The Twelve Days of Wu-Mas 2024 - Day #3

In a move that is still rather unprecedented within the music industry (even though it admittedly wouldn't make sense in the current landscape), The RZA not only encouraged every member of the Wu-Tang Clan to secure solo deals, he instructed them to take their talent to South Beach, by which I mean he put the word out to every record label even remotely interested. Prior to this, every solo member of the Wu would have been locked into a deal with the label that housed the group as a whole, Loud Records, automatically, but coercing Loud into not doing that shit and, instead, allowing his bandmates to spread their wings and fly sparked huge interest in the individual members and resulted in some of the crew's finer moments.

One such moment was Tical, the solo debut of Clifford "Method Man" Smith and the first of the Wu solo projects to hit store shelves, doing so one year and six days after the group first hit the scene. After signing with Def Jam Records back when that was still a big deal for us older heads, Meth and RZA set about crafting a dark, grimy project that acted in direct opposition to the heartthrob image Method Man had inadvertently obtained during the Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) marketing run. Back then, it was a label he refused to accept, going out of his way in an attempt to disprove it before ultimately giving in, while RZA gave the guy some of the darkest, most sparse instrumentals of his career.

Looking back, it always made sense for RZA to show off the most marketable member of the Wu-Tang Clan first, especially as Method Man is now a film and television star who has made peace with the fact that he'll always have a swooning female audience, and he also continues to tear up every microphone handed to him. Tical is heavily contested among heads to this day, with many feeling that it failed to reach the perceived heights of whatever the fuck they thought a Method Man album should have sounded like back in 1994, but I'm one of those folks who believes it to be perfect the way it is, the gritty soundscapes a comfortable fit for Clifford and his guests, including the first appearances in Wu-Tang lore of both Streetlife and Carlton Fisk. The gambit worked out for RZA's five-year plan, as well - with Method Man selling over one million units of Tical and even securing a Grammy for a remix of an album cut, Prince Rakeem had enough juice to convince the rest of the Clan that he had a plan for all of them.

Anyway, let's discuss Tical. Are you one of those fans who felt disappointed by the final product, or is it still in rotation thirty years later?

RZA's Five-Year Plan #2: Method Man - Tical (November 15, 1994)

Link to original write-up

-Max