Method Man is a very respectable American record producer and a rapper, who also became an actor. He is very known through his hip-hop group named Wu-Tang Clan.
He is very well known because of his career with these man and has been working very hard to provide himself a good life after all that happened to him.
Early years
He was born as Clifford M. Smith on March 2, 1971, in the Town of Hempstead, which is one of the three Nassau County towns. His parents were separated and lived in different areas of New York so we can say that he had spent his childhood in two places.
A part of it he spent living with his mother in Park Hill, in Staten Island and the second part he spent with his father on Long Island.
He is not an only child, he has two sisters named Missy and Terri. They have all been very well connected, but due to their differences in life they have broken apart a bit and are as well very busy. They try to hang out as much as possible, though.
His father is Clifford Smith Senior and his mother is Genola Smith. They are not especially known in any way.
Career development
Method Man came to limelight after a big success his hip hop collective gained in 1993. He joined the club one year earlier.
Wu-Tang Clan released their debut album titled “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 chambers) in 1933, and he had a solo song on this album. He was the first one in the group who released his solo album outside the group.
His solo debut album named “Tical” was released in 1994 by Def Jam Recordings although at first it was said that he would sign to Elektra Records. His fellow group member was signed to that label ao it was considered that he would sign to them too.
“Tical” became a success, both amongst the public and the critics. The album came to a high No.4 place on the charts and the biggest hit from it was “All I Need” which later gained a Grammy Award.
Method Man acquainted a very known NYC rapper The Notorious B.I.G. and the two of them became friends. Method Man was the only rapper who was invited to make a guest appearance on “Ready to Die”, Notorious B.I.G.’s album.
In 1995, the guest appeared on albums by Showbiz and A.G. It was a big thing to do and go through and this was one of the most important reasons of his career growing.
He also guests appeared on one of the most notable rap albums ever: “All Eyez On Me”, by Tupac Shakur.
In 1996, he guest appeared on “Muddy Waters” album by Redman. This was a huge event for him and he was very happy to be featured.
In 1997, his hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan released the album following 36 chambers. It was titled “Wu-Tang Forever” and it was later nominated for a Grammy award. This album was sold in 4 million copies all around the world. Method Man released his 2nd solo album next year, in 1998. It was named “Tical 2000: Judgement Day” and as the name says it’s center was the upcoming apocalypse in 2000. All of his group members guests appeared on this album.
This album became a double platinum album and was a huge success not only in the US but all over the world. Many known artists were featured on this album, from Chris Rock and Mobb Deep to Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes and Janet Jackson. The album was selling very well, reaching Platinum and Gold both in the US and in Canada. The album was produced by RZA and True Master but was criticized for the comedy skits on it.
In 1999, Method Man went on the Hard Knock Life Tour with Jay-Z, Redman and three other rappers. It was during this tour that his longtime collaboration with Redman brought a hit album “Blackout!” Which reached platinum.
This success gained them a lot of money through movie and TV appearances and endorsement deals. The duo starred in the movie “How High” in 2001. They even had a sitcom titled “Method & Red” but it was of short life and stopped airing on Fox TV very quickly.
In 2000 and 2001 Wu-Tang released two more albums that went platinum: Iron Flag and The W. In 2004, Method Man finally released his new 3rd album. “Pical O: The Prequel” but it wasn’t received well amongst the critics and was considered too mainstream. It was considered that Missy Elliot and P. Diddy weren’t good guests for the album because they had a more “commercial” sound. P. Diddy was even the producer on the album.
His fourth album was titled “4i 21: The Day After” and it was released in 200z. It was produced by many producers but, to Method’s pleasure, his friend RZA was the main producer. The sound on this album pleased the public because it was noticed that he had returned to his roots.
The album didn’t sell as much as it should, mostly because it had no video or single released. Method Man toured a lot but spoke about his disappointment with Def Ham and its managers. In 2008, Method Man and Redman released their new work, a remake of a single called Broken Language. They named it Broken Language 2008 and the performed it at the University of Florida.
“Blackout! 2” was released in the spring 2019 and was featured with many artists, Bun B one of them. The last Method Mans studio album was going to be named “Crystal Meth”. It was postponed several times and still hasn’t seen the light of day.
His new single called “World Gone Sour (The Lost Kids)” was released in 2011. It was available on iTunes. It was a pretty popular single and did very well on the charts.
In 2013, he had to put a lot of time and effort into a new album by his hip-hop group collaborative. The album was titled “A Better Tomorrow”, and it was their 6th studio album.
In 2015 he has released a mixtape named “The Meth Lab” which was earlier announced to be released in 2014. Regarding his acting career, we must know that he had appeared in many important series which were very popular. He was in Twilight Zone and CSI, for example. As for his roles in CSI, he was a cast member three times.
In 2006 he joined the team in an episode titled “Poppin’ Tags”. In 2007 he appeared in “Big Shots” and “Drops out”
He was often invited to various TV shows like Mind of Mencia and others. This was a great experience for him and he enjoyed it very much.
In 1998 he gained more prominent gig in the Ameri a crime drama named “Belly”. He eas one of the cast members which included DMX, Nas, Taral Hicks, and F Boz.
He received good critics for this role and received offers for his new acting gigs. Eventually, he gained roles in “Garden State” with Natalie Portman. “One Eight Seven” with Samuel L. Jackson and “Soul Plane” with Tom Arnold and Kevin Hart. He also had a small role in “Venom” from 2005.
In 2008 he was starring in a comedy-drama movie “The Wackness” and a parody movie titled “Meet the Spartans”.
In 2007 he had the main antagonist role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit aired by NBC. He likes to act and thought that he could make a really good career in movies. He thought that acting was his call at one point, but soon realized it wasn’t truly like that.
Method Man gave his voice to several video games. He gave his voice to Blaze, the main character of a 3d action video game released by EA games.
He voiced another leading character named Gooch, in “Def Jam: Icon”, a fighting game developed by EA Chicago but published by Electronic Arts for X Box and PlayStation.
He gave his voice to Meth, one of the most important players in the game titled “Underground”.
In 2003, he gained the role of Alicia Keys’ boyfriend in her music video for her hit single “If I Ain’t Got You”.
He starred in a music video created for Beanie Sigel, where he had the role of an undercover cop. This was a really fancy music video that got a lot of views so he was really happy to find out about all of this being a success.
In “The Good Guys”, an American comedy series which aired on Fox, he also played the main negative character an arsonist.
In “Burn Notice”, a TV series with Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar, he played the role of a hip hop executive. In 1997’s “Cop Land” he had a cameo role of a very negative character of a violent criminal.
He also had the role of a patient in a mental institution in a tv drama aired on ABC and directed by an American director Peter Berg.
He starred as Jonah Hill in an American comedy movie named “The Sitter”, in 2011.
George Lucas hired him in his movie “Red Tails” about airmen. This was a really fun time for him and he loved to shoot this movie.
In 2011 he had a big role in “The Mortician” and in 2015 in “#Lucky Number”.
In 2014, he gave his voice to an animated adult series titled “Chosen” which was aired on FX. It was very interesting to do this since he hasn’t been in a business like that before.
“Difficult people” us a Web TV series premiered on Hulu where he also appeared in a cameo role.
He also had appearances in Marvel’s Luke Cage and in Paterson. It was a pretty cool experience and he talked about it later on when he was being interviewed.
In Keanu, a Peter Atencio’s comedy movie be had appeared as “Cheddar”.
He began hosting “Drop the Mic”, a music reality competition series on TBS which became a part of “The Late Late Show with James Corden”. The other presenter was Hailey Bieber.
He is a regular appearance in “The Dence”, a TV series by Simon and Pelecanos which aires on HBO.
In 1995, Method Man was featured in “The Show”, a documentary movie directed by Brian Robbins.
He had a guest appearance in “Yo Momma”, an MTV reality show. It was a comedy show that did very well.
Method Man is a very creative personality. He produced a series of graphic novels, which later his Wu-Tang Clan friends GZA and Ghostface Killah also did.
Personal life
As for his personal life he got engaged to Tamika Smith in 1999 and married her two years later.
He is known as a marijuana consumer. He was arrested for possession in 2007. A policeman who arrested hum found it under the seat of his car.
He pleaded guilty and had to perform community service which involved working with kids.
Two years later he was arrested because of tax violations and the fact that he owed the state over $30 000. He had to pay the sentence of over $100 000.
In 2003, he had an argument with Wu-Tang Clan business managers Grant and Diggs. This was some great controversy in the world of media.
In 2006, he conflicted with Wendy Williams, tv hist because she aired about Method Man’s private life and his wife’s cancer. He didn’t even tell the family members and Wendy spoke about it, shocking them all, including Method Man.
He fathers two sons born in 1996 and 2001 and a daughter born in 1997. He loves them very much and tries to spend time with them but doesn’t have too much of it to spare.
He always speaks about how it is important to keep the children close to their parents.
Quick summary
Full name: Clifford M. Smith
Date of birth: March 2, 1971
Birthplace: Hempstead, New York, United States
Age: 48
Profession: rapper, record producer, businessman
Height: 191 cm
Weight: 92 kgs
Net Worth: $14 million