoactive substance. The album title is also a play on the word "methodical".

Tical was a commercial success, reaching number four on the Billboard 200, and number one on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. On January 18, 1995, the album was certified gold in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and on July 13, 1995, it was certified platinum after sales of one million copies.[1] This success was driven by its two singles, "Bring the Pain" and "Release Yo' Delf". The album has since been hailed by several music critics as a classic hip hop album. Its success is matched by its influence as a major piece in the East coast hip hop renaissance.

Background

In 1991, rapper GZA assisted Method Man in shopping him to label executives at Cold Chillin' Records.[2] Though this would turn out to be unsuccessful, he formed the Wu-Tang Clan with his cousins RZA and Ol' Dirty Bastard, and Method Man was included in the group. Method Man went on to perform on eight of the twelve tracks on the group's acclaimed 1993 debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), and even had a solo song entitled "Method Man". That song as well as "C.R.E.A.M.", on which he performed the chorus line, reached #69 and #60 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100.[3] These two songs had higher chart positions than any other tracks on the album, and thus caused much anticipation for Method Man's solo career. At the time of Wu-Tang Clan's debut album, Method Man's rhymes, charisma, and smooth, deep voice made him the group's most visible, popular member.[2]

With the exception of "Sub Crazy" and "P.L.O. Style", which were co-produced by 4th Disciple and Method Man respectively, group member RZA produced Tical in its entirety - leading Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic to refer to the album as "a two-man show".[4] As with the rest of the first round of Wu-Tang albums, RZA would recreate the distinct "Shaolin" sound while tailoring it to the featured rapper. On Tical, his production was especially gritty, dark and murky, complementing both Method Man's distinctly smooth-yet-rugged voice and his raps of cannabis smoking, project love, and traditional hardcore hip hop lyricism. In these early days of the Wu-Tang Clan, RZA was the sole provider of beats for all of its members, whom he would then have battle over the rights to record over them. This competitive approach to quality control would result in Tical's "Meth vs. Chef", a recorded battle between Method Man and Raekwon.[2] "Meth vs. Chef" was recorded in 1993 before RZA's 36 Chambers Studios was flooded, destroying reportedly fifteen beats per Wu-Tang Clan rapper.[2] Many of the beats for Tical would be hastily recreated, and mixed.[2]

Singles

In 1994 the lead single "Bring the Pain" (backed with "P.L.O. Style") was released. "Bring the Pain" was a RZA-produced track with an understated but funky groove, capped with the ragga vocals of Booster. The single would reach number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 1 on the Hot Dance chart. The follow-up single, 1995's "Release Yo' Delf", was a more upbeat track, and featured Wu-affiliate Blue Raspberry singing an interpolation of Gloria Gaynor's disco anthem, "I Will Survive". "Release Yo' Delf" reached number 98 on the Hot 100, failing to match the success of "Bring The Pain". Tical however, remains the only Method Man album with two singles reaching the Billboard Hot 100.

To continue the album's promotion, "All I Need" was remixed and released in the summer of 1995 as "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By", which features Mary J. Blige. There are two versions of this duet: one remixed by Puff Daddy, and one remixed by the RZA. RZA's version proved to be more successful, with its accompanying music video aiding the song to reach number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number one on the Hot Rap, Dance and R&B charts.[5] The RZA remix also won the two a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1996.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[6]
Robert Christgau(1-star Honorable Mention)[7]
Entertainment Weekly(B)[8]
Melody Maker[9]
NME(8/10)[9]
Rhapsody(favorable)[10]
Rolling Stone(favorable)[9]
The Source[9]
Vibe(favorable)[11]
  • Rolling Stone (12/29/94-1/12/95, pp. 178–80) - "He's...capable...of something resembling a love song....But it is with its heaviest numbers...that Tical delivers the primo goods."
  • Entertainment Weekly (12/9/94, p. 76) - "...one of rap's most formidable players....Method Man's gripping rhymes creep out of the darkness and take listeners hostage."
  • Q magazine (2/96, p. 65) - Included in Q's 50 Best Albums of 1995 - "...every second [is] worth paying attention to."
  • Included in Q Magazine's 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time.[12]
  • The Wire (10/01, p. 46) - "Compact but fried....There's a reason Meth is the closest The Wu have to a star."
  • Vibe (11/94, pp. 125–126) - "Method is the man who would be king....Method takes the listener on a brilliant journey through the broken boulevards of existence."
  • The Source (1/95, p. 85) "His hoarse voice and sense of what's metaphorically fly have seen him take over as hip-hop's urban paramilitary....He shows a fragmented hip-hop nation what this music is really about."
  • Melody Maker (5/23/00, p. 56) - "Meth comes correct with this beamed-down-from-Planet-Mars stuff, making music that's way darker and more disorienting than was previously thought possible. 'Bring The Pain' is 'still' the bomb."
  • NME (12/23-30/95, pp. 22–23) - Ranked #40 in NME's `Top 50 Albums Of The Year' for 1995 -
  • NME (1/28/95, p.47) - "The East Coast hip-hop renaissance continues apace...supremely laid-back, mooching along at a bass-weighted amble whether it's framing the monogamous lover's lament of `All I Need'...or the `I Will Survive' hook of `Release Yo' Delf'."

Track listing

# Title Producer(s) Samples Length
1 "Tical" RZA 3:56
2 "Biscuits" RZA 2:49
3 "Bring the Pain" (feat. Booster) RZA 3:09
4 "All I Need" (feat. Streetlife) RZA 3:16
5 "What the Blood Clot" RZA 3:24
6 "Meth vs. Chef" (feat. Raekwon) RZA
  • "Papa Was Too (Live)" by Joe Tex
  • Dialogue from the film Master Killer
 3:36
7 "Sub Crazy" RZA, 4th Disciple (co) 2:15
8 "Release Yo' Delf" (feat. Blue Raspberry) RZA 4:15
9 "P.L.O. Style" (feat. Carlton Fisk) RZA, Method Man (co) 2:36
10 "I Get My Thang in Action" RZA 3:45
11 "Mr. Sandman" (feat. RZA, Inspectah Deck,
Streetlife, Carlton Fisk & Blue Raspberry) 		RZA 3:37
12 "Stimulation" (feat. Blue Raspberry) RZA
  • "Snowbound" by Sarah Vaughan
 3:46
13 "Method Man (Remix)" RZA 3:16
*14 "All I Need" (Remix) (feat. Mary J. Blige) RZA 5:07

An asterisk (*) indicates bonus material included on later European pressings

Personnel

Chart positions

Albums

Album chart positions are taken from Billboard magazine (North America).[13]

Year Album Chart positions
Billboard 200 Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums
1994 Tical #4 #1

Singles

Singles chart positions are taken from Billboard magazine (North America).[5]

Year Song Chart positions
Billboard Hot 100 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks Hot Rap Singles Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales
1994 "Bring the Pain" #45 #30 #4 #1
1995 "Release Yo' Delf" #98 — #28 #6
1995 "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" #3 #1 #1 #1

Accolades

  • The information regarding accolades is adapted from acclaimedmusic.net,[14]except for lists with additional sources.
  • (*) signifies unordered lists
Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Ego Trip United States Hip Hop's 25 Greatest Albums by Year 1980-98 1999 12
Muzik United Kingdom Albums of the Year 1994 11
NME Albums of the Year 1994 40
Pop Sweden Albums of the Year 1994 3
Q United Kingdom Albums of the Year 1994 *
50 Heaviest Albums of All Time[9] 2001 *
Robert Dimery United States 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005 *
Rock de Lux Spain Albums of the Year 1994 29
Select United Kingdom The 100 Best Albums of the 90s 1996 28
Albums of the Year 1994 18
Tom Moon United States 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die 2008 *

See also

References

  1. ^ "RIAA Searchable Database". Retrieved November 15, 2006.
  2. ^ a b c d e Cowie, Del F. "Days Of The Wu". Retrieved November 15, 2006.
  3. ^ "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) Billboard Singles at AllMusic.com". Retrieved November 15, 2006.
  4. ^ Birchmeier, Jason. "Tical at AllMusic.com". Retrieved November 18, 2006.
  5. ^ a b "Method Man Billboard Singles at AllMusic.com". Retrieved November 18, 2006.
  6. ^ Birchmeier, Jason. Review: Tical. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2010-02-24.
  7. ^ Christgau, Robert. Review: Tical. Robert Christgau. Retrieved on 2010-02-24.
  8. ^ Hopkins, Tracy. Review: Tical. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2010-02-24.
  9. ^ a b c d e columnist. Review snipets: Tical. mymusic.com. Retrieved on 2010-08-17.
  10. ^ Winning, Brolin. Review: Tical. Rhapsody. Retrieved on 2010-02-24.
  11. ^ Gonzales, Michael. Review: Tical. Vibe. Retrieved on 2010-02-24.
  12. ^ "Q Magazine's 50 Heaviest Albums". Retrieved February 14, 2008.
  13. ^ "Method Man Billboard Albums at AllMusic.com". Retrieved November 18, 2006.
  14. ^ Tical Album Accolades. acclaimedmusic.net. Retrieved 2010-08-17.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tical_(album)&oldid=456910185"