Method Man Bio - The Hip Hop Insider

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Simoun fell in love with Hip Hop when he first heard Eminem's single Lose Yourself in 2002. By the time he was an adult, he tends to listen to exclusively Hip Hop, a trend that continues to this day. As an English teacher, he loves Hip Hop for what it is underneath, beautiful poetry that blends sound, imagery, and wordplay. What's not to love!

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Name a hip hop hook that’s more iconic than “Cash rules everything around me/C.R.E.A.M., get the money/Dolla dolla bill, y’all.” Go ahead. I’ll wait.

With all due respect to the hard-hitting imagery of Raekwon and Inspectah Deck, that hit song doesn’t work without Method Man. There’s something in Meth’s voice that takes you on a ride—a fierce rush of adrenaline with a tinge of foreboding. No pretenses here, though: as a poet of the street, Meth oozes with credibility when he talks about the harshness of life out on the streets, not to mention life in a broken home.

But Meth has range, and certainly in more ways than one. In the music industry, he’s garnered commercial and critical success as part of a collective unit and as a solo act. Blessed with a natural charm—one that makes him a commanding on-camera presence—Meth has amassed a lengthy resume of film and television credits as well. He seems to be particularly comfortable with humorous bits, but his imposing six-foot-frame has made him a great fit for action thrillers as well.

There’s no denying, though, that the most memorable lines of his entire career are three simple bars that revolve around an acronym. I’d go on to say that this Wu-Tang Clan hook embodies Method Man as a performer: authentic, witty, and damn sure iconic.

Quick Facts

Birth Date	March 2, 1971
Birth Place	Hempstead, Long Island, New York
Nick Name	Tical, Johnny Blaze, Shakwon, Balzini
Nationality	American
Zodiac Sign	Pisces
Siblings	Terri Smith (sister) Missy Smith (sister)
Children	Shakuan Smith Raekwon Smith Cheyenne Smith
Partner/Spouse	Tamika Smith (m. 2001)
Most Successful Songs	“C.R.E.A.M.” (with Wu-Tang Clan) “Triumph” (with Wu-Tang Clan) “I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need to Get By” (feat. Mary J. Blige) “How High” (with Redman)
Net Worth	Estimated value of $14 million (as of 2022)
Social Media	twitter.com/methodman instagram.com/methodmanofficial facebook.com/methodman
Major Awards	Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group (for “I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need to Get By” feat. Mary. J. Blige)
Last updated	October 23, 2022

Early Years

He was born Clifford Smith Jr. on March 2, 1971 in Hempstead, Long Island, New York. Clifford’s formative years were mostly split between Hempstead (with his father Clifford Sr.) and Staten Island (with his mother Genola), though he also spent time in Indiana with his mom’s family.

Clifford’s versatility was already emerging in his youthful years. During the time he spent in Hempstead, he excelled in academics and dabbled in both lacrosse and trombone. However, his impressive achievements in school could not mask the reality of his father’s parenting—or lack thereof. In a 1998 review with Rolling Stone, Meth opened up about Clifford Sr.’s negligence: “He used to take care of other motherfuckers’ kids, couldn’t take care of his own. He didn’t teach me shit.”

When Clifford was in high school, he had to resort to drug dealings in order to scrape some extra bucks for his family. “Fifteen, sixteen years old, hunger pains is real. How I’m gonna eat?” he told Rolling Stone. These circumstances may explain why Clifford fell in love with the colorful characters of comic books—a passion that persists to this day.

I imagine his inner geek going crazy as he shot his scenes for Marvel Studios’ Luke Cage; and I’m not surprised at all that, in 2021, Marvel tapped him to host a weekly podcast called Marvel/Method. (Speaking of Luke Cage, did you catch that freestyle that he dropped? “Bulletproof Love” was fire, y’all.)

Soon, though, Clifford would meet friends that would one day become his own clique of superheroes. During his time in Staten Island, he met cousins Robert Diggs, Gary Grice, and Russell Jones. As a student at New Dorp High School, he shared homeroom classes with a young man named Corey Woods. Whereas Clifford was the only black kid in most of his classes, he at least had Corey (another African-American) to keep him company for a period of time.

These five boys, along with some of their other bosom buddies, were united by a common interest: hip hop. The boys fuelled one another’s passion for rap music, and by the early ’90s, it became obvious that hip hop wasn’t just going to be a hobby for any of them.

Clifford, for one, had dropped out of school when he was in eleventh grade, so what was he to do with his future as he entered the world of adulthood? Like an enhanced individual accepting an invitation from the Avengers, Clifford would fully commit to a music group that would change his life forever.

Enter the Wu-Tang

In 1992, Clifford (donning the stage name Method Man) joined eight other emcees to form the hip hop supergroup Wu-Tang Clan. Where did this unique name come from? This Oriental-sounding moniker was inspired by China’s Wudang mountain, which was the home of gifted swordsmen in kung fu movies like Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang (1983).

Clifford’s group of friends loved watching such movies, and one of them (Dennis Coles, later to be known as Ghostface Killah) went so far as to frequently use the term “Wu-Tang” as a synonym for “cool.” The term took on a life of its own, and when the time came for them to name their hip hop clique, they had a great moniker ready to go.

The original nine members of the Wu-Tang Clan were:

GZA (Gary Grice)
Ol’ Dirty Bastard/ODB (Russell Jones)
RZA (Robert Diggs)
Method Man (Clifford Smith Jr.)
Raekwon (Corey Woods)
Ghostface Killah (Dennis Coles)
Inspectah Deck (Jason Hunter)
U-God (Lamont Hawkins)
Masta Killa (Elgin Turner)

As the de facto leader of Wu-Tang, RZA played an integral role in crafting the group’s signature sound (characterized by hardcore beats and ominous piano riffs). Armed with a unique production style and an indefatigable supply of bars, Wu-Tang set out to conquer the music industry like no other group had done before.

First, they would seize the hip hop community’s attention with a strong first outing as a collective unit. Having put the Wu-Tang brand on the map, they would then spin off into a bevy of solo projects.

By forging a cycle of collaborative records and individual releases, Wu-Tang could collect the “dolla dolla bills” in several different ways, much to the delight of each group member. In retrospect, I’d say that this plan was both ingenious and audacious. On paper, it certainly makes sense for the group to maximize their earnings by releasing both group and solo projects.

I wonder, though, if any of the members got anxious about the prospects of their respective solo ventures. Would each of them achieve impressive heights of success on their own? In the ensuing years, they would all find out.

The first phase of this plan worked to perfection, as their debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) took the industry by storm when it was released on November 9, 1993. On the strength of singles like “C.R.E.A.M.” and “Can It Be All So Simple,” Enter the Wu-Tang became a commercial hit that eventually earned triple platinum certification.

In case you’re wondering if Method Man could somehow get lost in the shuffle (there are nine members in this group, after all), note that Meth was one of only two members to have a solo track on the album. The title of his track? None other than “Method Man.”

Getting Busy in the ’90s

As it turned out, only two songs on Enter the Wu-Tang cracked the Billboard Hot 100: “C.R.E.A.M.” and (you guessed it) “Method Man.” Since Meth had achieved this level of prominence, it made sense for him to be the first Wu-Tang member to have a spin-off project.

On November 15, 1994, Method Man made his solo debut by releasing the album Tical. RZA handled production duties for this album; like he did with Enter the Wu-Tang, he created a rugged soundscape to serve as the perfect backdrop for Meth’s powerful vocals. Aside from RZA, Meth got great assists from Wu-Tang members Raekwon and Inspectah Deck on this album, which went on to be certified platinum.

I’d say that the pivotal track on Tical is “All I Need”; while the original album version is a potent love song in and of itself, this track spawned the remix “I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need to Get By” (featuring Mary J. Blige on vocals).

This remix went on to win Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 1996 Grammy Awards—a stamp of approval signifying that Method Man belonged to the upper echelons of hip hop artists. (Can I just say, though, that I ultimately prefer the Puffy remix of this award-winning song? With his signature R&B-heavy style, Puffy repackaged Meth’s verses and Mary J.’s vocals into a smoother listening experience.)

There was no rest for the weary as the ’90s raged on, and I’m sure Meth wouldn’t have preferred it any other way. In 1997, Wu-Tang Clan once again convened to release their second studio album. In the interval between Enter the Wu-Tang and its sequel, most of the Wu-Tang members had released individual projects, which would now provide a degree of momentum to their new release.

Sure enough, their second album Wu-Tang Forever debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, going on to be certified 4x platinum. As far as commercial and critical success goes, this double-disc masterpiece represents the pinnacle of Wu-Tang’s hip hop dynasty.

The dubs continued to pile up for Method Man as the decade came to a close. In 1998, he released his follow-up solo album entitled Tical 2000: Judgement Day. Replete with references to the apocalypse that would supposedly unravel at the end of the millennium, Tical 2000 performed even better on the charts as it reached number two on the Billboard 200 (two spots higher than Tical‘s peak).

Then, in 1999, another formidable hip hop partnership was formed when Meth joined forces with longtime friend Reginald “Redman” Noble.

That year, they released their first collaborative album Blackout!, which (surprise, surprise) also went platinum. Among the songs on this tracklist, I absolutely love “Da Rockwilder”—an absolute slugfest in which Meth and Redman just spit blazing bars for two minutes. (And to think Redman didn’t like the beat on this one! I wish he did, because I wouldn’t mind a seven-minute version at all.)

The 2000s: Films, TV Shows, and Wu-Tang Woes

Thankfully, the universe did not implode at the end of that decade. Instead of catastrophes and world-ending scenarios, Meth found himself surrounded by fresh opportunities in the entertainment world from the mid- to late-’90s. On the film side of things, he got to appear in motion pictures starring Samuel L. Jackson (1996’s The Great White Hype) and Sylvester Stallone (1997’s Cop Land).

Meanwhile, on the small screen, Meth lent his talents and likeness to animated shows like Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Beavis and Butt-Head, and even the long-running variety show Soul Train.

As Meth entered the 2000s, he was poised to make a bigger name for himself as he now had three major platforms—music, film, and TV—to showcase his talents on. These prospects, however, were somehow dampened by the fact that his initial foundation was showing serious cracks.

I suppose it’s no surprise that Wu-Tang Clan, a group that would expand to ten members with the addition of Darryl “Cappadonna” Hill, would be rocked by personal demons and infighting. With so many moving parts—egos, contracts, projects, profit shares—the risk of dissension would constantly loom over the group.

When the Clan first got together in the early ’90s, they were able to channel tension and competitive juices into outstanding musical outputs. As the years passed, however, their body of work would be overshadowed by complex issues.

The hip hop community had no choice but to take notice. In 1997, group members decided to forgo a number of tour dates that they shared with rock band Rage Against the Machine. The following year, ODB began a streak of run-ins with law enforcement, which would culminate in a prison sentence. Tragically, he passed away in 2004 after an accidental drug overdose. (One day prior, Meth himself called out ODB for missing a Wu-Tang concert. If only they all knew…)

Then, throughout the 2000s, various members (including Raekwon, U-God, and Ghostface Killah) took aim at RZA for issues like unpaid royalties, tyrannical management, and questionable artistic choice regarding Wu-Tang’s albums. Sure enough, the issues between producer and emcees (or, perhaps, leader and members?) began to have a palpable effect on their projects.

Though their third and fourth albums (2000’s The W and 2001’s Iron Flag) eked out some commercial success, they were certainly not on the same tier as their first two outings. Right before the release of their fifth album 8 Diagrams in 2007, Ghostface was preempting all expectations by saying, “That shit is wack. I heard RZA was changing some of the beats around the last minute.”

I suppose the cream always rises to the top, because amidst all this chaos in the Wu-Tang camp, Method Man managed to pull off successful projects elsewhere. His two solo albums in this decade (2004’s Tical 0: The Prequel and 2006’s 4:21… The Day After) made the top 10 of the Billboard 200, with Tical 0 even going gold. Alongside Redman, he landed another top 10 album with the release of their second collaborative album Blackout! 2 in 2009—a decade after their debut Blackout! dropped.

I’d be remiss, of course, to not mention the comedic chops that Method Man unleashed across a number of film and TV roles in this decade. 2004 was a particularly prolific period for Meth, as he appeared in the films Scary Movie 3 and Soul Plane, as well as the short-lived Fox sitcom Method & Red. (I’ll give you three tries to guess his co-star here.) Do we have to count his bit part in the 2008 parody Meet the Spartans? He probably doesn’t, as that film was universally panned.

I’ll say this about Meth: even if a significant chunk of his 2000s was no laughing matter, he did more than stay afloat. Thanks to his innate charisma, Meth continued to open himself up for a variety of opportunities—even as the once-strong foundation of the Wu-Tang Clan was starting to disintegrate.

The 2010s and Beyond: Method Acting (and Still Making Music)

I wouldn’t be surprised if young people nowadays recognize Meth as a film and TV talent, first and foremost. “Method Man? You mean, that guy who hosts Drop the Mic with Justin Bieber’s wife? He’s so tall!”

By the end of the 2010s, Meth’s on-screen appearances had arguably overshadowed his releases as a musical artist. Though he’s versatile enough to fit in a war film like 2012’s Red Tails or an action thriller like 2018’s Peppermint, I’d say that his bread and butter would be humorous flicks.

Meth made his presence felt in a brief scene with Amy Schumer in the 2015 hit Trainwreck. (What is up with that African accent, though?) His other comedies during this decade include 2015’s Staten Island Summer (written by, and starring, a lot of SNL folks) and the 2019 Sam Jackson picture Shaft.

Here’s to hoping that Meth will attract plenty of lead roles in the future. Until then, he can hang his hat on his longevity in the music industry. In the ever-competitive field of young, hungry emcees, his fifth studio album (2015’s The Meth Lab) managed to crack the upper half of the Billboard 200.

He followed this up with Meth Lab Season 2: The Lithium in 2018 and Meth Lab Season 3: The Rehab in 2022. By releasing an album in the 2020s, Meth joined a not-particularly long list of emcees who have been able to drop a full-length project in four separate decades. The other rappers on this list? They include LL Cool J, Eminem, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, and KRS-One.

As the bright lights of Hollywood glow persistently, will Method Man ever walk away from the mic? Not any time soon, perhaps. No matter how many roles he’ll portray on the big and small screens, Clifford Smith Jr. will always be passionate about the one that launched him to stardom: a powerful poet of the streets.

Legacy

Method Man will go down in history as one of the most well-rounded artists and entertainers that the hip hop industry has ever seen. I’d love to see anyone try to talk smack to his prolific body of work as a rapper (and, for that matter, as an actor). While some hip hop acts wither on the vine when their long-standing teams fall apart, Meth continued to concoct clever ways to make mucho dinero off his abundant talent. Now that’s a real G.

method man rapper — Image source: Instagram

Why is Method Man Influential?

Not every emcee can pull off the rapper-actor thing. While I wouldn’t exactly put Meth in the same class as Queen Latifah and LL Cool J, he is nevertheless a trailblazer that set the bar high for rappers aspiring to attain crossover appeal. Having achieved notoriety in both the music and acting industries, Meth has helped lay out the blueprint for emcees to unlock every last bit of their creative potential.

FAQs

Question: Where did Clifford Smith get the stage name Method Man?

Answer: This name can be traced to the 1979 kung fu flick “Method Man,” which stars Korean martial artist Casanova Wong. Apparently, RZA gets the credit for this, as he thought the name would perfectly align with Clifford’s affinity for angel dust, which is also referred to as “Method.”

Question: Does Method Man have a family of his own?

Answer: Meth got married to his wife Tamika in 2001. They share a son named Shakuan and twin daughters named Raekwon and Cheyenne.

Question: Which artists has Method Man feuded with?

Answer: Aside from getting involved in his group’s infighting, Method Man once had a score to settle with Joe Budden. In the late 2000s, Budden took exception to Meth’s inclusion in a “best rappers of all time list” released by Vibe. Sometime in 2009, Meth ran into Budden during a tour stop in Long Island. Budden then started to whisper something into Meth’s ear.
Apparently, whatever Budden said was enough to placate Meth, who was just about to get physical with him. Though Meth decided not to “snuff” Budden, the then-Slaughterhouse member did get smacked by a Raekwon affiliate at Rock the Bells later that year. (The lesson that Budden should have learned? Do NOT slander the good name of any Wu-Tang member.)

Bottom Line

It’s one thing to be remembered for one hook that you dropped at the very beginning of your career. It’s another thing to maintain your relevance in the genre, and to actually transcend the boundaries of your home turf. Method Man has earned the respect of his peers and the adulation of his fans for pulling off this very accomplishment. Just as sure as cash rules everything around us, you can confidently bet that Method Man will draw those dolla dolla bills, y’all.

Sources

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