Is Method Man's career a disappointment or underrated?

[Art Barr]

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

the first blackout is a highly rated album but not a classic.
as meth, goes through the motions and is consistently outrapped every record by red.
on the second blackout, meth holds up his end of the bargain.
yet, it still is not a classic.

the classic shyt about the first blackout is their chemistry and red's verses.

the first blackout is just like survival skills....
an incredible classic performance on a godly level by krs, every record.
except, red has the same god level performances, and method backs it up with chemistry.
yet, never hold his end of the bargain rhyme wise, on a level that is expected of meth.

also, the reasson for meth i feel in that era for not beign as potent.
was, it took him a bit just like everyone else in that era, other than jayz.
to understand the change of bpm's and the sonic landscapes for that era.


art barr

 

[TheDarceKnight]

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.

My original answer was both.

You swayed me.

And I was the one that mentioned live shows. If you ever get a chance to see Meth live, you definitely should.

 

[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.

tical lacked being able to consistently make records that had the same thing to them as:

bring the pain
tical
subcrazy

which is from circumstances, out of meth'd control.

we can only wish we got the real tical,..we can only wish.




art barr

 

[Art Barr]

Because Method Man was never that good. He lived off of personality/ aura and flow. Lyrically, he really does not stand out like others in the Wu.

all those other wu albums, got to come out and be made after illmatic though.

[NOTE: odb's solo is a hodge podge and throwback to the styles era. so we can omit him from this situaion.]

originally, if all the wu members got to make their albums when tical was made with no flood.
in that little pocket of 93-mid 94, before illmatic.
i don't think, you could say what you said.
plus, i am not sure you were cognitively around then.
as you are talking abou the album in hindsight.
not, about the album in the original sales envelope.
it was recorded in and taking into consideration the sonic landscape and the times.
the cowboy edict was still massively in effect, and without technical skill renaissance that illmatic ushered in.
rae and ghost, and a lot of the other members in the clan would not have resonated, at all.
as the style era would have eliminated them from getting the shine.
that they got from the impact of the technical renaissance that illmatic ushered in.


art barr

 

[Art Barr]

His flow in the 90s was just . No one's flow ever sounded more effortless, before or since. Even on RTD he just made it seem like keeping up with Biggie was nothing. People also forget how huge he was from 93-98. And his voice was in like every goddamned jungle track ever made. Back then, even with Tical being uneven, you could say he was a top mc of all time. In that sense he is underrated today.

But his albums were hard pills to swallow. Tical had some classic tracks and it was a landmark album in a lot of way. But that wait for Tical 2000 was long as hell, the world moved on and the album just didn't live up to what everyone thought his potential was. Blackout redeemed him a little bit but from 99 on it was just the Wu Tang curse of pretty crappy albums after 2000, except ghost. If you were alive back then, his solo career has always been a disappointment.

But just that shyt with asap recently, he proved he is one of the best mcs of all time, even though his discography is for the most part is

uh,...
big was rapping up to method's skill level on rtd.
method was not chasing or trying to keep up with big.
big was keeping up with method, joe.

which, is why the charles dikkens rhymes is so otherworldly,...
as it just illustrates shyt that meth could do....
a lesser emcee like big at that time had to ramp up and stay on some ill shyt to do.

big was not even solidified in his skillset when that posse cut/feature was recorded.

method was already a solidified styles era legend, at that exact time.
not greatly, but they are still there and sore spots in his career.
that will be talked about, by those who keep it all the way real on any and everyone.


art barr

 

[Art Barr]

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

the only two issues i have with method over his entire career is the puff shyt, and the voice over for that gay cartoon.


those two moments still are type bogus.
plus, his lack of responsibility he usually has culturally were completely absent.
during the original situation and sales envelope of those projects, as they took place.
yet, i know how typically about the culture method generally is.
so, i am not sure what to think about those moments....
they hurt his standings, and perception, though....


art barr

 

[avon barksdale]

 

[Art Barr]

My original answer was both.

You swayed me.

And I was the one that mentioned live shows. If you ever get a chance to see Meth live, you definitely should.

as it will go down in history.....

krs
melle
kaz
common
method
LL
busta
red
flavor
slick rick
odb : probably the most composed relaxed performer i ever saw expertly rock and be completely the opposite of what you would think on stage.

are in that tier of all could be the best of all time, live on stage.


art barr

 

[CHAIN]

Delete

 

[Pinyapplesuckas]

Disappointment.

I've said it before but i think Red & Meth ruined eachother's careers... Meth could have been Jay, Nas, etc level...Red actually got a boost as far as visibility goes, but look at how his music has declined since 98.

 

[Trapped]

I can't say he's underrated, because he's got way more fame from his Wu-Tang association than the others, plus some of his joints are still relevant to this day.

Is it a disappointment? I don't think so. He's succesful as a rapper, an actor, plus like someone pointed out, is practically the first thing that comes to mind when you say Wu-Tang...and we all know how big of a fanbase they have. Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa and others - they can be called a disappointment. Meth has made more than enough, but he didn't limit himself to music only. Sorta like Mos Def...

 

[DaveyDave]

I can't say he's underrated, because he's got way more fame from his Wu-Tang association than the others, plus some of his joints are still relevant to this day.

Is it a disappointment? I don't think so. He's succesful as a rapper, an actor, plus like someone pointed out, is practically the first thing that comes to mind when you say Wu-Tang...and we all know how big of a fanbase they have. Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa and others - they can be called a disappointment. Meth has made more than enough, but he didn't limit himself to music only. Sorta like Mos Def...

musically speaking his career has been a let down. he should have had a super classic Liquid Swords type album with Tical but it didn't go down that way.

 

[Trapped]

Musically I agree. But I think all these distractions (movies, TV) contributed to that fact that he didn't put all his focus in one direction only.

 

[NormanConnors]

My original answer was both.

You swayed me.

And I was the one that mentioned live shows. If you ever get a chance to see Meth live, you definitely should.

You're are right about that, him and Red are probably the best I've seen live, next to Dmx and Busta.

 

[Mr. Negative]

tical ain't no classic album.

It has a classic single, yeah.

just because it does and came out in the mid-90s doesn't make it a classic album.

It's actually the WEAKEST first solo Wu album out of that era.