The first
Wu-Tang Clan
solo album to follow the seismic impact of
Enter the Wu-Tang
,
Method Man
's
Tical
similarly delivers an otherworldly wallop, one that instantly sets the madcap MC apart from his clansmen as the collective's shining star. Not only is
Meth
madcap, both in terms of mentality and delivery, he's also incredibly witty and wordy. Here he inspires hilarity as well as astonishment, and the way that he fires off his rhymes with such seemingly spontaneous ease compounds this sense of wonder. Just as
is quite clearly leagues above practically every other rapper in 1994 sans a small handful, if that, so is his producer,
Wu-Tang
abbot
RZA
, who produces the entirety of
: from the antiquated flutes and kung fu flick samples that open the album, to the pulse-accelerating beats of
"Bring the Pain"
and the fist-pumping ones of
"All I Need"
(the b-boy version rather than the radio-geared one featuring
Mary J. Blige
), to the rallying, warlike horns of
"Release Yo' Delf."
Despite a few outside contributions, most notably from
Raekwon
on the rowdy spar-fest
"Meth vs. Chef,"
is strictly a two-man show,
bringing da ruckus and
the swarming soundscapes, and that's precisely what further makes this album such a treasure amid the many
gems. Where most of
's clansmen delivered guest-laden albums that sounded more like group efforts than solo ones,
strictly spotlights the group's two stars and does so with refreshingly straightforward flair. There's none of the epic overreaching that mars so many
rap
albums of the era; rather, there's just over a dozen tracks here, and they're filled to the brim with rhymes and beats and little else -- no
pop
-crossover concessions nor any heady experimentation for the sake of experimentation, just good ol'-fashioned
hip-hop
, albeit with a dark, dark deranged twist. ~ Jason Birchmeier