Method Man’s debut album Tical turns 32 on Sunday, November 15, and the story of how it was made is stranger than most fans know. A flood at RZA’s Staten Island studio wiped out a stash of beats before the record was finished, and many of the tracks had to be rebuilt in a hurry.
Released on November 15, 1994, through Def Jam, Tical was the first solo album from any Wu-Tang Clan member after the group’s debut. It opened at No. 4 on the US albums chart and No. 1 on the R&B/hip-hop albums chart, then went gold in January 1995 and platinum that July.
The flood that reshaped the album
In the early Wu-Tang years, RZA made the beats for every member and had them compete for the right to rap over each one. That system produced “Meth vs. Chef,” a recorded battle between Method Man and Raekwon cut in 1993. Then the 36 Chambers studio flooded. By most accounts it destroyed about fifteen beats per Wu rapper, and much of what became Tical had to be recreated and mixed fast.
That rush may explain the sound. RZA’s production here is darker and muddier than on later Wu solo records, a murky bed under Method Man’s smooth, gravelly voice. Apart from “Sub Crazy,” co-produced by 4th Disciple, and “P.L.O. Style,” co-produced by Method Man himself, RZA made the whole thing.
Why Meth went first
The order made sense in 1994. On Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), which Badiyaa revisited in a piece on the November 9, 1993 release day it shared with Midnight Marauders, Method Man appeared on eight of 12 tracks. His solo cut “Method Man” reached No. 69 on the Hot 100, and “C.R.E.A.M.,” where he sang the hook, hit No. 60. Those were the two highest-charting songs from the album, so the label had an obvious first candidate.
The singles, in order
October 25, 1994: “Bring the Pain” reaches No. 45 on the Hot 100 and tops the dance chart.
January 11, 1995: “Release Yo’ Delf,” built on a sung interpolation of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” stalls at No. 98 in the US but reaches No. 45 in the UK.
April 25, 1995: “I’ll Be There for You / You’re All I Need to Get By” with Mary J. Blige climbs to No. 3.
The third single was a remix of the album track “All I Need,” and RZA’s “Razor Sharp Mix” carried it. It won Method Man and Blige the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 1996 ceremony. Tical is still the only Method Man album with two singles on the Hot 100.
What the title means
Method Man spelled it out in a 2017 talk-show appearance, more than two decades after release: the word is an acronym for “taking into consideration all lives.”
By the numbers
Certified platinum for one million shipped in the United States, Tical had sold 1,613,000 copies there by October 2009. That is about 61% more than the platinum line, earned in an era before streaming counted toward certifications. The album also went platinum in Canada and gold in the UK.
The Wu family is still active, too: Badiyaa recently covered Wu-Tang producer Mathematics teaming up with U-God on “7:Thirty”.
Tical runs just under 44 minutes across 13 tracks. On Sunday, November 15, it turns 32.
Further reading
Illustrative image. Image: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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