Method Man

The varied spectrum of rap music personalities includes few true superstars- individuals whose credentials encompass the grittiest street reverence as well as the jiggiest pop-life glamour. A charter member of hip hop’s most celebrated and influential modern group, The Wu-Tang Clan, and an award-winning solo artist and budding cinematic thespian, the gravelly-voiced rhyme-ologist known as Method Man is a genuine rap icon whose career trajectory is, remarkably enough, still climbing. With the release of his highly anticipated second album for Def Jam Records, Tical 2000: Judgement Day, the dynamism of Meth’s music reaches yet another plateau.

While hip hop history has proven that many artists lose their street edge and hunger by their second efforts, Meth proves the antithesis of such complacency, stacking his sequel’s deck with some of the rawest and most exciting music of his career. Highlighted by jagged guitars and a vocal assist from Wu compatriot Street Life, “Dangerous Grounds” announces Meth’s grassroots steez as he rhymes, “Everybody can’t afford ice in the struggle/ Tryin’ to eat right, another day another hustle.” Over an eerie, Middle Eastern-style Tru Master track, “Torture” explicitly addresses the trend-happy rhyme biters who’ve greedily ravaged Meth’s witty unpredictable slang over the past few years: “Who got John Blaze ****?/ Suckin’ my **** to get famous/ So I switched Blaze to Dangerous.” “Basically everybody’s screamin’ this John Blaze-shit since I’ve been gone and I’m real pissed off about it,” an agitated Meth (a/k/a Tical, a/k/a Hot Nikkels, a/k/a Johnny Dangerous) explains of the liberties other have taken with his comic book-inspired Johnny Blaze persona. “For one, I started it and mad niggas is using it and they ain’t payin’ homage. And nobody woulda even thought of the shit if I hadn’t said it first. With a re-invention of an age old nursery rhyme and a stirring cameo from TLC’s Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, “Cradle Rock’s” chorus sends another direct message to such fake emcees/”Rock a bye baby from the rooftop/ When the guns blow, your cradle get rocked/ When the earth quake and the sky start to fall/ Down will come emcees, fake shit and all.”

It’s a sentiment brilliantly echoed by “Killin’ Fields”- a pounding mix of clavinet keyboards, heavenly strings and cymbal rolls topped off by one of Meth’s finest performances yet: “Who the number one rap host?/ Verbal overdose leave ’em comatose/ The nigga with the golden throat is out to get you/ Hot Nikkel bust back and take ’em with you/ Eye for eye/ Never lie/ Crossin’ my heart and hopin’ you die/ Somebody pat the engineer down/ I think he wired.” “If you jumping in these battle grounds, you better be prepared, nigga.” warns Meth. “So it’s like, man, welcome to the killing fields with Johnny Dangerous. Cuz if you steppin up in this motherfucker, that’s where it gets real bad for a cat messin’ with me. You better know how you comin’. We all in the ring together so there’s no disguises now. You can’t disguise your love for me or your hate for me.” Elsewhere, Meth calls on some old friends and associates to keep Tical 2000’s action scenes coming. Def Squad star general Redman reunites with his hemp-loving pal over a typically funkdafies Erick Sermon production on “Big Dogs” while “Playin’ For Keeps” has Meth trading venomous verses with Wu’s Inspectah Deck and Street as well as Mobb Deep’s Prodigy and Havoc, producer the track. And, or course, what would a Wu-Tang project be without an outstanding Clan rally? On “Spazzola,” heavy hitters Deck, Raekwon and Masta Killa engage in verbal batting practice with Meth over a sizzling RZA-produced piano track.

Tical 2000 might not seem complete to all fans without a track somewhat reminiscent of 1994’s anthem with Mary J. Blige, Meth’s grammy-award winning “I’ll Be There For You (You’re All I Need).” Method once again successfully addresses the interworkings of the dealings between men and women on “Make-up to Break-up,” a melodic Sting-sampled track that features R&B crooner D’Angelo. However, what may be Judgement Day’s most intense moment arrives in the form of the title track, a high speed lyrical chase that Meth describes as a “countdown to millennium.” With Star Trek-computer blips, dramatic synth lines and Afrika Bambaataa-style wails all infecting the track, “Judgement Day” serves as both battle cry for a generation entering the year 2000 and space age dance floor anthem on par with past classics like “Bring The Pain.” “I don’t feel like no Method album would be complete without a ‘Release Yo Delf’ type of 112 bpm song on there,” Meth states proudly. “And this is like that, it just moves.”

Rapid ascension is something Method Man has known since the outset of his career. From the moment he was introduced to national rap audiences in 1993 on the Wu-Tang solo spotlight single, “M.E.T.H.O.D. Man,” the Stapleton Projects, Staten Island native has commanded instant attention through his lyrical wit and effortless vocal cadence. “One who possesses different methods and techniques to his style,” is the popular definition assigned to his moniker. And it wasn’t long after assisting the Wu’s classic madden voyage, Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers, to the land of platinum-plaques that Meth would display the full extent to which his name reflected his talents.

Signing with Def Jam in 1993, Method Man would release his solo debut, Tical, the following year. A ground breaking synthesis of the electric and eclectic sides to the self-proclaimed “Ticallian Stallion,” the album spawned such hits as the ominous and propulsive “Bring The Pain,” the anthemic, Rocky-esque “Release Yo Delf” and the platinum-selling, Grammy Award-winning smash “You’re All I Need,” featuring Mary J. Blige and remixed by Bad Boy Entertainment impresario Sean “Puffy” Combs. Subsequent dynamic appearances on the Notorious B.I.G.’s “The What,” Method’s duet with Redman, “How High,” Foxy Brown’s “Ill NaNa” and the further audio exploits of his Wu brethren only confirmed what Tical’s million-units sold had already indicated: Meth had fast become on of the single most significant voices in hip hop. But, as Mr. Meth is quick to point out, under no circumstances has such recognition from fans and the music industry establishment ever swayed his original commitment his own raw and uncut style of music. “Somebody did an article on me recently and they had me saying that I messed up for gettin’ a Grammy,” Meth recalls with frustration. “I didn’t say that, he misquoted me. I said that the Grammy voters are the ones who messed up. What they did by giving me the award was show people that we can say what we wanna say and still get a Grammy- without compromising anything, without having to make a song for the radio. My song was not made for the radio and there wasn’t no watered down lyrics in that song. It was just one man talking to his woman. No holds barred.”

After displaying his magnetic visual presence in a slew of his own videos- and unforgettable guest roles in Redman’s Blues Brothers-inspired “Whateva Man” and Eryka Badu’s heartstring-tugging love triangle “Next Lifetime”- the next logical step was translating Meth’s charisma to the big screen. While his first cinematic appearance- with the Wu on tour- came in the Russell Simmons rap documentary The Show, Meth made his first theatrical forays with charged performances in The Great White Hype and Copland. This winter, he further enhances his acting resume with an unforgettable part opposite labelmate DMX in acclaimed video director Hype Williams’ feature film debut, Belly. “I’m definitely trying to be serious about acting and bring something to the roles I play, not the roles bringing the same old thing to me,” he explains. “Right now, they’re giving me roles that they know I can play- stereotypical gangster shit. Don’t get me wrong, I will play it. But I try to do it where I can bring something new to it.” “I am a charismatic brother,” he admits of his affinity for performing. “I got a flair that a lot of people don’t have. You’re either born with it or you just don’t get it at all. And I feel like I was born with it so I use it to the best of my advantage. I’ve always been outspoken- a bigmouth. Not exactly the center of attention, but enough to hold it down. So I feel like there ain’t shit that I can’t do. Plus, I love it when somebody tests my intelligence. I feel like a daredevil.” Wu-Tang flagship member, solo-ist, actor and hip hop daredevil, Method Man’s superhero identity might be realer than you think. But just when you thought Meth was larger than life, a open display of humility surfaces.

“It’s like the Beverly Hillbillies,” he compares with a sneaky sense of humor. “They blew up but are still real. Same with me. I’m way more intelligent than I was four or five years ago but I know where my roots is at. I know where my style came from and why people accepted it. And like a starving artist would, I know I always gotta come with the best.” He has. Look up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane. Nah, it’s Methical and ain’t a damn thing changed.