METHOD MAN  (October 2006) | Interview By: Lil Jay

   

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Interview was done in September 2006

Questions Asked By: Lil Jay

Method Man Gave Dubcnn A Shoutout! Check That Here

Full Interview Audio Here

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Dubcnn: How's the feedback for the new album been so far, as far as the streets go?

Method Man: Shit, you tell me! I've been working too much.



Dubcnn: From what I heard it's positive. But you know, the streets and the media is always two different things.

Method Man: Yeah, it's like the streets love me, the media hates me. What the fuck. I don't even know where it started, but I know where it ends. So the fans like it or they don't?



Dubcnn: Most of the comments I heard were positive, so they definitely like it.

Method Man: That's good, that's good.



Dubcnn: You said you hoped you would get a big push for the album. Are you happy with how it's doing and the promotion behind it?

Method Man: I don't know. I mean you gotta ask people at the label questions like that, because I can't tell. All I know is that I feel I could have seen a little bit more. But I'm always gonna think that I'm an artist.



Dubcnn: If you're not that happy, do you feel the reasons are business wise or does the label make decisions based on their personal feelings?

Method Man: I didn't tell I wasn't happy. Am I?



Dubcnn: You don't sound too happy about it.

Method Man: I'm just chillin right now, smoke me a blunt. I just came from outside doing a photoshoot and signing all these autographs for these people. Yeah I'm chillin. I'm just trying to figure out what angle you're coming from because I don't really trust writers. They twist my words around a lot, so I'ma be very careful with what I say and ask the question once or twice before I fully understand the content.



Dubcnn: I'd probably categorize myself more as a fan than a writer.

Method Man: Oh I appreciate you definitely. That's wassup then, that's how we gonna approach this. Sometimes you have to be careful and pick your shots, cause sometimes they just want people to read their article and stuff like that. So they will both face print a quote that you said but take it totally out of context.



Dubcnn: While recording your album did you have the critics in the back of your mind?

Method Man: Yeah of course. I mean all of that plays a part. If you're an MC you deal from live experience and you write what you see and you write from your life. So I mean, I would have cheated the fans if I didn't talk about these issues.



Dubcnn: You think you shut the critics up with this new album?

Method Man: I don't think so. They still gonna have their little sideway shit to say. But I shut a lot of them up. And I wasn't trying to shut them up, I was just trying to open them up and put them on to where the fuck I'm coming from and what's going on with me, you know?



Dubcnn: Do they hate on you cause they don't like you or your music?

Method Man: They comparing me to other Clan members. And what they don't understand is that this is the beauty of Wu-Tang. We're different, but we're one and the same. So you can't compare me to Ghost, you can't compare me to Rae, you can't compare me to RZA. I'm just Meth. That's where I think it started. Plus the fact that if you ain't bringing it, you ain't bringing it. But I feel like I've always brung it, as far as lyrically. When they started attacking my lyrics, that's when I was like 'Hold the fuck up!' Before it was just the beats, OK I go for that. Maybe I ain't got the best ear for beats or whatever. But nah, you're not gonna attack what the fuck I say. I gotta be out my mind.



Dubcnn: So you're cool with it as long as it's justified?

Method Man: As long as it's creative, constructive criticism. When you start assassinating characters then we got a problem. I will not tolerate disrespect, especially if I never disrespected you.



Dubcnn: Do you have a lot of people come up to you comparing this album to that album?

Method Man: Not really, but you know there are all people that do that. When they hear this one they like 'Yeah this is what I'm talking about', then they compare it to the other two and say this one is the best one that I came out with. It's to be expected and you're supposed to take that with a grain of salt.



Dubcnn: How would you compare your solo grind to what you do with Wu Tang?

Method Man: It's all the same, it's all benefiting Wu-Tang at the end and adding on to the legacy.



Dubcnn: Is that why Wu-Tang fans see you as a leading figure that stands out the most from the Clan?

Method Man: Maybe not as a leading figure, but they see me as the most outgoing at this point, because I am just that outgoing. I like to have fun and shit, whereas my other brothers they like to have fun too, but they kinda restrained it a little. They like to sit back and watch shit a little bit more, where I just dive in, feet first, and let's get it cracking. People like that about me cause I ain't afraid to be me.



Dubcnn: It's amazing to see y'all still have the chemistry after all these years.

Method Man: Man we ain't never went anywhere because we always been around eachother to do this type of shit. I mean like I said, it makes for good news when you see a Ghostface interview they put shit in the beginning like 'Former member of Wu-Tang Clan Ghostface Killah', but when you read the interview Ghost never said he's a former member or that he's not in Wu-Tang, so it's like they just like drama, B. They try to seperate us, 'Former member of Wu-Tang', or 'former rapper turned actor'. It's all kind of shots that mothafuckas try to take at you. But you gotta have thick skin and you gotta be smarter than them at the times so you don't feed into that shit.



Dubcnn: Basically just trying to cause controversy.

Method Man: Yeah, just to sell a few extra magazines. But in the midst, they playing with people's lives. We're not Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake and these mothafuckas. Let's be real, mothafuckas is coming right outta jail getting record deals nowadays. They're sociopathic mothafuckas that don't give a fuck about themselves, so why should they give a fuck about you? And you gonna sit there and spit your little venom from your pen, and you gonna say something about the wrong person, they gon' catch you slippin' in the club somewhere. And it's not gonna even be them, it's gonna be somebody that got mad love from them. This is dude's lives right here, this ain't no hobby, B. And it's a lot of mothafuckas out there trying to make you believe that 'I ain't no rapper' and shit. Put the mic down man, cause that's what's it for.



Dubcnn: So you don't think each member of the Clan gets threated the right way in the media?

Method Man: Nah hell no they don't, but each man gotta hold its on weight. And how he does that is up to him, and soley up to him. But when he needs help he'll call and I'll be there. But you know how it is, they hold certain dudes in high regard and they figure they wait till mothafuckas read what I said here. Instead of just getting against the article like 'Let's see, I hope this was informative enough for this dude's fans to understand where he coming from on this LP'.



Dubcnn: But across the world you don't seem to get the real respect that you deserve?

Method Man: As far as the industry goes, yeah I feel that way sometimes. Cause I get it across the world, it just be back here in the States that it gets a little flimsy at certain places. But everybody else pretty cool with me and shit. But the fans, naw man, them mothafuckas love me man. They the reason why I feel like I could jump in the crowd and not hit the ground. You know what I mean?



Dubcnn: Yeah, the question was rather directed at the industry than the fans.

Method Man: Absolutely, which is the worst shit you can do. And that's why this album may suffer even though it's one of my best. It may suffer because of that. You don't attack the machine this many years in the industry, you know why? For the simple fact that it makes you look bitter. When you're a brand new artist and you come attacking like you're Public Enemy and shit, they gonna go for it and they gonna feed into it. They're like 'Yeah, I'm riding with them, I'm not one of these media mothafuckas', even though they are! It's just bugged out man, you can't win for losing, you can't lose for winning. But like I said, when it's a movement everybody jumps on the bandwagon. It's like if you're a Yankee fan, be a Yankeen fan! You know what I'm saying? Stay on the Yankees, B. Don't move over to Boston cause they won the fuckin' world series and now you're a Boston fan. Even though it's aight to like Boston, stay true to what it is. You like everybody now.



Dubcnn: How much do you rely on your core audience when you drop a new album?

Method Man: All my love and respect, everything. I rely on them wholeheartedly cause they the consumers that's gonna go out and buy the shit. Even though they don't even know it's coming out, but hey, that's a problem within itself that I have to solve.

But you know what I think stagnated everything was the Lauryn Hill single when I was misquoted again by the media. And they called the label asking if they were playing the right single and not drop the Lauryn Hill shit. The label was going hard for the single, but then they're getting these calls back and they're like 'What are we doing, is this not the right single?' I spoke my mind as an artist, I went on the radio and said 'Yeah this is the first single, but I feel like it's not the right single as the first single for me to go out with.' I didn't say I didn't like the song or fuck the song and let's move on. I just said that it would be better if it came second. I think niggas rushed it out there and kinda shot the whole gun off and emptied out the clip, and the gunfight is still going on type thing.

But I learned that that was the best move they could have done, because that record did so much for me as far as opening the fans eyes back up. I had dudes that basically gave up on me after so many albums, they would come up to me like 'Yeah you got that shit off right there. That Lauryn Hill shit, that's that shit right there.' And I take that over a million sales any day, B.



Dubcnn: Did that cause tension when you went on the radio and said that?

Method Man: Yeah it caused tension, it definitely did. Because you had the idiot DJ's calling the record label saying 'Are we playing the right single? Apparently we're not, Method Man said we're not', when that shit never came out of my mouth. So now the label's looking at me like 'What's good Meth, why are you discrediting the single that we're trying to make work for you?' So they kinda pulled back, so it's my fault for not having a video or a single. So I gotta take the blame for that, I cannot blame Def Jam for that.




Dubcnn: RZA and Erick Sermon handled the majority of the production. Is that how you wanted it from the start?

Method Man: No, I wanted more. And I even got a little extension, Def Jam gave me an extension to go back in and do more. And I still didn't get everything that I wanted. And then I ran into a writer's block. With me, it's all about timing, B. When it's right there and it's poppin', you gotta be on it. Right there. Get it out, right when you can. When it passes you never know when you gonna get that shit again.



Dubcnn: How much input did you have on your album, as far as quality control?

Method Man: A lot, but you know I was open to opinions. Even fans, I read a lot of emails and things like that. What fans liked and didn't like about the past albums, and I improved on the things that I lacked. It's always good to listen and learn. So I credit the fans for this album right here. All I need is for them to go out and let me know if I did a good job. That's it. And right now they're not hitting the stores, because I don't think a lot of them even know the album is in stores.

This is just more RZA on production, shit like that. But some of the shit I couldn't do, because some of these producers were screaming out these niggas want a $100,000 for a track. Fuck that! Kiss my ass. I'm not paying nobody a $100,000 for shit, unless I can live in that mothafucka. Straight up. So that's what that is right there. But it's what I feel is the best I could do. And the situation as far as my fans, I listen this time. That's why I wanna let them grade me. Let me know! I'm not gonna let critics be the critics. I'm gonna let the streets talk and I'm gonna let them critique my shit. And even the haters, cause I know they gonna say some real filthy dirty shit that's probably fuck a nigga up for a day or two. But shit, fuck it. Why not. Gotta shut they ass up too sooner or later. Most of the people that do that shit anyway wish they was MC's so they try to hate on everybody.