Method Man

Method Man Gets Improv Lessons From Jonah Hill

10 Oct 2011 18:21:08 EDT

'I applaud people that can think that quick on their feet,' he tells 'RapFix Live,' while offering an update on his acting career.
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway

Throughout his career, Method Man has been able to earn his respect in hip-hop and Hollywood simultaneously. As a prominent member of the Wu-Tang Clan, Meth has released four solo albums, two with Redman and a number of Clan-related projects. As an actor, he's starred in major films like "Belly" and "Cop Land," as well as the critically acclaimed HBO series "The Wire."

Look for Meth to take his acting to another level in the next few months. First, in December he will star alongside Jonah Hill in "The Sitter." While on set with the "Superbad" actor, Tical learned a lesson in improv.

"I didn't know that they did these long-ass rants, to the point where, like, you're waiting to get your line in, and just when you're about to say your line — cut! — ran out of film," he said when he appeared on "RapFix Live" last week. "I applaud people that can think that quick on their feet. Now I watch a Will Ferrell movie, I can see it now. I can see what he's doin'."

At the top of 2012, Meth will transition into more of a dramatic role as a Tuskegee pilot in the World War II drama "Red Tails." In preparing for the role, the rapper learned a lot about the historical significance of the African-American military aviators who had to conquer a racially segregated armed forces. "I met some of the actual pilots, and they would sit there telling us the stories," he said.

Meth — who co-stars with Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard and Tristan Wilds in the George Lucas-produced, Anthony Hemingway-directed film — also spoke on the physical training he had to endure in preparation for the film. According to the rapper, it was a lot like boot camp, but also a valuable bonding experience.

"By the time I was done with the movie, I can actually call the majority of those dudes on the set friends," he said.

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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'RapFix Live' With Method Man And Irv Gotti

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Method Man And Irv Gotti To Roll Through 'RapFix Live'

03 Oct 2011 13:48:21 EDT

Check them out Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET on MTV.com!
By Rob Markman

When he first stepped on the scene, suckers were petrified. Now, Method Man has grown into one of hip-hop's most beloved MCs. He isn't known to do a ton of interviews, but on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET on MTV.com, Mr. Meth will chop it up with Sway on "RapFix Live."

In 1993, the Wu-Tang Clan seemingly came out of nowhere, but now it's pretty hard to imagine hip-hop without the nine-man Staten Island group. Method Man emerged as the crew's first superstar (but certainly not the last) thanks to his standout solo Wu single and Mary J. Blige duet "All I Need." These days, Meth is hitting the road with rappers Curren$y and Smoke DZA and working on his fifth solo album. When he hits the "RapFix" couch, fans can expect Meth to discuss his growth, Wu-Tang's legacy and the future direction of his career.

Check Styles P, Glasses Malone and Mistah Fab on last week's "RapFix Live."

Just as Method Man evolved from local rap artist to worldwide superstar, Irv Gotti went from a little-known Queens, New York, DJ to one of music's most successful executives. After spearheading the career of 1990s rap breakout Mic Geronimo, Irv raised his stock by helping Jay-Z, DMX and Ja Rule all land deals at Def Jam Records in the mid- to late '90s.

As a producer, Irv has crafted hits for Jay, DMX and Ja, as well as Jennifer Lopez, Ashanti and Foxy Brown. Things went sour when Gotti's Murder Inc. record label was put on trial by the federal government for money laundering, and though Irv and his brother Chris were found not guilty in December 2005, the label never quite regained its footing.

Through it all, Gotti has remained one of the industry's most electric personalities and premier hitmakers. There is no telling what Irv will reveal when he hits the "RapFix" couch. Tweet your questions for Method Man and Irv Gotti to @MTVNews with the hashtag #RapFixLive.

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Insane Clown Posse Talk Tila Tequila, Method Man Incidents At The Gathering

03 Sep 2010 12:39:10 EDT

'We've got nothing but love for Method Man and Redman,' Violent J tells MTV News.
By Kyle Anderson

Back at the beginning of August, one of the biggest music festivals of the year took place over a long weekend in Illinois. No, not Lollapalooza — the 11th annual Gathering of the Juggalos, the four-day extravaganza curated by and starring the Insane Clown Posse.

The festival has grown in both size and stature over the past few years, in part because of the online success of trailers that tout the festival and in part because of its increasingly eclectic lineups.

But this year, the Gathering picked up some attention for more negative reasons. A good portion of the mainstream media coverage of the festival reported on the injuries suffered by reality star and sometimes rapper Tila Tequila, who was pelted with debris during her performance. She suffered a number of injuries and threatened to sue ICP, though according to Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J, nothing of that sort has happened.

The pair regret what happened to Tequila and are still trying to figure out her motivation. "The only reason she got hurt was that she stayed up on stage. It was obvious they didn't want her there, so why did she stay up there?" ICP member Violent J told MTV News.

"It was a shame, because all she had to do was get off the stage," he continued. "Nobody said, 'You have to get on there and stay up there to get paid.' The way I understand it, they paid her before she got up there and they said, 'There's a rumor you're not wanted here, and you're free to take off if you like.' She went up there and stayed up there anyway."

Legendary Wu-Tang Clan rapper Method Man also suffered a facial laceration after getting hit with flying debris during his performance with partner Redman. That bothered the men of ICP, because they feel it misrepresented the tenor of their fans. "What happened to Method Man — that shouldn't even be discussed, because that was one a--hole," Violent J said. "One d---head threw something, and by chance, it hit [Method Man] in the face. But he wasn't speaking for Juggalos or for ICP or the Gathering. And they weren't getting bombed up there — it was one a--hole."

"That kid shouldn't have thrown something and should have played the lottery instead," added Shaggy 2 Dope. "Same chances."

But while ICP aren't sure what their status is with Tequila, their relationship with Meth is copacetic. "We've got nothing but love for Method Man and Redman, and we've talked to them since then. We talked to them that night and we talked to him just the other day," J told MTV News. "And if we had caught the kid who threw that, he'd a got it."

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Method Man Also Hit With Debris At Gathering Of The Juggalos

17 Aug 2010 09:20:58 EDT

Following earlier attack on Tila Tequila, rapper was cut on the face by a beer can thrown by an audience member.
By Gil Kaufman

The garbage wasn't just flying during Tila Tequila's set at last weekend's Gathering of the Juggalos. According to photos posted on TMZ, Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man was injured while he and longtime cohort Redman played for a rowdy crowd of Insane Clown Posse fans on Sunday (August 15) night.

The photos show Meth with a bloody gash on the left side of his face. According to an eyewitness, the injury was sustained when someone in the audience tossed what appeared to be a full beer can at the rapper's noggin. TMZ referred to a video, apparently shot just moments after the incident, in which Redman cursed out the crowd and told his pal, "Your face is cut, go take care of that."

Ever the professional, Meth waved off the stage injury and shouted, "Start the music, we're continuing the show. Let's f--- these motherf---ers up!"

Meth appears to have taken his Gathering gash better than Tequila, who told E! Online that she wants to bankrupt the event's organizers after she was reportedly injured when fans pelted her with bottles, rocks and human feces. "I'm hoping this will be the last Juggalos gathering that they will ever have," she said on Monday, reiterating a threat to close down the annual festival that she first made on her Twitter page. Tequila claimed that her lawyers were planning to sue the festival's promoters after she reportedly required stitches on her face and sustained bruises to her body.

Tequila said she was warned by her fans online before the show that the Juggalos were planning to attack her. She also got a heads up from ICP member Violent J, who told TMZ that the duo alerted her to pre-show rumors that she was going to be targeted during her brief Friday night set. "We told her about the rumor and she didn't care," J said. "We paid her before the show and assured her that even if things got out of hand, she could keep the money if she had to leave the stage." Though he said ICP would fight hard against any potential lawsuit, the rapper lamented that the crowd got violent with Tequila.

"If you look at these people, or monsters, whatever they are, they looked very angry and violent," Tequila said. Comedian Tom Green, who tried to stop the rain of garbage on Tequila by doing a dance onstage during her set, told CNN that a huge mob chased the former Playboy model and star of MTV's "A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila" to her trailer, where she tried to hide out as they rocked the vehicle and smashed its windows. When the tabloid fixture tried to flee in an SUV, the windows of that vehicle were also reportedly smashed.

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Method Man

When Tax Day Strikes Celebs: Method Man, Willie Nelson And Other Evaders

15 Apr 2010 06:52:00 EDT

Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Ron Isley have also suffered the consequences of unpaid taxes.
By Kyle Anderson

April 15 is a feared day for many, as it marks the deadline for filing your annual income taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. (If this is news to you, feel free to finish reading this later while you scramble to find your W2.)

Paying taxes as a rock star can be difficult, as you usually have dozens of different income streams, spend most of your time on the road and can't often keep track of your own payroll (or, you know, what month it is). Sometimes it helps to move to a tax-free foreign country, like David Bowie (who moved to Switzerland), the Rolling Stones (France) and Cat Stevens (Brazil).

Though it seems like you could avoid the burden forever, the IRS tends to catch up with everybody. When that happens, they're either prosecuted (like Method Man, who was arrested and charged with tax evasion based on the $33,000 he owed to Uncle Sam) or else you have to come up with a pretty inventive way to come up with the cash.

Take country-music icon Willie Nelson, who through either ignorance or unwillingness never bothered to pay his taxes over his hugely successful career. When the IRS caught up with him in 1997, they handed him a bill for $16.7 million. Unable to pay the government, Nelson quickly released the double album The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories? and sold off most of his possessions. He managed to pay it off after settling for an undisclosed amount, and luckily many of the items auctioned off were purchased by friends of his, so he was able to recover most everything.

Nelson was perhaps taking a cue from Jerry Lee Lewis, who in 1984 was face-to-face with a prison term for the $560,000 he owed in unpaid taxes. In order to avoid hard time, Lewis did what any desperate rock star would do: He set up a phone number that allowed callers to hear the Killer tell stories from his childhood for the price of $2.75 per minute. It was lucrative enough to get him out of a jam.

While Lewis managed to avoid doing time, rock legend Chuck Berry wasn't so lucky. In 1979, the government decided that the man who invented rock and roll owed them $200,000 in unpaid taxes. It was the third time the government had told him to pay up, so Berry pleaded guilty to tax evasion, spent four months in jail and put forth 1,000 hours of community service.

That was a walk in the park compared to Ron Isley, who thought that declaring bankruptcy would allow him to sidestep doing time. Not so, as the founder of the Isley Brothers spent 37 months behind bars in a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, for tax evasion. Even then, he might have gotten off easy, as the maximum sentence he could have faced was 26 years.

How do celebs always get themselves in a bind with the taxman? Did we miss any rock-star tax stories? Let us know in the comments below!

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Method Man, Ghostface Killah And Raekwon Hype Up Wu Massacre

11 Mar 2010 16:06:00 EST

'If you're a ride-or-die Wu-Tang fan, and you know where we coming from, you're gonna enjoy this one,' Rae says.
By Shaheem Reid

Although Raekwon, Method Man and Ghostface Killah are putting out the Wu Massacre album together, you shouldn't consider the trio a group — their group will always be the Wu-Tang Clan.

"We're not doing this to win. We're not doing this to bring Wu-Tang to the forefront. We're not doing this to save the group. We're a part of the group," Method Man said recently in New York. "This album could have been done by Deck, U-God and GZA. Either/or, it's still Wu-Tang. The bottom line with this LP, it was something fans always requested. It's like, what else was we doing? It was a given. Hopefully, we can all get back in the studio and get enough time to really work on an LP."

Although Meth and his fellow Clansmen were excited to make Wu Massacre, they didn't get as much time locked in the lab as they wanted. Def Jam was eager to get the album out to ride the wave of the critical success for Meth and Redman's Blackout 2, Ghostface's Wizard of Poetry and Rae's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx ... Pt. II.

"Def Jam put a rush on it," Meth said. "We didn't have a lot of time to work on it. We recorded with no budget. It is what it is. We did this for the fans. It felt good to get in the studio with Rae and Ghost. The future looks bright."

The LP features the three swordsmen and a host of guests, including Ghost's son Sun God and Method Man's close friend Street Life. Only a handful of songs, however, feature Meth, Rae and Ghost together.

"It's a couple of joints on there you're gonna like," Rae said. "We're not all on the same joint, because we think that's kinda corny. 'Let him get his off. Y'all two do that. I don't gotta be there.' Or 'We do that. You don't have to be there.' It's an album to get back on the mic and do what we do over hot beats. When you think of Wu, you look at it as, we make hot albums. We don't make great singles that's gonna take off. We always focus on the body of the work. We focus on the album and make sure you get a chance to vibe with us for an hour or so."

Meth, Rae and Ghost didn't get a lot of time to spend in the studio because of their individual schedules. Some songs were pulled from unreleased recordings, and Ghostface acted as the main curator for the album.

"A lot of the production was dealt with through us playing phone tag," Rae said. "Ghost had a lot to do with really binding the album together. It's a great album. I think the people gonna enjoy it. One thing about me that I could say is, lyrically, it's never been a problem for us to deliver. It's great production on the album. RZA is on there. A couple of other soldiers we work with is on there. If you're a ride-or-die Wu-Tang fan, and you know where we coming from, you're gonna enjoy this one."

One of the LP's immediate standouts is "Meth vs. Chef 2." Over dramatic horns, Rae and Meth trade verses, trying to be iller than the other.

"Sh-- on your crew, n---as it's Wu, rap athlete/ The track shoe bigger than you," Meth rhymes on the record. "I sneeze on the track and get atchu."

Rae answers: "Y'all rappers gonna feel my pain/ But the other way around, when it's going down/ I'm gonna reign."

Are you excited to hear Wu Massacre? Will it tide you over till the next Wu-Tang album? Let us know below!

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Method Man Wants Next Solo Album To Be 'My Classic LP'

22 Feb 2010 19:33:00 EST

'I feel like I have to prove myself to myself,' MC says of upcoming The Crystal Meth.
By Jayson Rodriguez, with reporting by Steven Roberts

Method Man has been in a collaborative state of mind lately, after last year's The Blackout 2 with Redman and the forthcoming Wu-related effort with Raekwon and Ghostface — but the MC is still a soloist at heart.

He's working on his new album The Crystal Meth, and the Def Jam star has his sights set high in terms of output, aiming for a classic on his next opus.

"I just want my classic," he told MTV News. "People always say, 'You already got a classic first LP,' but not to me. I want my classic LP, the five-mic-er for myself. Not based on The Source's five mics but a five-mic-er to myself. I don't feel like I have to prove myself to anybody. But I feel like I have to prove myself to myself.

"It's like when your child brings home an 80 on a test," he continued. "That's a good grade, but you know they can do better."

The Crystal Meth will be the veteran rapper's fifth solo album and first since 2006's 4:21 ... The Day After. Method Man is currently promoting his joint project with Rae and Ghost and the trio recently shot a video in New York for the lead single "Our Dreams." The three are set to travel overseas soon where Method Man will start writing more for his forthcoming effort.

He told MTV News he only makes solo albums now because his fans keep calling for them.

"This is the most comfortable I've been in my whole career, because I don't have all those obligations that I've had before," Meth explained. "You know, doing the Wu-Tang, then the Wu-Tang solo projects, then my project, then me and Redman. Right now, I can do it at my own leisure. Honestly, I don't want to make an album by myself, but it's something that's required, and the fans want that, so I'm gonna do that."

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Eminem's Comic-Book Collection Is 'Otherworldly,' Shady Exec Says

18 Dec 2009 16:20:00 EST

He even has ultra-rare 'Amazing Fantasy' #15!
By Steven Roberts

It's no secret that many rappers are huge comic-book fans: For example, Ghost Rider and Iron Man are aliases of comic-book characters Johnny Blaze and Tony Stark respectively, but they're also aliases of Wu-Tang Clan's Method Man and Ghostface as well. Meth adopted Johnny Blaze out of his love for the badass with a flaming skull, mystical chain and penchant for vengeance, and Ghostface actually named his first album Ironman, and appeared in the first "Iron Man" movie.

That's why Shady Records exec Riggs Morales jumped at the idea to become an associate producer for the "Marvelous Color" exhibit in New York, which runs through February 26 of next year. The exhibit, which is curated by Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, highlights the six major black characters in the Marvel Comics Universe: Storm, Black Panther, Blade, the Falcon and War Machine. Morales said he's been looking for a way to bring the two worlds together, and felt this exhibit was perfect.

"If you asked Method Man, Just Blaze, DMC, Chuck D, their music was inspired by the comic book world, and specifically the Marvel characters," he said.

"I've gotten a small glimpse of Eminem's collection, and Eminem's collection is otherworldly," he continued. "[He has items that] aren't even on display at the stores."

Morales said that the rarest comic he's seen was Mr. Mathers' "Amazing Fantasy" #15, marking Peter Parker and Spider-Man's first appearance.

"As a collector, you grew up and it's a myth! You can't afford it. The only way that you can try to touch that comic is if it's right in front of you, or you're purchasing it. To see it in your face — it's in 'Pulp Fiction' when John Travolta opened up the briefcase [with awe, regarding a never-revealed object]. It's like that."

He said there's no limit to what a good collection. Some people are interested in Chris Claremont's run on the X-Men which included the "Phoenix Saga" and "God Loves, Man Kills" story arcs, which were the basis of the second X-Men movie, X2: X-Men United. Others may only want to collect comics from Image Comics' run in the '90s, including "WildC.A.T.S," "Gen 13" and "Youngblood."

For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com.

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RZA Wants In On Raekwon, Ghostface, Method Man's Joint Album

20 Oct 2009 06:52:00 EDT

Plus: Gucci Mane releases his three-tape series The Cold War, in Mixtape Daily.
By Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Rahman Dukes

Our top section is called "Don't Sleep," and that's a motto that Gucci Mane has lived by for the past two years. In 2009 alone, he's had about 200 of his songs on mixtapes, and none of them were his bells-and-whistles single "Spotlight," which just hit the Net on Monday. The track features Usher and finds Gucc in a zone he knows all too well. No, not his 'hood, ATL Zone 6 — the club. We're gonna give you a synopsis of his three latest street CDs (not including The BurrPrint [The Movie 3-D], which came out last week, or the upcoming Halloween release Fright Night). And right after Gucc, be sure to see how the RZA feels about Raekwon, Ghostface and Method Man making a joint album.

Don't Sleep: Necessary Notables

Mixtape Series: The Cold War (Guccimerica, Great Brrritain and BurrRussia)
Headliner: Gucci Mane
Co-Starring: DJ Drama, DJ Scream and DJ Holiday
Key Collaborations: "The Other Day," featuring Jim Jones (BurrRussia); "Party Animal," featuring Snoop Dogg (BurrRussia); "Euphoria," featuring Waka Flocka and Rocko (BurrRussia); "Street Cred," featuring Drake and Mike Bigga (Guccimerica); "In My Business," featuring Drake and Sean Garrett (Guccimerica); "I'm Expecting," featuring Juvenile (Great Brrritain)
Essential Info: A triple tape? To call that rare is an understatement. Gucci Mane is obviously in overdrive as he gets closer to his December release date of the official album The State vs. Radric Davis. On Saturday (October 17) at exactly 10:17 p.m., the Gucc dropped his Cold War series with Drama, Holiday and Scream. The flamboyant ATL chain-swinger has more than 30 songs on the three mixtapes, with appearances by everyone from Drake to Snoop Dogg. Check out the Guccimeria intro, "#6," where Gucci speaks for the first time about his placement on the Hottest MCs list. He says it's ironic that he came in at #6, and he's also from Zone 6 in Atlanta. With all the music he's been putting out lately, it's obvious Gucci is dead real about trying to move up to the list to #1.

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"I think it's a great idea," RZA said of Raekwon, Ghostface and Method Man teaming up. "I was pushing that idea to them years ago. Back in the day, we was gonna have a branch called 'The Brothers From the Grain' that was kinda those guys right there. I'm gonna see Meth tonight in the studio to see if I could add on something to that project. Add some depth to it. They are three of the most prolific voices in Wu-Tang. Ghost would call it 'Three the Hard Way Doing Their Thing.' "

RZA says the Clan are at a point where everybody is strong individually, which makes it even greater when they combine.

"We're at a period of life, if anybody from Wu-Tang needs me, I'm there for them," he elaborated. "Everybody has grown and matured to where we don't need each other. ... Everybody is now independent, and sometimes we become what I call interdependent. We don't need each other, but it's good to work with each other and use each other's energy for the whole brand and the whole Clan. U-God reached out to me and said, 'I want you to produce my whole album.' I'm like, 'It's all good.' When I worked [on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II] with Raekwon, he was like, 'How much you gonna charge me?' I said, 'It's on the house, baby. Just give me my publishing. My rights. But you don't have to give me no money to work with you, baby.' "

For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines.

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Method Man Arrested On $33,000 Tax-Evasion Charge

05 Oct 2009 15:17:00 EDT

'Taxes are a burden that all citizens share, whether you're an average Joe or a high-profile rap artist," D.A. says of Wu-Tang rapper.
By Jayson Rodriguez

Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man (born Clifford Smith) was arrested on Monday (October 5) for tax evasion after reportedly failing to pay almost $33,000 in personal income taxes, according to a press release from the district attorney's office in New York's Staten Island.

The rapper, a Staten Island native, turned himself in to police and was later charged with two counts of tax evasion. If found guilty, he could face up to four years in prison. The most serious charge he faces is a felony violation of repeated failure to file personal income and earnings tax. The rapper was also slapped with a misdemeanor failure to pay tax charge.

The rapper turned himself in to the DA's detective squad on his own accord to face the charges. He was investigated after it was discovered he had failed to pay personal taxes dating back to 2004 through 2007, totaling $32,799. The rapper is also on the hook for accrued interest and penalties stemming from the back taxes.

Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan said the rapper will be "aggressively investigated and prosecuted" if he's found guilty of the charges.

"Taxes are a burden that all citizens share in a civil society, whether you're an average Joe on the street or a high-profile rap artist," Donovan said in a statement. "Because of the alleged action of people like Mr. Smith, law abiding citizens face higher taxes and reduced government services."

According to the arrest report, Method Man turned himself in just after 8 a.m. and is scheduled to be arraigned later on Monday. No court date has been set yet, as of press time. The rapper has retained Peter Frankel to represent him in the matter.

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