Upon Method Man’s arrival to the rap game in 1993, his trajectory was limitless.
While all of his Wu-Tang Clan brothers would go on to expand on their celebrity, visibility and interactions with the media, Method Man was a bona fide star from the start; instantly recognizable for his cloudy contacts, razor-sharp gold grills and the lone feature for Biggie’s Ready To Die. He was the unambiguous face of Wu-Tang Clan — whenever he wanted to be.
Method Man also hails from an era where your rapper ranking was not only defined by the skills you display in the songs but also as a definitive body of work. It’s been almost customary for fans (of that era) to generally associate the artist’s first project as their best one. Most classic debuts typically arrived when the artist’s mystique and buzz were colliding at warp speed, so it’s not necessarily a wild assumption.
1994’s Tical is no exception. Having its birth date wedged between the release of the Clan’s big bang beginning of Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers and Hip Hop’s gangsta noir standard Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… had its benefits (as did the classic Mary J. Blige-featured “All I Know (Remix)” association with the album).
It was the first Wu-Tang Clan solo album post the iconic group album and yes, it went platinum in a time where real people had to pay real money for a real object containing the music. But the best?
TICAL: Method Man's Catchphrase Is Now A Revolutionary Cannabis Brand
One can climb down any Wu-Tang Clan internet rabbit hole and find Tical being propped up against any of rap’s elite albums but perhaps the Method Man’s own historical critique of the project is its most honest one.
Although the damage could have been much worse for the Clan’s legacy in retrospect, the much-talked-about 36 Chambers Studios flood ruined a lot of recordings — with Method Man’s first cracks at classic album greatness taking the most casualties. The gritty, yet unremarkable aura of records such as “Sub Crazy” and “Stimulation” was felt in real-time.
“It was a lot of turmoil and stuff going on,” Method Man recalled to the current Hot 97 morning crew in 2015. “I had to record on the fly. We was on our first road trip to L.A. and a lot of the music got lost in the flood. And [RZA] had to redo a lot of stuff and some of the beats didn’t make it … it was a cluster fuck! I was in the studio literally with mice … mice running around certain studios and the pop filter had a woman’s stocking on it.”
In the same interview, Meth also revealed Raekwon and RZA had a two-week cool-out period in the Bahamas before recording Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… — and we know how that turned out.
In spite of the era Tical was pumped and promoted in, fans should hone in on a more unlikely period where Method Man was at his strongest album-wise: the ringtone era.
Method Man & Redman Bring DMX, Phife Dawg & Black Rob Tributes To Verzuz
Circa 2006, Method Man and his generation’s brand of cognitive gems weren’t getting the audience recognition as much of the more simpler rhyming, party-oriented Hip Hop that was popping out from previously untapped markets nationwide. It was in this moment of overshadowing where he created his most focused effort, 4:21 … The Day After.
Living up to its title as to envision a clean mental slate after the 420 national smoker holiday’s sun has set, Meth, who has made a Hall-of-Fame-level career from pristine tangential rhyming uplifted by Mary Jane, gravitated towards concrete subject matter for the bulk of the album. Helmed by chunks of RZA and Erick Sermon production (with sprinklings of Kwamé), the already veteran lyricist tamed his flow and delivery into digestible cadences on bangers like “Is It Me” and “Somebody Done Fucked Up,” leaning into the debates regarding the strength of his solo songwriting over the years.
The notoriously stoic figure also opened up on some of his personal thoughts and personality in the process. “If I can’t get it off, see my attitude is ‘MSG’/Fuck it, I’m salty, the game been loss me/Pay ya dues, it cost me, who acting like I’m past my prime?” he angrily growls on the bouncy “Konichiwa Bitches,” as he refused to be labeled washed up in the dawn of the digital era. Album anchor “Forever” sent public love notes to his usually private marriage while the intro’s onset chanting of “Make marijuana legal!” has proved to be a prophetic moment on its crystal anniversary year.
On Wednesday (March 31), New York Governor Cuomo wrote the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act into law, freely wrongfully convicted individuals with expunged records, create an estimated 60,000 jobs in the process and allow Method Man music to be enjoyed with the appropriate accessories without any hassle.
But it was the Lauryn Hill-sampling “Say” single where Method Man addressed his issues with the Hip Hop culture and music industry blurring the lines of quality and marketability.
“Even labels turning they backs and started backin’ lames/Radio is the same, whole lotta speculatin’” — “Say”
With no music video to back the song (or any 4:21 video to boot), the album would be quietly Method Man’s last on a major label. His subsequent self-released Meth Lab series both quelled core fans’ interest and allowed him to bask his particular brand of emceeing, but they didn’t match the dynamic presence of the artist who created them.
In a 2018 interview with HipHopDX, Method Man didn’t deny he wasn’t a happy camper at Def Jam, the label that had put out all his projects to the point and took responsibility for 4:21’s tree-in-the-forest no one gave a fack about feel.
“I burned a lot of fucking bridges at Def Jam,” Method Man admitted to DX at the time. “I had a lot of love for the company ’cause I came in when I was young. I had been there for so many fucking years, so when staff changed and people changed and things started to change, I didn’t know how to handle the shit.
“This was before JAY-Z even got there. It was a shift and I didn’t know how to handle the shit. I should’ve stayed true to myself and been myself, but I didn’t and I was rotten to a lot of people up at Def Jam. There were some people up there deserved the shit. But I was rotten to a lot of people who did not fucking deserve it and I apologized for that shit, big time.”
While seasons, feelings and label jobs change, the music is forever.
Relive 4:21 … The Day After below a.k.a. Method Man’s best album.
slept on classic for sure
No the Fuck it isnt!!!!
No it’s not you dumb contrarian. Stop posting random stupidity.
My favourite is t2000: Judgement Day. Method Man legendary cool dude. I remember having to choose between t2000 and Ice Cube’s war and peace vol.1 and I picked Ice Cube cd cause it had this 3D cover. I couldn’t afford another disc so I had to wait a few months for a t2000 purchase but when I finally did, (got the tape) it didn’t leave my walkman for a long time. So many great songs. The beats, the beats? The beats! Sweet Love
Tical was way better….
Yeah, no. Tical 2000 is his best.
Correct, Tical 2000 is his best
For me as well Tical 2000 is the best, but I am aware it’s partly because it’s my first CD i have bought. Have it to these days 🙂
Such an underrated album … it has more replay value
i remember trashing this album i will revisit it and c if i was mistaken. but i dont think i was wrong.
DOPE ALBUM. ITS HARD TO COMPARE THESE ALBUMS BC THEY ARE FROM DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT ERAS. TICAL HAS MORE CLASSIC MATERIAL AND HIP HOP MOMENTS, BUT 421 WAS MEF’S MOST FOCUSED ALBUM. THIS CAN GO EITHER WAY FOR ME.
Meth dropped so off from the planet! Dude was the hottest rapper out there for about 1 year! His rap career went down the toilet when he linked up with Red Man, that clown ass rapping and weed stuff. Method Man rap career went into a spiral. All that sweatbands and rags around his head and clothes. Different color boots and shoes!!! Clothes half off his ass! Red man killed Method Man rap career! Fans started not to take as a serious MC anymore! Rap career is done!!! Now he is on TV with his clothes always off butt naked! Such a clown! Done! Stick a fork in him!
Stfu u don’t know what u talkin about. The industry started backing lames, and hooking up with red elevated both their careers stupid.
He is right. “The industry started backing lames” lol that’s Method Man
Those are 100 percent facts! Do you ever hear anyone talks about Method Man and his raps? No one even put him in a top 20 list and Method was a lyrical powerhouse. As soon as he started messing with Red Man done deal. We still love Ghost and Raekwon. Those dudes are always mentioned with all seriousness!!! They are still great rappers. And…1Method man had more commercial hits! Again, Method Man was one of the best but he became a clown once hooked up with Redman! Redman is a total joke! A fun dude to be around but that is about it!!! He is a clown! No one talks about Redman’s raps but Eminem! Go figure!!! A pop rapper!!!
Your nuts dude , IDK where you live , but hott nickels is still prominent out here and I’m in jersey , without meth wu wasn’t wu are you crazy , and him and red are one of the best duo’s to ever hit the rap game , you must be lil pump fan or yatti fan
Method Man is a 50cent clown now! No one takes him seriously as a rapper anymore. Even that rap versus shit was weak! Sad!!! Meth was so good! Damn, he fell off as an MC!
Nope…Tical is absolutely Meth’s best album.
I always thought 4:21 was his best album too. I think alot of people are just stuck off nostalgia. So much variety on the day after
Thats not saying much. Meth really hasnt delivered a great album like Rae, Ghost, or Gza
Meth’s best album was “Blackout”. End of story…
Judgement Day waayy better than 421. But Tical is his best album. Any solo member album rza produced album was their best.
There’s so many things wrong with this piece. Trying to understand how an album dropped at a specific point in time is useless. Your “era” just can’t get it.
Tical 2000 Judgement Day is his best and it’s not even close. Tical is good too though. I never enjoyed 4:21 that much.
We can tell who listens to Lil Twatty in the comments
Meth is a beast of an MC, bt his solo musical career is defntly underwhelming.. loved hw raw Tical was bt it defntly cant b considered a classic..
When did “All I Know” come out I ain’t heard that one lmmfao
You wilin’. Tical was his best album and T2 Judgment Day was his second best albeit it was far from wow. The problem with Method Man is that he sounded natural in the beginning of his career. It was dusty and raw. But then he polished up after his grammy hit and eversince then he been trying to ‘bring the sexy back like Timbaland and Timberlake’. Now he’s trying to be all punchliney and shit on tracks with Conway and ’em but you can hear both Meth and Red have lost their ‘x’ factor. And that’s alright, they’re past 50, they’re legendary, they’ll always have their spot in Hip Hop history. But regarding the topic at hand, Tical is the only good album from Method Man. Everything after was a steady decline. Worser and worses beat picks as his career went on. He also never had an iconic verse and I think that bothers him. That’s why he grumpy all the time. He always got something to say about something that bothers him. But see Deck got I Bomb Atomically, The Gangstarr joint, U-God got Raw Imma Give It To Ya…. Dirty got Shimmy Shimmy Ya… Cap got Winter Warz… Ghostface got Criminoligy and a few others… Rae got Incarcerated, Eye $ An Eye, even Masta Killa got Homicide’s Illegal… and RZA got his Gravediggaz shit… but Mef got more iconic hooks than iconic verses.. I mean, Hey you get off my style is one, the Mef will come outtttt! and Shadowboxin I guess, but for someone like Method Man and the hype he gets, it’s underwhelming cause all that shit is back in ’93/’94, like he hasn’t been able to do anything as iconic again. His flow still untouched though, but the older stuff definitely better.
Man. Tical must have dropped before you got into hip hop. 4:21 is mediocre at best.