Is Method Man's career a disappointment or underrated?

[*L*E*G*A*C*Y*]

Exactly. Tical is a good album and I enjoy it but it's not classic at all. Every good album from the 90s isn't a classic

This...I like Group Home's "Living Proof" but is it a classic? Debatable.

 

[Art Barr]

How is Tical not a classic?

tical the actual song is a classic.
The actual record is not.
also, method was plagued by circumstances that were out of his control.
When, it came time for him to capitalize.
yet, the way he still made an impact after those circumstances.
is why he is that good, and an all time great.
right now, he is easily one of the best in all of rap.
plus, all of rap history by just skill set and later career uppage in skill and execution.
the only thing disappointing about method is the circumstances.
That made it so, we never got to hear the meth we were supposed to get.
when, we were supposed to get the epitome of the styles era, and arguably one of the best.
if, not the best styles era emcee.

Who also, was one of the best technical wordsmith and an absolute visionary and cadence master.
on top of one of the all time best...
If, not the arguable best in vocal tonality in the history of rap.



Art Barr

 

[head shots101]

Dope thread man....tical was dope and part of my youth man

Classic nah....going revisit that joint

 

[Art Barr]

This...I like Group Home's "Living Proof" but is it a classic? Debatable.

the instrumental vinyl of group home is a classic.
the version with the vocals is 2.5, at best.
That is how awful the rhymes are on that record.



Art Barr

 

[TheDarceKnight]

I think as far as MC wise Meth is underrated in that with 21 yrs in the game he still can get busy as shown by every guest appearance he's been on. But as far as discography most would say a disappointment. He is a victim of the big what if not once but twice. The 1st time being when the original more grimey version of TIcal got lost in the flood and they had to redo the album in a short period of time. Now me personally the Tical we have today is a good album its not on the level of the albums that followed it and we know Meth was more capable of what he gave us in that album. He made up for it on T2 it was just overbloated with skits. Now here comes the next mistake.....when it came time to do Tical 0 it was strictly Rza behind the boards so he was gonna bring back that original Tical vibe but what ended up happening he gets PUFFY to executive produce the album (sumthin later on he admits he regretted doin) and the album is complete trash. I think by then most folks started to give up on Meth so when he dropped 4:21 (which was a good album) most didnt care cause by then to them he neva fully showed and proved the ill emcee he was via album

That's pretty good. I didn't know that about Puffy with Tical 0. That's a shame

 

[TheDarceKnight]

the instrumental vinyl of group home is a classic.
the version with the vocals is 2.5, at best.
That is how awful the rhymes are on that record.
Art Barr

LOL

Still.

The rhymes on that are so bad it almost makes me like it more. Imagine Nas or someone else on there though.

 

[Dominic Brehetto]

I actually think tical 2000 is his best album.


When you listen to tical next to all the ither wu debuts like ironman, cuban linx, liqud swords etc it just doesnt stack up.


But tical 2000>>>>>> pretty much all the other wu solo sophmores

 

[Art Barr]

shyt, Tical is just as good as Reasonable doubt....

not at all,......
reasonable doubt has two huff records.

the feature with big, and 22's, are huff as hell.
yet, tical went through more issues out of control than rd, did.

rd, got to have numerous reworked songs and years of tailoring behind it as a debut.
tical, ran into circumstances and had to be redone.
without years of tailoring or omission/submissions/remixes, etc.

yet, and still.....
i really don't think i can say any one record on rd, is as singularly good as:

tical
sub crazy

as tical and sub crazy are styles era based goodness.
that a rapper like jayz had to use the impact and skill rubrick of illmatic.
to further solidify his technical base.
whereas tical and subcrazy are next level records.
that i can only say i have heard maybe big l, common sense, and redman from that be as good, as.
only people, i can say was better than the styles era method on subcrazy and tical on one recording.
on some next level dark shyt/untouchable style shyt was:

redman ; tonite's the night remix
big L : devil son
common sense : breaker 1/9 remix, soul by the pound, ring the alarm, blows to the temple

plus, i know jay could never touch what method was doing then.
without nas, and using contemporaries like:

sauce
geechi suede
jaz
big l
nas
ll cool j

as direct skill/style morph to ramp up and get better.
so, i can't say that jay was ever on method's actual level as an emcee, like that.

yet, the sum of all the parts and the tracklist programming of rd, and the fact it is a baby that got to be fully conceived.
make it a completely higher quality record.

just the tracklisting of rd, from the top.
minus, 22's, and the big feature joint are head and shoulders better.
when, placed against what tical has tracklisting wise.

the opening of rd, and then the followup, politics as usual.
are some of the best 1,2 punches in the history of jiggy rap albums ever.
then, the back to back of dead pres, feelin' it, to the d'evils.
omitting 22's, and then it picks up heavily from can i live till the end on feugo.

so, i can't say that tical is as good as reasonable.
yet, tical gets a nod for what it is considering the circumstance.
as i know jay could not have remade reasonable doubt, under the same circumstances.
plus, from the pr of tical.
method and rza kept it under raps.
whereas jay's rd is a hodge podge of his contemporaries and jay styles morph'n/bite'n.
plus, taking advantage of the technical renaissance that illmatic brought about.

if illmatic never comes out, jay never gets to make illmatic.
yet, tical was made twice and illmatic was not an influence.
nor, was the clan a huge influence like that.
as method actually had his own skill rubrick, that was above completely distinct from the other members of the clan.
that forced the lesser members of the clan to step up wholeheartedly.
which, lead to the rampup in skill that gave us cuban linx.
which is head and shoulders better than rd, and was out before rd, as well.


art barr

 

[Art Barr]

I actually think tical 2000 is his best album.


When you listen to tical next to all the ither wu debuts like ironman, cuban linx, liqud swords etc it just doesnt stack up.


But tical 2000>>>>>> pretty much all the other wu solo sophmores

tical is also, a defjam album.
which went under circumstances on a number of levels out of method's control.

plus, timeline wise....
it is unfair to rate it against ironman, linx, and liquid swords given the circumstances.
plus the labels those records came out on, and the fact.
none of those records, dropped on a gateway label.
nor, were those members of the clan the gateway member.

when, people unfairly shyt on tical is in the lack of attention to detail in the timeline that tical dropped.
plus, the circumstances to how it was made, and what label it was on, as well.


art barr

 

[Art Barr]

LOL

Still.

The rhymes on that are so bad it almost makes me like it more. Imagine Nas or someone else on there though.

group home, has the same quality willie d, to piss poor trap rap had.
it is one of those albums, that make people who can't rap.
think they can,...
plus, has a precedent and rubrick that exist to follow.
to float above the real full harsh critique, because of the production.
mixed in with the outlandish lack of rap skill.
which, was used on some of the best production ever heard in rap history.




art barr

 

[Judgement!]

Damn, thats some throwback shyt this is the NY style I dig

oh, I liked Tical when it first dropped, but it ain't classic. Y'all trippin

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Tical is one of those albums people just call classic because of the notable shyt that was on it. But if we bein' real about it, half of that album is take or leave status. It's not one of them joints that's revered for being a complete project. It's revered cause "Bring the Pain" is on it, and there's a few other memorable joints. But what about all the aiiiight shyt... u can't give that shyt the same title OB4CL has and have them in the same category, when one is miles ahead of the other. Or line it up with other albums from that year like RTD or Illmatic... shyt is waaay behind. Meth, by his own admission, never delivered THAT album, even with Tical when he was at his most anticipated.

This.

HOW YA'LL fakkitS NOT GONNA CALL 'BLACKOUT' WITH REDMAN A CLASSIC???

The term classic has really just become "The album was good and I think it was really good."

When Blackout came out a classic album was an album that was perfect. Like you're allows maybe 1 song on there that you can skip. Are you telling me that right now you could go listen to Blackout from start to finish and not want to skip at least a few joints? I could blaze right now and go throw on Reasonable Doubt and not skip anything but the Ain't No joint with Foxy Brown.

Blackout is a great. It's not a classic album. If someone said it was a personal classic to them and it was their favorite album, I wouldn't think that was silly. I do think it's silly to across the board say that Blackout is a classic and people are stupid if they disagree.

 

[BuddahMAC]

I think underrated.

You got Tical, T:2000, 4:21 & both Blackouts as all damn good albums, plus, as a member of Wu, always had his verses as constant highlights on group & other members solo albums in a crew with many other great MCs. Plus he's been the most consistent MC out of that crew without question.

You have one of the best guest MCs ever. Biggie, 2Pac, Boyz II Men, Supercat, Shaq, Onyx, Mobb Deep, Spice 1, D'angelo, A$AP Mob, etc... There ain't a style of beat that Meth can't kill.

He's only improved with time. 36 & Tical are standouts largely due to the production & meth's voice & delivery but lyrically he's still a lil corny ribbiting on tracks & shyt... After Tical, his lyrics start getting crazy good. And in the past few years, he's improved his already damn good flow so well that he made a fukking Sour Patch Kids commercial sound ill. Everyone should study how the man controls the microphone.

Someone mentioned the live show before, and that's got to be noted, especially in a game filled with pace back & forth with a mic in your hand MCs. Meth is absolutely the best live hip-hop performer I've seen. Anyone who's seen the man live either agree or at least have him in their (upper) top 5.

So, true, he doesn't have that universally considered classic album (couple many would claim "personal classics" though), and the man should have dropped more solo music in general, but he also only has one weak album and has been consistently a name to check for going over 20 years now. Song drops tomorrow "feat. Method Man" and you instantly know it's worth listening too just off that alone? Can't call that disappointing. Meth said, "I'm the four mic MC with five mic potential." We all know he's got a classic in him, and we ultimately want him to drop something crazy, but 2 decades as one of the best hip-hop has and rarely even gets mentioned in peoples various top MC lists?

Underrated.

 

[Dominic Brehetto]

tical is also, a defjam album.
which went under circumstances on a number of levels out of method's control.

plus, timeline wise....
it is unfair to rate it against ironman, linx, and liquid swords given the circumstances.
plus the labels those records came out on, and the fact.
none of those records, dropped on a gateway label.
nor, were those members of the clan the gateway member.

when, people unfairly shyt on tical is in the lack of attention to detail in the timeline that tical dropped.
plus, the circumstances to how it was made, and what label it was on, as well.


art barr

Yeah im definitely not shytting on the album. I just think its a good album, but not great or classic. The album just lacked something.


And this may be controversial to say but i compare meth to guys like jadakiss and rbx. Guys with raw hip hop voices that immediately grab your attention BUT over the course of a full length album doesnt work.


To a lesser extent i think bad azz and proof had the same problem.


That flood

Decks career never recovered. Though that czarface album is definitely a great great comeback.

 

[Art Barr]

Thing with Meth is he has a sick voice/flow and has rhymes for days but he never had the knack for crafting complete songs and albums the way Ghost, Rae and GZA do. I always like Meth a lot better on Wu albums and guest spots than I did as a solo artist. Same goes for Deck.

that is not true.....

method has made a classic and it was the best record it was released in that year.
plus, more cohesive from a commercially viable standpoint tracklisting wise.
than any other clan member will ever be able to really make.

i think when people mention, ghost, and rae to compare.
they don't realize,....
rae and ghost were still ramping up in skill.
so, they got to write up, in skill.
whereas, method was already solidifed in skill.

originally, ghost and rae were in the least skilled of the clan category.
they got to rampup and pretty much sneak everyone in the clan and the entire rap world.
in the best rampup in skill display for an album in the history of rap.
with argueably the best perfect classic in rap history, too.
plus, the best rap album about the content they changed and helped to phase out the cowboy edict with.

they only got to do that, because they were not expected to be good.

with method,..he was on defjam, and the original gateway member.
so, he was at a different tier skillwise than ghost and rae, on tical.
plus, the content that ghost and rae were able use and actually dispel the cowboy edict in the long run.
they were able to do because they were the low skilled tier clan members.
so, they could make records with the content they had and get a pass.
as they were so strikingly good.
after ramping up, that it brought a whole other argument culturally to the forefront in rap about the cowboy edict.
by how at the time,..and how expertly rae and ghost covertly rapped.
while, they also created the slang to make other rappers in rap.
capable, of being to eventually manuever around the cowboy edict as well.
to totally dispelling the edict to where it is a non-factor in content for culturally based rap records.

whereas, before linx....
the subject and content that rae/ghost/linx focused on was completely taboo at the moment.


art barr