It seems Method Man has re-discovered his original Method. For the longest time, Method Man has been kind of like a first round bust in the NFL. Not a huge bust like retarded Ryan Leaf, more like a guy who played and made a contribution, but no where close to what was expected of him, like Peter Warrick or Desmond Howard (much as that hurts me to admit). If you're like me, hearing "Method Man" off of Enter The Wu Tang for the first time blew your mind a little. John John's deranged sing song flow was addictive from the start, and there's no question Method Man was the first Wu solo album people were clamoring for.

This proably lead to the rushed recording of Tical, which was decent, but kind of a disappointment considering what people were expecting from the Ticallion Stallion. Bring The Pain was the only real memorable song of his debut, and in my humble opinion, things got worse from here, culminating in the Puff Diddy Daddy produced debacle Tical 0: The Prequel in 2004. The weak commercial flavour of that album allowed it to go wood in the hood, and was the catalyst which prompted Mef to get back to basics on 4:21...The Day After.

This back to basics approach mainly consists of aggressive battle raps over grimey beats (mostly from Erick Sermon and the RZA). And that's pretty much at you're getting here from beginning to end. If you're looking for emo rap tunes or shake your ass club jams, this isn't the album for you. Looking at the the mostly Wu affiliated guest MC's (ODB, Raekwon, Rza, Inspectah Deck) gives you a rather large clue that this is a rather hardcore hip hop album. Ginuwine appears on a track, as does newcomer Megan Rochelle, but that doesn't detract from the overall feel of the album.

Is It Me kicks in after a bonkers pro-marijuana intro, and finds John Blaze re-introducing himself as the WU mc we knew and loved over some plinking keys and rolling drums. In fact the first three tracks, Is It Me, Problem, Somebody Done F*cked Up Now are pretty much feature Mr. Meth in battle mode, more than likely trying to make people forget about this. Dirty Mef featuring the late great Big Baby Jesus sounds like it could've been done in 1996, and I mean that in a good way. The sorry state of today's "wacky" dudes in the rap biz makes me miss the genuine insanity of the ODB. Got To Have It doesn't sample Ed OG, but uses some nice guitar licks and a catchy vocal sample to good effect. Say samples Lauren Hill in crazy guitar mode to good effect while Johnny Blaze gets things off his chest Kanye style. Konichiwa Bitches is an ok song with an awesome name. Walk On reunites Meth with Red over a crazy heavy metal guitar solo and big drums, which is weird but decent. Presidential MC features RZA and Rae along with some Kung Fu samples, which is always bonus points in my book.

So bottom line, this album isn't a mind blower or covering exciting new ground in '06, but it's filled with good songs. It's classic beats and charismatic Method Man rhymes, certainly worth checking out. I know I'm glad to see Meth make a mini comeback after some of the forgettable music he's put out in the past.

 Posted by naedoo on Thursday, August 31, 2006 at 10:25 PM
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