Method Man

Hempstead

With his steady flow, gravelly bellow, and imaginative rhymes, Method Man became the first solo breakout star from influential '90s rap crew Wu-Tang Clan, releasing a series of Top Ten albums, including his 1994 debut Tical, home to his Grammy-winning duet with Mary J. Blige, "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By." In addition to his solo work, he also formed a duo with Redman, issuing a pair of hit Blackout! albums in 1999 and 2009. From the late '90s and into the 2000s, he also juggled a successful acting career, starring in films such as Belly (1998), How High (2001), Keanu (2016), and Shaft (2019), as well as television shows including The Wire, CSI, Law & Order, and Fear the Walking Dead. Born Clifford Smith on April 1, 1971 in Hempsted, Long Island, he split his childhood between his father's Long Island residence and his mother's Staten Island home. It was the latter locale where he met his future Wu-Tang cohorts RZA, Genius/GZA, and Ol' Dirty Bastard; when they set about forming a hip-hop collective in the early '90s, Method Man was one of the first to sign on. Meth was heavily featured on the group's classic late 1993 debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), even getting his own showcase track with "Method Man," which certainly put him out front in terms of name recognition. Thanks to the Wu's innovative contract -- which allowed individual members to sign solo deals with whatever label they chose -- Method Man inked a contract with Def Jam, and in 1994, approximately one year after Enter the Wu-Tang's release, he became the first Wu member to release a solo album, Tical. Highly anticipated, the album entered the charts at number four and quickly went platinum, while singles like "Bring the Pain" (which just missed the pop Top 40) and "Release Yo' Delf" made him an even bigger name in the hip-hop community. He began making numerous guest appearances on other artists' records, and in the summer of 1995, his one-off single with Mary J. Blige, "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By," soared into the pop Top Five, giving Meth his first major mainstream exposure. Shortly thereafter, another duet -- this time with Def Jam labelmate Redman -- on the compilation track "How High," climbed into the pop Top 20.