Enter The Method Man

Category: Hip-Hop Culture

Tags: CultureFitnessHip-HopMusicWu-Tang

Entities: Chris RockDJ Kool HercHip-HopMethod ManNasNew York CityRZAWu-Tang Clan

Transcript

00:00

We had a saying where, you know, we would be like, "Peace, be safe." But then we heard Nipy say, "Stay dangerous." And I never understood it for a minute, right? But then when I finally understood it, I it it hit me like a a

00:15

ton of bricks. Stay dangerous.

Because when you are, you're aware. And if you're part of the danger, you can see the danger around you as well.

When you carry yourself like a king, you will be. I don't need to get you up to speed on

00:31

Method Man's illustrious music career. He is a hip-hop legend who redefined the genre as part of the Wuang clan.

But music isn't even Method Man's main gig anymore. My man has been killing it as an actor.

He has starred in The Wire, Oz, Powerbook 2, Ghost, and just this

00:48

year, you can see him in Pokerface and the new film Bad Chabus. So, we talked a little bit about acting, but come on, it's Method, man.

I had some burning questions about hip-hop that had to be addressed. Like, what is it like getting old in a music genre so associated with

01:05

youth? What really happened at the 95 Source Awards?

In what music would people be shocked to know that Method Man [ __ ] with? Give you a hint.

It rhymes with Greece 2. It's Grease 2.

I couldn't figure out a

01:20

rhyme there. Look, Meth Man loves the Grease 2 soundtrack.

[Music] I think it's safe to say you guys are the Avengers of hip-hop. I love that.

I love that. I love that.

01:36

Before that, we were the X-Men in my opinion. Really?

Yeah. Yeah.

Because you never know. I mean, Wuang is such a a huge crew.

There are members that people aren't even familiar with. And not to mention, we have kids now that are following on

01:51

the legacy. So, right, you never know.

I mean, so it's almost like Yeah. Like the Charles is born.

Every every time they mature, they turn into this Wuang Killer Me. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, also, by the way, fun fact, you're literally in the MCU.

You You're in season one of Luke Cage. You play

02:07

yourself. I am Canon in in the MCU.

That was dope, though. That was uh Cho Hadari Koka.

He um he hooked me up with that right there. But, you know, I was eventually going to get there anyway in some capacity.

2 years ago, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. Hip-hop

02:23

came out of a very specific place at a very specific time. The day literally, August 11th, 1973.

Wow. At 1520 Sedick Avenue in the Bronx, DJ Koulherk threw a party and played break beats on turntables.

What do you think it was

02:38

about that place in that time that led to that moment? Cuz I'm just blown away that it's actually documented.

Oh, I I you know what? It was something about the New York mystique in those years.

I say

02:54

even the 60s through the 80s, it was a lot of things happening. It was like New York was the mecca of all things.

Not just not just the fact that we were a melting pot for, you know, everything that came from Europe comes through New York, period. Not just that, but

03:10

fashion, music, uh, lingo, everything was flowing through New York. A beautiful time to be a creative.

So, you have all this, all these things happening at once. What was the question again?

My question was, what do you think it

03:26

was about New York City and that place in time? Because meth, the reason why this is important is I don't know if there's a documented start time of rock and roll music, okay?

a start time of jazz like you know people are like yeah during this era it existed or when

03:42

Elvis Presley performed on yeah this was rocking but this is so interesting that it was actually identified of like this is the point I'm trying to make this is the big bang moment this is the point I'm trying to make okay so it was a lot of gang activity going on at this time too right and um a

03:59

lot of struggle going on and they say some of the best music comes out of struggle now the amazing part is these are just kids with ideas. Herk was just a kid.

Think about it. And he had an epiphany or maybe an idea or

04:14

just something just a light went off and there was this moment. I love the fact that it's documented.

But that's just the documented part of it. We don't know if it started there, but it was documented at that point, which is a great lifting point for or launch

04:32

launching point for this genre. Now, he had an idea and the kids, the people that identified with that loved it because we're in a time of hardship right now.

Nobody's really eating. Everybody's broke and

04:48

partying is an outlet. Let's just say that music is an outlet.

It always is. What better outlet to have uh than something that you can call your own?

And at that point in time, hip-hop was something that New York could call its

05:04

own. And the fact that it's branched out to where it is now just speaks volumes.

Not to just, you know, the people that started it, but the movement itself. Yeah.

And it was seen as a fad for decades like of like this thing isn't going to last. Absolutely.

At its core, what is hip-hop to you?

05:20

Hip-hop to me, first off, is a culture. It's a way of life.

It's the way you talk. It's the way you dress.

It's the way you act. It's the way you present yourself.

And the beauty of it is as an MC sometimes you only get 16 bars to tell your story. How well can you do

05:38

that in 16 bars? And there are some people that have done some incredible 16 years versus that we know who they are now.

You know what I mean? Um, hip-hop to me is the embodiment of the struggle that it came from.

Hip-hop to me is

05:54

black music. black music.

Let's just say it right now. This is music now.

It's black music, man. And and and it came from kids.

That's the most that's the part I want everyone to

06:10

really think about. Yeah.

DJ Kh was essentially a child. He was Yeah.

A young man. Absolutely.

And even us as OGs now in the game, I still listen to some of the young cats. This is the the correlation that I'm trying to make right now where it's like there's a divide between the young and the old in the hip-hop game.

I

06:28

wish there was a category for older and hip-hop because as we get older, we get wiser and we get better, but that we don't have an audience with us or our audience has moved on and they're grandfathers and grandmothers now, things of that nature. But these kids have the ears.

Now, if

06:44

there a way to plug in with them or at least listen to them, right, then we could bridge a lot of those gaps. Yeah.

This is why I listen to a lot of the younger cats. Were you at Naz's 50th birthday?

No. Okay.

I want to give a quick shout out

07:00

to Nasba, my man Chris Rock. Chris Rock gave this speech at Nas's 50th birthday.

Chris is good at that. About what hip-hop music is to him, and I'd love your opinion on that.

Okay, let's take a look. Hip hop music, rap music, always remember the first art

07:17

form created by free black men. Everything else, rock and roll, jazz, the blues, created by slaves or [ __ ] living in slaveike conditions.

07:34

Hip hop is created by free black men. Amen.

And no one no one lives their freedom like the black men and women in this room right now. Okay.

07:50

Killed that. Killed that.

Is that what it means to you? Absolutely.

You can't dispute the truth, man. And and it's funny because there are a lot of people that claim to be the inventors of rock and roll.

And then you

08:05

have people that say that rock and roll was born from jazz. And then you say jazz, people that say jazz was born from blues.

And it just goes on and on and on. But what is the foundation of it?

And no one can tell you. This is why it's wonderful that we can document

08:22

where hip-hop started at. Yeah.

And where it's going. Um I mean Chris, he he murdered that right there.

Free black men. That's amazing.

And he's right. We were talking about this before, which was

08:37

I had a lot of friends growing up that were into punk music. And punk music was very much about in your face, in your face, irreverent, raw expression, but also a little anarchistic.

Yeah. Like, [ __ ] the system.

[ __ ] Yeah. [ __ ] the established.

08:54

[ __ ] Absolutely. I felt like, and I don't know if you feel this way, do you feel like Wuang was very much like punk music in that way?

It was a very DIY experiment. I think that punk music was at a point where it was like such an underground genre that was getting so huge that it

09:10

affected hip-hop in the way that we got a public enemy. You know what I mean?

People that use the music to talk against the establishment. I remember a time where there was a group of of uh MC's that came together.

They were different groups, but they all came together for one message. Black love, uh red, black,

09:28

and green. And we were all wearing beads and things.

Native tongues just to keep it above. Uh De La Soul, uh Jungle Brothers, Mooney Love, Queen, a bunch of them.

Uh Q-Tip, uh Trial Quest, all of them. Beautiful movement right there.

But then something flipped,

09:44

you know what I mean? But again, you had a Public Enemy, you had uh even Chub Rock, you had a plethora of dudes like Lim Shabbaz, uh Poor Righteous Teachers that were teaching the truth through

10:01

music. And again, punk rock with them going against the establishment, it just had a nice beat to it and kids could just wig the [ __ ] out and do what the [ __ ] they wanted to do.

But they had that same feeling, that same [ __ ] rage, right? That made them want to lash out at the

10:19

people that were causing them said rage or the the people that they felt were the culprits of their misery. You know what I mean?

And and and this is the only way we can lash out, so be it. And it's a great [ __ ] release, man.

I love that correlation. Right.

So, you're you're 54 and one of the

10:35

things I love about what you're saying is you want to tap in. You're like, I still listen to what the young musicians are doing.

Yeah. I was telling we were chatting before you got here where I was like, man, hip-hop is old enough to now have to go get a colonoscopy.

Like honestly, like it's got to take

10:52

blood pressure medication. It's got to stretch out, got to do stuff for the lumbar support, right?

Yeah. It's real.

But it but it's just like seeing old punk heads. Like it there is something weird about seeing a dude in his, you know, maybe 50s or 60s with a mohawk.

It'd be a weird thing.

11:08

Crazy. A lot of their skins look like leather, man.

I ain't going to lie. Yeah.

Yeah. Facts.

But what do you do with that? So, there is this youth, you know, anti-system movement that you feel in your 20s.

Mhm. But now that you're in your your 50s, you have wisdom on your side as well.

11:23

What What would you say to that rage that you felt as a young man in your 20s? Now that you have that wisdom, this is where I feel like that bridge could happen.

[ __ ] Um, you know what I say? Embrace that [ __ ]

11:40

I remember we used to uh we had a saying where, you know, we would be like, "Peace, be safe." But then we heard Nipy say, "Stay dangerous." And I never understood it for a minute, right? But then when I finally understood it, I it it hit me like a a

11:57

ton of bricks. Stay dangerous.

Because when you are, you're aware. And if you're part of the danger, you can see the danger around you as well.

Right? So when we taken

12:13

out of our element, I'm losing it here. But when we're taken out of our element and we have to assimilate into this society, Yeah.

Yeah. We have to stay dangerous because if we're not,

12:30

we're going to get caught unaware and then we're just a porn being used. When you carry yourself like a king, you will be.

It's interesting, man. There's a lot of conversation about where America's at.

And I have a lot of people that have given up on the idea of

12:46

America. And one of the things I've always wanted to tell those people, especially in I would call it progressive politics of like where are we going?

If you should ask anybody, you should ask black America because they're the the only ones to tell you as true Americans what America is

13:01

and where the [ __ ] we are going. I'm asking you.

Mhm. For you personally, method man, when you look at the what what is the point and where are we going?

I don't know. You know what is scary?

Um I'm kind of asking you like your master shifu like I I don't do politics or anything

13:18

like that, but I can say this. Um, I had a sense of calm the four years prior to this establishment coming in.

It was a sense of calm. I felt um I didn't feel overwhelmed like I do now.

And the four years before

13:34

the last four years, I felt a bit overwhelmed. The world is changing.

And the the thing that's that scares me the most is you're just one person. How do you fix it?

You can't. How do you get allies to help you fix it?

Who the [ __ ]

13:51

knows? Because if there if they were there, it would already be an effect of what's happening.

But I do trust that there are some people with our best interest at heart. And I never like putting my life in the hands of another person, but sometimes it's necessary.

I mean, we take planes,

14:07

you know, [ __ ] like that. Yeah.

There are people that can speak truth to power that are way more articulate than I am and can convey my thoughts in a manner that is understandable in a political forum. So, I don't know where we're at right now.

14:23

Right now, I'm like everyone else. I'm sitting on the on the on the edge of my seat with the popcorn waiting for the next ball to drop like what what's going to happen next, right?

Or what's going to what are they going to do next? You know, angry.

Absolutely angry. angry at the fact that

14:39

people have this choice and they squander it with emotions, not intellect. People will vote angry as opposed to voting with their heads.

14:55

And I'm not and this is just a matter of opinion by the way because you know you never know and [ __ ] but I feel like we're doing oursel an injustice every time we don't speak truth to power people will definitely take advantage of you. It's like working in a

15:12

work environment and you're doing your job exceptionally well thinking, well, I'm going to advance in the company. But what actually happens is you get all the work piled on you because they feel like you can handle it and you get no promotion or any credit for it.

You're just a worker that works extra hard.

15:29

That's that's pretty much it. And you can't I I hate to say it, but the way things are looking, it's it's only going to get worse.

And that I'm I'm not a pessimist or an

15:45

optimist. Well, you don't even have you don't even have the op option to be pessimist.

You literally have kids and grandkids. Absolutely.

You know, like nihilism isn't a choice anymore. Look, man, I'm asking you this because I'm I I'm asking myself this question to be honest, which is, you know, I'm a child of immigrants, so we came here by choice,

16:01

but I'm really trying to figure out what am I building towards and what is my personal responsibility? Well, self-preservation first and foremost.

And I know that's a that it's not selfish cuz if you can't take care of yourself, there's no way you can take care of the people around you. So your tribe, you keep your tribe tight, you

16:18

keep your tribe informed, and as the years goes on and whoever your tribe comes into contact with, they still have that moral code that you instilled in them. And maybe it spreads.

Who knows? And I think that's part of it.

So for you, you're like, I set up myself and my family. Yes.

16:33

Kindness to others, kindness to oneself. Yes.

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That's code han hust for 15% off at jlab.com. Speaking of self-preservation, I got to give you props.

I don't know if you're doing this

17:56

by design, but on IG, you're flooding it. Yeah, bro.

Lat pull down. You're doing pull-ups, full extension.

I feel I feel so motivated, right, that I just want to make it simple enough for everybody to just say, "Why the [ __ ] not?" Cuz that's

18:11

how I approached it. Like, why why why aren't I in the gym?

Were you an athlete? No.

Well, when I was younger, I played lacrosse and I played football. I did.

I did. Okay.

Four years of lacrosse, five years of football. Holy [ __ ] Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Long Island. Oh, Long

18:28

with them sticks, baby. With them sticks.

So, I mean, and I didn't take to working out like off top like everybody else did, you know? Like, some guys are just built for that.

Like, they have that mentality. Honestly, I was lazy.

But something just when that 40 hit,

18:45

something in me just said, you know what? I I need to set some goals for myself.

Cuz this is when I I'm seeing social media getting big and everybody goals, goals, goals, goals. What are my goals?

So, when New Year's came around, I said, you know what? I'm gonna take care of my taxes.

19:03

We're putting that on the record. IRS says on the record taxes, um I'm going to get my high school diploma cuz my kids were about to graduate and I'm going to get more fit if I can.

And the fitness thing was off and on, but everything else fell into place. Got my

19:19

diploma, got the uh whole uh tax thing settled, everything. Then I'm going through this insomnia stuff and I'm thinking to myself, I have a membership at the gym.

Maybe I should just go to the gym, work some of this [ __ ] off. Maybe I'll get some rest.

One

19:34

day turned into two, two days turned into three. And I'm talking 4:00 a.m.

in the morning, brother every day. And I had no routine.

I didn't have anything. But I had the mentality of there's 24 hours in a day.

If I can sit down and watch Game of Thrones for an hour and

19:50

make sure that I'm there to watch Game of Thrones, no commercials, by the way, Game of Thrones for an hour, I can go in the gym and do something for myself for an hour, whether it be lift the barbell, whatever. And three days turned into five.

And then this routine started happening and

20:06

I fell in love with it because it made me feel like I wasn't a loser, you know? It made me feel like I had some discipline.

I could pat myself on the back for accomplishing something. and I did something with my day that day as opposed to being on Call of Duty,

20:22

right? Or playing Madden or NBA 2K, you know?

Now I don't feel as bad when I play Madden or NBA 2K, you know. Yeah.

But yeah, I mean I I think um I would love to promote a healthy lifestyle for anybody that came from my era or anybody that's in my age range and tell them

20:39

that it's not as hard as they think it is. The hardest part is or the hardest hump to get over is doing your workout before you actually get in the gym.

This is going to suck. It's going to hurt.

I'm going to throw up. I'm going to do this.

It's not always like that. How do you get over leg day?

20:54

Leg day. You never get over leg day.

If you find anybody that loves leg day, stay away from them. They crazy.

Pretty much, man. I I got to Yeah, man.

Like you you really get after it. Yeah.

And and and by the way, you're not like a machine dude. I'm talking about

21:10

hardcore free weight, right? Yeah, free weights.

Free weights. You're moving metal.

I'm up to 500 on a deadlift. Uh 335 is my max on a bench.

Now, just to keep it a buck with everybody. Heavy weight is all ego.

I don't recommend it

21:27

at all cuz you can hurt yourself and over time your joints are going to give out on you, especially at my age. What I would recommend is lower your weight, go up in reps, and do the perfect reps.

That's the cheat code. Your reps, your contraction,

21:44

and your stretch. Yeah.

The weight is just there for the resistance in between the two points you're trying to do. Have that mentality.

24 hours in a day. Take an hour for yourself.

Go in there, stretch, contract, stretch, contract. Get the [ __ ] up out of there.

You're You're doing 60. You're like 60.

21:59

That's it. Yeah.

Gotcha. How do you feel about all those people with the they're on the phone and the whole I don't care.

I don't care. When I'm in there, I'm focused.

I I have a I have a different kind of gym etiquette, okay? Which is consideration for everybody.

You can't hold someone accountable for what they don't know, only what they do

22:14

know. And some people aren't aware of this [ __ ] A lot of us live in our own little bubbles, especially when it comes to them phones.

People have gotten hit by cars cuz they're in their phone and not paying attention. Um, I pretty much just wait my turn or I find something else to do in the meantime.

And you do

22:30

it first thing in the morning. Well, not anymore.

Okay. I I'm I'm elite now, so I can go at any time.

Oh, great. So, yeah.

No, I was going to say, man, I mean, for for me, this is going to sound weird, but I'm starting to see my mother get older,

22:46

and I'm realizing you don't think about those things. Yeah.

My own health or even her her health. There's certain things, you know, she got her second knee replaced.

I was like, man, every decision I make now to preserve my own health is one less thing someone who loves me

23:02

Mhm. it's one less thing they have to worry about, right?

Like I've taken myself off the the burden table. Yeah.

Like you don't got to worry about me getting up the stairs or you don't got to worry about me. There's parents that hold on because they're worried about their children if

23:17

they're going to be okay. Right.

So that's that's noble as hell right there. Yeah.

But the thing about it is we don't notice when they're getting older. We still view them even when they physically look older.

We still my mom and my dad. Um

23:33

but we still view them as this heroic figure that we came to when we scraped our knee or when we were hungry or when we had a problem. And they they they're still in every capacity, just not as physical as physically or mentally always there for

23:50

some people. Did you have a moment by the way if you don't mind me ask you don't have to answer by the way but your your grandchild meeting their greatgrandmother?

Yeah. Yes.

Yeah. Yeah.

My my Jordy met his grandma. Yes.

She comes over frequently enough.

24:05

Yeah. Have you contextualized what that is?

That's four generation, you know. Yeah.

That's a that's a wild thing, man. You know what?

It's crazy because my dad, he he only had one brother, five sisters. And as far as our family name,

24:21

him and his brother was the only ones that can carry it on. And his brother had all girls.

My dad had one son, and now I'm carrying it on. I got a grandbaby now and another one on the way coming really soon.

So, congratulations. Yeah.

Is it a surreal feeling though to to it? It it it Well, I mean, you take it

24:38

all into perspective. It's it's like, yeah, this is this is the way it's supposed to be.

This is evolution here, you know, and I'm good with that. That's beautiful.

I took my I took my daughter to meet um her greatgrandfather. Wow.

In India. Yeah, man.

It was a surreal a

24:53

very surreal thing. Wow.

Yeah. Um and it's just a beautiful The interaction was great.

I can only imagine what he felt cuz I like to live vicariously through other people and [ __ ] like that. I can only imagine what that felt like for him.

It

25:09

really did feel like this I feel like he was able to feel an incredible lightness like oh man I can't believe these two small children are like my great grandchild they are my daughter's daughter's

25:26

children um so there you know you talk about a superhero character there was 0% anger if I had to look at like the like the stat like there is no anger. There is no like discipline at zero.

Like I'm not

25:42

here to discipline you. I'm not here to get mad at you.

I'm just like literally here to give you like hugs and love and it was just a beautiful but it's also like hey take take this in and I hope my children were taking that moment in of like this person was born in the early 1900s

25:59

right take that in. They've seen they've seen a lot.

Yeah. Trains turn into cars and planes.

Planes TVs. radio turning into TS a lot.

It's a lot. Wow.

So, that was just and maybe it was just it was a moment for me to take in. I

26:14

don't know. I don't know.

I don't know the cosmic meaning of it, bro. But it was it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I don't know. We don't have that connection in uh in in in the States like that.

In my opinion, I think by the time you reach great grandmother, and this is sad, you're

26:30

pretty much being etched out the picture. You know, some people rever big mama.

That's who Big Mama is. Yeah.

Grandma is grandma, nana. Big mama is great grandma.

But by this point, you pretty much etched out of the picture

26:45

and now you just watch or even just stay in contact with your greats. That's all.

Cuz those people they a lot of times they they they be they're forgotten about before they're even passed on, you know, and then you regret the time that you didn't spend with them. So that's a beautiful thing right

27:01

there for him to meet his great grandbaby. Yeah.

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Do you feel very blessed in your life?

28:08

What you've been able to accomplish? Do you have no regrets?

No. None.

I was thinking about your life specifically and and um the fact that you got to be a part of this incredible thing. Now you guys are going back on tour.

Wuang Clan. This is the final tour.

28:23

This is unheard of age. [ __ ] 30 years.

But I I I call it now that we talked about health, we've talked about punk music, but I think you guys actually to give you really your flowers. You were the first hiphop organic artist collective.

Yeah.

28:39

I mean, no, no. You know what?

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I'll take I'll take that.

I mean, the total the total active members was nine, right? That was the primary group.

Yes, sir. Try to get nine people to agree on a lunch order.

There's nine people here like off camera be like, "What are we getting for

28:54

lunch?" And that that's how you get Sweet Green. You know what I mean?

Like you you couldn't get anybody just the Google calendar coordination of it is incredible. I think and we're artists.

Yes. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And it's because people would expect it to be chaotic because of so many individuals.

29:10

But again, we had that understanding and we had that brotherhood and we always spoke as men. Have you ever heard of a Wuang breakup?

No. Not that I'm aware of.

Yeah. There you go.

because it's never happened and I don't think it's ever going to.

29:25

Can you break this down for me, man? This was a a very important detail and and I know this working with writers collectives and artist collectives, which was break this down for me, but from what I read was that the the idea was Wuang

29:41

Enterprises to be this all-encompassing movement with the nine of you, but then you guys were simultaneously allowed to go break off and do your own solo records. Yeah, that was a master plan there that just kept I think it kind of came into fruition to into

29:57

fruition by itself because the deal was offered that way. I don't think it was something that was presented or maybe I could be wrong.

You would have to speak to Rizza if it was presented that way. It's a [ __ ] genius.

But yeah, I mean we literally changed the game cuz there

30:15

was no deal like that prior to us. you know, sign as a group with the option to sign with other labels.

Yeah. So, this is where the empire thing comes in.

I think uh as we're signing with other labels, but Loud has the option to sign us as well as we're signing with these other labels

30:31

who would never even dream of working together now. They are.

And for who? Us.

It's crazy. That's where the empire comes in because you got the group on loud.

Meth man's on def jam. Ch is on

30:48

geffing. Ghost is on Sony.

Raycoin is signed the loud. We got all these labels working together who normally would not.

Yeah. And they're not just working together.

They're working for us. Amazing.

Changed the game.

31:03

Was it it was it was it was by design or it wasn't by design. I have look I'm I don't think that that part of it was by design but it was definitely genius cuz to me I was like I don't know if and I got to ask Rizza this if this was 4D chess Wuang Shell Corporation you

31:20

guys were the original like all right we're going to create the parent entity and then all these like sub entities underneath which was just like cuz I remember having meetings prior to us even being signed at loud where we sat down with Russell Simmons but he wanted three individuals I think out of the

31:36

group, I'm not going to give the names of who, but three individuals out of the group and RZA said, "No, it's either all of us or none of us." So, yeah. And then once we got our deal, O Dirty signed first with Electra.

And I think my deal was next. Dirty

31:53

wanted that deal though. He was like, "Get a contract back to Electra.

[ __ ] that." Man, the ' 90s were a crazy time. Yeah, it was.

They really were a crazy time for record labels and all these deals. Well, it was a crazy the '90s were a crazy time for a lot of things because we had a big comic book boom at the time as

32:09

well. I mean, all these variant covers.

I mean, Marvel was caking up by they they were printing money so many different ways of, you know what I mean? And then it all came crashing down.

Right. Right.

Uh, hip-hop didn't get that at first. Once the streaming and stuff,

32:25

Napster and all of that stuff started to come into play. Yeah.

The labels didn't know how to adjust. Like, what is this?

Oh, it go away. Don't worry about it.

No, it didn't. No, it didn't.

Let me ask you a question about you you've talked about this before, but I wanted to know more about it. I I think

32:41

you were on Drink Champs and you were talking about the 95 Source Awards. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

I didn't like that [ __ ] Any artist out there want to be an artist and want to stay a star and don't want to have to worry about the executive producer trying to be all in

32:56

the video, all on the record dancing. Come to Death Rock.

What? What was going on with that?

It was just something different in the air. And I'm I'mma keep it a buck.

New York was very arrogant that night. Very

33:14

very arrogant cuz I remember Outcast being booed, you know, and I liked Outcast and I was very disappointed at at seeing that [ __ ] Um the tension the reason why the tension was there we it was you know the bad boy dudes is here you know the the death row

33:31

and we didn't know that it was nobody knew at this point in time like there was any friction between the two camps whatsoever and [ __ ] um until the Tupac interview or whatever and [ __ ] Not even the Tupac interview. It was like I wasn't privy to it, but

33:48

then I seen the bandana and the Tupac thing in the thing and I'm like, "Oh, okay. That's what's going on, nigga." And then Sugar goes on and he says that [ __ ] and it was already t I told you it was already tense in there.

New York was on one that night for some reason. It

34:05

was just we were showing our whole entire ass. And I did not like the fact that we had all these different people from different places coming to New York and we did not show them any kind of hospitality.

Whereas us as a group everywhere we went we got love whether

34:21

it was down south, west coast. So I didn't like that.

I ain't like that at all and [ __ ] But in our defense, dude went up there and pulled some [ __ ] Seriously. And and like Sug Knight.

Yeah, sure. He went up there and pulled some [ __ ] And the way that tension

34:38

was in there, it was bad. It It could have gotten even worse.

It could have got really, really bad in there, you know? And that's when the line was drawn in the sand in my opinion where it was like, "What side you taking?" And it should have never been any sides cuz

34:53

anybody that was in the streets knew that's them against them. Leave that [ __ ] alone.

That [ __ ] ain't got nothing to do with them over there and ain't got [ __ ] to do with us over here. Yeah.

I never really understood it cuz I was like, "What does the West Coast?" Yeah. But what does the Atlantic Ocean have to do with the Pacific Ocean?

This

35:09

is like Star Wars versus Star Trek. Like, we could have the debate, but it's this weird amorphous, you know what I mean?

That's When Pac passed away, I was in LA. I was in a I was in a a freaking uh van with UGK, Pimp Cy, and [ __ ] Bun B

35:24

listening to the radio and it got announced on the radio when he passed. And we was all sitting there like, damn, it's [ __ ] up.

And we were out there when Bay got killed. We were living there in LA.

You wuang. So for for you as a musician then what's

35:40

your what's your thought on beef? Like for me as a comedian?

Yeah. I like when and I'm a we're competitive people but I like when the competition is contained.

So we're going to do a roast battle kind of like versus we're going to do it here. And people love them, right?

Tom Brady

35:55

roast. Like you contain it to the thing.

Yeah. And then like you shake hands and it's it's like sports, but in hip-hop from what I've read and seen and heard people and musicians talk about it, which is like beef is just part of it.

Is that true? No.

No. No.

No. Because if we learned

36:13

anything from Andre 3000 when he said the South got something to say at that same Source Awards. But it's like this though.

I'm tired of folks, you know what I'm saying? Them closedminded folks.

You know what I'm saying? It's like we got a demo tape on nobody want to hear.

But it's like this the south got something to say.

36:29

That's all I got to say. All those [ __ ] was networking with each other.

Didn't matter what state they was from. They was down south.

And they all [ __ ] with each other. Rappers.

Only place where I felt the divide was at was in New York cuz it was so competitive. It was so many of us

36:44

in such a dense space and everybody jockeying for a position to the point where you ain't getting along with these. So you definitely ain't going to get along with anybody from any place else.

This is where the arrogance comes in at and it played it part in our demise if you ask me as far as the

37:00

spectrum of hip-hop goes because New York ain't running we're not running the game or even close to being where we were at in the '9s or in the 70s or in the 80s when we could say it was our own, you know,

37:17

right? And I wouldn't want it to just be our own.

I love where it's gone. I love that it found its way to St.

Louis. I love that it found its way to Cleveland.

I love that it found its way to the West Coast and so on and so forth. Even Albuquerque, New Mexico, you know, it's supposed to grow.

But as far as that

37:35

beef [ __ ] man, I'm from an era where when it was beef, that that was a big word. And that meant somebody I was going to die get hurt really [ __ ] bad, right?

So, we need to find a new word for it. Do you feel like kind of what we saw with the Super Bowl, like that's where it needs to go of like, hey, let's just

37:51

keep it about records? No, that was fun.

That was funny as hell, too. That [ __ ] was funny as hell.

We in a viral era where social media distorts every [ __ ] message and [ __ ] What I got out of that was a lot of pride out of that performance. I I I got a lot

38:06

of subliminals saying we we still matter, things like that, you know, that was speaking to a certain community. What other people got out of it was they not like us.

Oh, they disingen great, you know, and which is fun. I mean it again it's

38:22

fun especially when it stays above water. Once you start dragging people down then it gets a little messy.

Right. Right.

You said keep keep the art about the art. Make it in put put articulated all in the performance.

Yeah. But a lot of times it's not even the artists that are getting into the confrontations.

It's the entouragees you

38:38

know and this has been going on for a long time. I mean you take it back to when Ice Cube had a problem with he had a problem with a lot of people or even snooping them with Luke.

Um, they even documented that in uh in um Straight Out of Compton where Ice Cube got into it

38:55

with I forgot who it was and they all started fighting and [ __ ] you know what I mean? Lynch Mob against these dudes, whatever.

But it it it's always been there. But again, we've always had people that can mediate and come in and play a mediator and bring the sides together and remind

39:11

them we're not savages, we men. if we talk these things out and make sure that this misunderstanding doesn't go any further.

Also, man, it's a byproduct of just rolling deep. You say roll deep.

You came here with two. It was you and one other person that you're with on your team.

Like, this is a great

39:27

situation. But if you had rolled here with 6, 8, 10, you it just it starts to get complicated.

I get it. There's too many variables.

I get it. But I say you can roll a 100 people deep and not one of you got a gun.

I bust one shot, you see a 100 run

39:42

by myself. that kind of thing.

You know, it all stems from ego mckismo. I'm the best.

You you ever been to an Indian wedding? You've been No, there's too many people.

This is what I'm saying.

39:58

Okay. Okay.

So, the allegory you're talking about about cruise fighting, this is an Indian wedding pro. This is the Indian wedding problem.

There's too there's too many people with too many opinions, man. Y'all be jamming, bro.

Yeah, we we have great weddings and I'm saying the vibe is incredible for you as a guest. For me, as someone who has to host it,

40:15

you got families and a cousin says, it's like, yo, you're a third cousin. Why are you even Why are you even a part of this?

You have nothing to do with this. I get it.

That's how I feel, man. Um, listen, man.

You have you have an incredible career. Not only I'm working on it.

40:30

Yeah. I mean, your your acting career truly is blossoming.

take me through the stuff that you're working on right now, whether it's Poker Face, your current film that you're promoting right now. Well, I mean, I just wrapped on a movie

40:47

with Kelly Roland called uh Relationship Goals. Um, Kelly is dope.

You know, I I'm learning something about my peers from the '9s that were in the music game that they came to play, not just in the music game, but creatively all around. Um, so

41:04

I just wrapped on that movie. Great experience.

I did a movie with Michael J. White, which is like bucket list [ __ ] for me.

For people that aren't familiar with Michael J. White as a comic book fan, he played Spawn.

He's done lots of things. No, he's a legend.

Very, very much so. Super accomplished actor.

41:19

Uh the poker face thing. Natasha Leon.

I mean, Natasha is genuine. She's the real deal as well, man.

Very, very intelligent woman, but quirky as [ __ ] Super quirky. Love that about her.

And I mean like did you know that you could act because

41:35

you've always had I I feel like you have a thing that you can't teach which is graas. I still don't think I can act.

I'm still working on it. Bro, you played an attorney.

You played an attorney. You've done everything.

I did. I You know what?

I I I I like to look at myself as a person that's willing to do the work to to improve.

41:53

Pretty much. Yeah.

Yeah. And I and I and I take all the uh compliments and everything.

I'll take them with a grain of salt, but I love it cuz it it makes me push harder. What is a musical artist or genre of music that people would be surprised to hear that Method Man is into?

Oh [ __ ] I love Frankie Valley, man.

42:10

Okay. I I like Frankie Valley.

Um [ __ ] I don't know. Um cuz you know, I'm I'm a big System of a Down fan.

I mean, but people would know because Shabo's family. That's like that's our bro right there.

Oh wow. Okay.

But yeah, I I've I'm an 80s glam rock

42:28

dude and [ __ ] Yeah. Because back in those days when we watched the videos in order to see one hip-hop video you had to sit through 80 rock bands.

Bon Joie, Poison, White Snake, uh Rat. Um

42:43

yeah, we used to, you know, every now and then you get a bop from those guys and [ __ ] you know, and then that turns into Metallica and Sword and you know, uh uh Queens of the Stone Age and [ __ ] like that, you know what I mean? Yeah.

Do you have a guilty pleasure that we' be like, "All right, man. I don't want to say this, but Gree 2."

42:58

Okay. The movie Greece 2 is a guilty pleasure of mine.

I heard somebody laughing. Yeah.

Young Michelle Fifer. Come on now.

Of course. Yeah.

Max Cfield, I think his name was. Max Cfield.

He played the the the uh Cool Cool Rider. Yeah.

Uh yeah. Adrien Zmed,

43:14

my dude. Come on, man.

All right. Yeah, that's a guilty pleasure.

M Gree, too. Beautiful.

Um All right, man. I'm going to finish with this.

Banglan final chamber tour. Is it for real?

Is this really final? It's definitely final tour, but you know, Rizza is a a legend

43:30

at marketing. Yeah.

So, I would say this is the final tour. 5 years from now, it'll be a reunion tour.

Let's just say that. Great.

Get your tickets right now at ticketmaster.com to vote. Um, hey man, this was such a beautiful conversation.

I appreciate you coming out and having this convo, man. Really, really

43:47

appreciate it. So, ladies and gentlemen, method, man.

Appreciate you. Stop.

Make your daddy glad. You have such a bad