Spike
Launched	March 7, 1983 (as TNN) September 25, 2000 (as The New TNN) August 11, 2003 (as Spike)
Owned by	Network Enterprises, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of MTV Networks, wholly owned by Viacom)
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Slogan	Get Real
Headquarters	New York City, New York, United States
Formerly called	The Nashville Network (1983-2000) TNN (1983-2000) The National Network (2000-2002) The New TNN (2000-2003) Spike TV (2003-2006)
Website	http://www.spike.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV	Channel 241 (SD/HD)
Dish Network	Channel 168 (SD/HD)
Bell TV (Canada)	Channel 628
Shaw Direct (Canada)	Channel 584 / 268
G-18 N/Central America/Caribbean	4040 V / 29270 / 3/4 Channel 170 (Transponder 17)
AMC-11 N/Central America/Caribbean	4060 H / 29270 / 3/4 Channel 530/930 (Transponder 18)
Cable
Rogers Cable (Canada)	Channel 279
Verizon FiOS	Channel 54 (SD) Channel 554 (HD)
Available on most cable systems	Check Local Listings for channels
IPTV
AT&T U-verse	Channel 145 (SD) Channel 1145 (HD)

Spike (formerly Spike TV) is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network (TNN), a joint venture of WSM, Inc. (a subsidiary of National Life and Accident Insurance Company) and Group W Satellite Communications; Gaylord Entertainment Company acquired the channel a few months later. After several changes of ownership and name, Spike currently operates as part of MTV Networks, owned by Viacom.

Spike is available in 98.7 million American homes.^[1] It features re-runs of popular shows such as CSI, CSI: NY, Unsolved Mysteries, and The Ren and Stimpy Show, along with various original programs and movies, all targeting males 18-34. It is also the home of Impact Wrestling, the flagship show of professional wrestling organization Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. As of 2006, Spike's viewership was almost half women (45%), although many of them are reported to be watching it with male partners or family members, or were watching the CSI franchise.^[2] The average age of the channel's viewers was 42 years old.

In October 2007, Kevin Kay was appointed network president after being executive vice president and general manager of the channel for the previous two years.^[3] The post had been vacant since December 2006.^[4]

Precursors[link]

The Nashville Network era (1983–2000)[link]

Spike was originally launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network (TNN), a country living and country music-themed television channel, from the now-defunct Opryland USA theme park near Nashville, Tennessee. Country Music Television (CMT), founded by Glenn D. Daniels, beat TNN's launch by two days, robbing them of the claim of "first country music cable television network." TNN's flagship shows included Nashville Now, The Statler Brothers Show, American Sports Cavalcade, and Grand Ole Opry Live. Nashville Now and the Grand Ole Opry were broadcast live from Opryland USA.^[5][6] The Gaylord Entertainment Company purchased TNN and the Opryland properties in the latter half of 1987. Much of TNN's programming (except for its sports) during the Gaylord era was originally produced by Opryland Productions, also owned by Gaylord Entertainment.^[7] From 1983-1992, all of TNN's auto racing and motor sports coverage was produced by Diamond P Sports. Starting in 1993, TNN started having their NASCAR coverage produced by World Sports Enterprises, and the American Speed Association coverage produced by Group 5 Sports, while Diamond P continued to produce most of the rest of the racing coverage. Programming included variety shows, talk shows, game shows, outdoor shows (such as hunting and fishing), and lifestyle shows; all centered in some way around country music or the country style of living.^[8] Some of TNN's popular on-air talent included local Nashville media personalities Ralph Emery,^[9] Dan Miller, Charlie Chase, and Lorianne Crook, as well as established stars such as country music singer Bill Anderson and actresses Florence Henderson and Dinah Shore. By 1995, TNN was acquired by Westinghouse Electric Corporation, which owned CBS; two years later, Westinghouse bought CMT, TNN's chief competitor. In 1998, the channel dropped its "The Nashville Network" moniker and shortened its official name to the simpler TNN, and ownership shifted to Viacom in the late 1990s after its acquisition of CBS Corporation, Westinghouse's successor.^[10] TNN subsequently relocated its headquarters to New York City from Nashville and folded into Viacom's MTV Networks division.

The National Network, The New TNN and the WWE era (2000–2003)[link]

On September 25, 2000, Viacom sensed redundancy among its TNN and CMT channels when it merged them into its MTV Networks unit. Hence, the company decided to refocus TNN, and in the process the channel dramatically scaled back its country-western trappings and changed its name to The National Network.^[5][11]

The network's name change also triggered a significant programming change in an attempt to appeal to a broader audience than the channel's original constituency of rural/working-class Southern whites. This change was catalyzed by Viacom's acquisition of the rights to World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE) programming, including its flagship show RAW Is War. Football also became more prominent on the network, as it began airing games of the original Arena Football League (AFL) with Eli Gold as an announcer. The National Network was also one of three networks to air games of the ill-fated XFL (NBC and UPN being the other two). As part of its contract, TNN had the rights to a late Sunday afternoon game each week except for the first week, when UPN aired the afternoon game instead.

In 2001, TNN aired the first opening-round game of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament when organizers expanded the field to 65 teams; it was produced by CBS Sports with CBS announcers. The game coverage moved to ESPN in 2002 and stayed there until 2010. As of 2011, it will be shown on a channel owned by Time Warner, possibly truTV, and will be produced by Turner Sports.

In 2001, TNN added off-network sitcoms and dramas such as Diff'rent Strokes,^[12] The Wonder Years,^[13] The Rockford Files,^[13] WKRP in Cincinnati,^[13] Newhart, Miami Vice^[13] and Taxi.^[13][14] It also became the first channel to air Mad TV off-network. These moves went unnoticed for the most part, due to TNN's lack of popularity. By this time, all country-western programming had been purged from the network; some of The Nashville Network's former programming was picked up by CMT, while other classic TNN shows were picked up by GAC, including eventually the Grand Ole Opry, which was pushed off to CMT and eventually removed by Viacom after they did not renew the agreement to carry the series in an attempt to infuse a more youthful schedule on CMT.

As time went on, the words "The National Network" were downplayed in promotions. By late 2002, the channel was known simply as The New TNN and had picked up more male-oriented shows, such as Baywatch, Monster Jam, Bull Riding, Robot Wars and Star Trek: The Next Generation. This was done in an effort both to further distance itself from its former country music-based identity and to trumpet an increase in original programming. Television critics at the time noted disdainfully that "The New TNN", when written out, technically stood for "The New The National Network", a pleonasm. Also, after more than two years in a non-country format, the network's offerings had long ceased to be "new" in any meaningful sense.

Spike TV (2003-present)[link]

In early 2003, The New TNN was rebranded as Spike TV, marketed as the first television channel for men. In early 2006, Spike removed the word "TV" from its name, referring to itself simply as Spike.

Spike Lee lawsuit[link]

The name change to "Spike TV" was supposed to be official on June 16, 2003.^[15] However, on June 13, film director Spike Lee won a New York Supreme Court injunction preventing the name change. Lee claimed that because of his well-known popularity in Hollywood, Enrique would therefore assume that he was associated with the new channel.^[16] Lee stated in court papers that: "The media description of this change of name, as well as comments made to me and my wife, confirmed what was obvious--that Spike TV referred to Spike Lee."^[17]

The channel had planned an official launch of its new name at a star-studded, televised party at The Playboy Mansion in mid-June. But due to Lee's injunction, the special—titled Party With Spike—had to be heavily edited and the impact of the event was considerably muted. During the lawsuit, even the name "TNN" was significantly scaled back, as logos and voice-overs referred to the channel only as "The First Network for Men".

Spike Jones Jr., son of comic musician Spike Jones, became a party of the lawsuit as part of Viacom's defense to protect the rights to his father's name.^[18] The suit was settled on July 8, 2003, and TNN was allowed to call itself Spike TV. In announcing the settlement, Lee admitted that he did not believe that the channel intentionally tried to trade on his name.^[19]

The name change became official on August 11, 2003.^[20]

Spike programming[link]

The name change was slated to coincide with an adult-oriented change in programming including original animated series Stripperella and Gary the Rat. Popular reruns such as Baywatch, V.I.P. and The A-Team, original specials such as The 100 Most Irresistible Women and imported programming such as MXC.

Spike TV hired cartoonist John Kricfalusi and a new version of the classic animated hit The Ren & Stimpy Show returned with new episodes in a series known as Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon". After Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" was canceled, the channel started airing classic episodes that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the 1990s; it was named Ren & Stimpy: The Classics. It was TV-PG instead of TV-MA, though it aired late at night. The original Nickelodeon episodes aired on Spike also aired uncut.

The channel now airs a combination of original programming and reruns of network programming, including series from the CSI and Star Trek franchises, MXC, Game Head, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and Ultimate Fighting Championship programming.

It has scored some major coups in terms of its programming, receiving syndication rights to several Star Trek series (which was produced by another Viacom branch, Paramount Pictures), as well as most of the James Bond series of movies. It is also the cable home to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and the cult TV favorite MXC, an overdubbed version of the Japanese series Takeshi's Castle.

In the fall of 2003, Spike TV aired The Joe Schmo Show, a parody of reality television shows like Survivor and Big Brother. Its finale led to the channel's highest ratings at the time, and a second season aired in the Summer of 2004. In November 2004, Spike TV purchased the cable/satellite syndication rights to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation for a record price of $1.9 million per episode. It joined the lineup on October 1, 2006. The promotion of the CSI franchises earned Spike the colloquial title "The CSI Channel" during this period because as much as one third (eight hours) of programming blocks were devoted to the franchise.

On November 18, 2004, they broadcasted reruns of the Nickelodeon TV series SpongeBob SquarePants at midnight, to promote The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie that came out the next day. They did this almost all night, as did another MTV Networks channel, VH1.

In September 2005, all WWE (formerly the WWF) programming on Spike TV left the channel as a result of acrimonious contractual matters between WWE and Viacom. WWE Raw moved back to its original cable home, NBC Universal's USA Network while WWE Sunday Night HEAT and WWE Velocity moved to WWE.com due to failure to gain a time slot for the shows in the United States. On October 1, 2005, wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling began airing its weekly program TNA Impact! in the Saturday night time slot formerly occupied by WWE Velocity. In WWE's last Monday Night Raw broadcast on the channel, executives decided to censor WWE personalities whenever they tried to mention Raw's return to USA Network, scheduled for the following week. In what turned out to be a hectic night of sound suddenly vanishing, WWE's commentators finally succeeded in slipping the words "Next week on USA" past the censors at Spike TV, most likely due to Spike TV executives finally giving in. Spike was the only channel to air first-run matches from all of the major wrestling organizations in the last 15 years (WWF/WWE from 2000–2005, WCW in 2001 (including the Raw/Nitro simulcast and WCW-sanctioned matches during the Invasion storyline), ECW from 1999–2000, and TNA from 2005–present).^{[citation needed]}

On January 18, 2005, Spike TV debuted The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), an original reality show based around the sport of mixed martial arts which proved to be a surprise hit. Spike later extended their UFC coverage with UFC Unleashed and UFC Primetime. On August 18, 2011, Spike officials made a statement regarding the end of their partnership with the UFC, “The Ultimate Fighter” season 14 in September will be our last....Our 6-year partnership with the UFC has been incredibly beneficial in building both our brands, and we wish them all the best in the future.”^[21]

In October 2005, Spike TV debuted Game Head with Geoff Keighley, a weekly video game show, and later followed up with Fresh Baked Videogames, making them both part of their "Slammin' Saturday Night" lineup. Spike is also home to the annual Video Game Awards and the Spike Guys' Choice Awards. On February 15, 2010, TNA made a new deal with Spike TV which would move TNA Impact!,one of the channel's primary and most successful programs to Monday nights. The first episode aired on March 8, 2010, though Impact! was shifted back to Thursdays after reduced TNA audience on Mondays.^[22]

[edit] Fresh Baked Video Games

On January 14, 2006, Spike introduced the short lived video game review show Fresh Baked Videogames.^[23] Among the shows many comedy sketches, pranks and animations was its most popular segment "A Free Video Game for a Shot to The Nuts".^[24] In this segment male contestants volunteer to take a strike to their testicles for a free video game. The contestants are given options on how they will be struck, ranging from a sack of nickels, to a female soccer player. The most popular episode was episode four of season 1 which aired January 28, 2006. On this episode Swedish actress Annika Svedman dressed as an NCAA cheerleader and was selected twice by contestants to be kicked in their testicles by her.^[25][26] This specific segment of Annika Svedman emerged in early 2007 on YouTube and has since become an Internet phenomenon which has helped propel Svedman's notoriety. The best known version of the clip (usually distributed as a Flash clip) shows a cheerleading outfit clad Svedman (complete with pom poms) moving her legs back and forth before delivering a debilitating kick. The original clip was made and distributed on YouTube from a thread of the original segment. The clip has been continuously removed from the website for copyright infringement, however, the clip continues to reemerge due to its cult-like popularity.

Star Trek[link]

Spike has devoted large chunks of its programming time to the Star Trek franchise, to varying degrees. It initially featured Star Trek: The Next Generation heavily before introducing Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 2004 and Star Trek: Voyager in 2006. All of these introductions were accompanied by multi-day marathons at some point, the Next Generation one including appearances by celebrities such as Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher on The Next Generation. Deep Space Nine and Voyager had been relegated to late-night hours before their disappearances and The Next Generation had disappeared months before the syndication rights were bought by Syfy. The promotion of the Trek franchises earned Spike the colloquial title The Star Trek Channel during this period because as much as one third (eight hours) of programming blocks were devoted to the franchise.

A notable omission during the period was Star Trek: Enterprise, which the channel passed on (Syfy had proceeded to ease it into four-hour Monday night blocks). TV Land meanwhile had the rights to Star Trek: The Original Series, but Spike stated that there may not be sufficient episodes (only three seasons) to accommodate the kind of blocks it would like to air. Syfy and BBC America now have the rights to Star Trek: The Next Generation.^[27]

Spike has replaced that block with re-runs of Disorderly Conduct: Video on Patrol and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Get More Action[link]

After the Viacom/CBS Corporation split of 2005, Spike became a part of the "new" Viacom with its sibling channels in the MTV Networks family. In May 2006, the station was re-branded to accentuate its masculinity, including a new logo, dropping the second half of its channel name (TV) from the logo and adding the "Get More Action" tagline.^[28]

In June 2006, Spike debuted Blade: The Series, a TV series based on the Blade films. Rapper Kirk "Sticky Fingaz" Jones played Blade in the series. David S. Goyer, writer of all three Blade films (and director of the third Blade film), wrote the pilot and served as Executive Producer on the series. It was canceled on September 28, 2006.

On September 5, 2006, the documentary film Metal of Honor: The Ironworkers of 9/11 by filmmaker Rachel Maguire, premiered on Spike. Metal of Honor is a documentary profiling the Ironworkers' efforts in the attempts for rescue and recovery on and after the September 11, 2001 attacks at the World Trade Center site. The film proceeds through the Ironworkers' dismantling of the fallen towers.^[29]

On October 10, 2006, Spike presented the Scream Awards, the first awards show honoring horror, science fiction, fantasy and comic books. At the 2007 Comic Con International the Spike TV booth was awarding tickets to that year's presentation ceremony to the winners of their "Scariest Costume" contest.

In late 2006, Spike introduced the Late Night Strip consisting of original series that are sometimes inappropriate for daytime TV, with regular intermissions featuring women. The programming airs Thursdays and Fridays at 12:00 a.m., and includes MXC, Wild World of Spike, The Dudesons, and Game Head.

Throughout the summer of 2007, starting on Father's Day, the channel launched its first public service campaign, the "True Dads" national outreach campaign, with former New York Yankees player Don Mattingly spokesperson. This focused on fathers who demonstrated active roles in their children's lives, through public service announcements on the channel featuring both celebrity and ordinary fathers and websites such as Spike's own "True Dads" site, among other things.

In April 2008, Spike aired the commercial TV premiere of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and became the first basic-cable channel in the U.S. to air all six Star Wars movies. Viacom bid against NBC Universal and Turner Broadcasting for this opportunity, which is worth up to $80 million, despite each of those channel systems having previously aired at least part of the original trilogy. The same year, the channel began to broadcast a reality show based on the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).^[30] On the weekend of April 5 and April 6, 2008, the channel aired the first three Star Wars films against the simultaneous TNT broadcast of all three Lord of the Rings films. More viewers watched the Star Wars broadcasts on Spike than watched the Lord of the Rings broadcasts on TNT.^[31] On April 7, 2008 the channel acquired cable syndication rights for the sitcom Married... with Children.^[32] Five new unscripted series were picked up for the channel's summer 2008 lineup.^[33]

Though the programming is still aimed at the male demographic (age 18–49),^[34] Spike no longer makes the claim to be "the first network for men". Presumable motivations for this include acknowledging earlier attempts at "male-only" television (such as mentv in Canada), and the risk of losing access to its Canadian audiences due to a claim of "duplication" (in terms of programming and target audience) contrary to Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission regulations. Due to licensing restrictions and programming rights issues, Canadian viewers of Spike see alternate programming whenever Spike airs certain films such as the James Bond film series, or other certain series programs.

On June 1, 2010, Spike launched into the first crowd-sourced pilot episode contest with Scripped, a web-based screenwriting community.^[35] In this contest, Spike tested its ability to discover new talent from untested channels.

Alternate History[link]

On August 24, 2011, at 7 pm Pacific Time, Spike launched a new series called Alternate History, illustrating what the world could be like if past events were slightly different. The premiere episode documented what would have happened if the Germans stopped the Allied invasion of France and took over the world.

2011 rebrand[link]

On March 30, 2011, with the series premiere of Coal (a new series from 1000 Ways to Die creator Thom Beers), Spike rebranded itself with a slightly recolored logo and a new theme.

Website[link]

On October 15, 2005 Viacom acquired ifilm.com, which was initially launched in 1997. After acquiring the website for $49 million, it was eventually re-branded to Spike.com and provided hosting of user-uploaded videos.

YouTube was also launched in 2005, which later suffered a class action lawsuit reported to be over $1 billion. Spike.com's managing division claims that they only host videos they approve after they are submitted.^[36] YouTube Partner user Mike Mozart pointed out videos on Spike.com/iFilm that were uploaded from YouTube onto Spike.com, without permission as their descriptions are criticizing the video itself. He also pointed out that YouTube embeds hosted on Spike.com did not link back to YouTube, and any sort of video hyperlinking was forcibly disabled, contradicting YouTube's Terms of Use.^[37]

Rugby League[link]

In the fall of 2009, Spike showed live Australian rugby league semi finals games from the National Rugby League and also showed the grand final, as David Niu tried to bring professional rugby league (National Rugby League USA) to the United States.^[38][39]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

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Method Man
December 21, 2010
Background information
Birth name	Clifford Smith
Also known as	Meth, Tical, Johnny Blaze, Methtical, Shakwon, Iron Lung, Hot Nikkels, MZA, John J
Born	(1971-04-01) April 1, 1971 (age 41)[1][2] Staten Island, New York City, United States
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, actor
Years active	1990–present (rapping) 1995–present (acting)
Labels	Def Jam
Associated acts	Wu-Tang Clan, Redman, Erick Sermon, LL Cool J, The Notorious B.I.G., DMX, Xzibit, Shyheim
Website	method-man.com

Clifford Smith (born April 1, 1971),^[3] better known by his stage name Method Man, is an American hip hop artist, record producer, actor and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He took his stage name from the 1979 film The Fearless Young Boxer, also known as Method Man. He is one half of the rap duo Method Man & Redman. He won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" with Mary J. Blige. In 2007, the writers of About.com placed him on their list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time (1987–2007).^[4]

Method Man appeared in the motion pictures Belly, How High, Garden State as well as a minor role in The Wackness. More recently, he appeared as a crewman in George Lucas' film Red Tails. On television, he and hip-hop collaborator Redman co-starred on the short-lived Fox sitcom Method & Red, and he had a recurring role on HBO's Oz as Tug Daniels and as Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff on the acclaimed HBO drama series The Wire.

Early life[link]

Born in Staten Island, New York, on April 1 , 1971, Clifford Smith divided his childhood between his father's Long Island residence and his mother's home in the Park Hill section of Staten Island aka Killa Hill.^[5] He has two sisters, Terri and Missy.^[5]

Rapping career[link]

[edit] 1992–96: Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and Tical

As Wu-Tang Clan ascended to hip hop stardom, Method Man was always one of the most visible members of the collective. He was one of only two members to get a solo song on the group's debut album Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers and he was the first to release a solo album under the Clan's unusual contract which allowed its members to release albums under any record label (Method chose to sign with rap label Def Jam). Method Man's solo debut, Tical (1994) was critically acclaimed and well received, entering the American charts at #4 and eventually selling in excess of one million copies. That album featured the hit single "All I Need" which was later remixed featuring Mary J Blige, which won a Grammy "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need,"). during this time Method Man also became close friends with The Notorious B.I.G., and was the only guest rapper featured on his debut album Ready to Die. He was also featured on Spice 1's album "AmeriKKKa's Nightmare" on the track "Hard 2 Kill". In 1995, he was also featured on "Got the Flava" off Showbiz and A.G.'s album Goodfellas. In 1996, Method Man appeared on Tupac Shakur's album All Eyez on Me, on the song "Got My Mind Made Up" alongside his rhyme partner Redman, The Dogg Pound (Daz and Kurupt) and Inspectah Deck (Rebel INS), whose verse did not make the released album version (although his nickname "Rebel INS" can be heard as the song fades).

[edit] 1997–98: Wu-Tang Forever and Tical 2000: Judgement Day

On June 3, 1997 the Wu-Tang Clan released their Grammy-nominated multiplatinum double CD Wu-Tang Forever, the long-awaited follow up to 36 Chambers. The album has sold over 8.3 million copies to date worldwide.

His second solo album was Tical 2000: Judgement Day, released in 1998, which was heavily influenced by the apocalypse theories surrounding the forthcoming end of the millennium, and which featured myriad guest appearances from his fellow Wu-Tang MCs, proving for the world that Method Man is in fact America's most blunted(with the help of Red Man). The album was certified double platinum. Other guest appearances include Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, D'Angelo, Chris Rock, Mobb Deep, Redman, and brief cameos from Russell Simmons, Bishop Don "Magic" Juan, Janet Jackson, and Donald Trump. The album sold better than his first fueled by the party track "Judgment Day" and the D'Angelo collaboration "Break Ups 2 Make Ups", earning Platinum and Gold certifications in the U.S. and Canada respectively. Reviews for the album were mixed and its long runtime and abundance of intermittent comedy skits were widely criticized. Producers on this album included True Master, 4th Disciple and the RZA.

[edit] 1999–2000: Blackout! (with Redman)

Method Man was part of the very successful Hard Knock Life Tour with Jay-Z, Redman, Ja Rule, and DMX. During this tour, Method Man & Redman recorded Blackout!, a light-hearted, bass-heavy, profanity-laced, party record with an EPMD-evoking emphasis on funky beats and the mischievous wit and cool flows and good rhythm of the two MCs. The album reached platinum status quickly, both in the U.S. and Canada, fueled by "Da Rockwilder", "Cereal Killa", "1, 2, 1, 2", "Tear It Off" and "Y.O.U.". This album also featured three previously released tracks on which the two collaborated.

Their success would lead the duo on to star in movies and TV shows, become product spokespersons and household names, but also associated them with marijuana use in the media. The most immediate results of their success was their co-starring roles in the major motion picture film How High, their endorsement deal for Right Guard, Redman's starring role in Seed of Chucky and a short-lived sitcom on Fox Television entitled Method & Red.

[edit] 2000–04: The W, Iron Flag, and Tihkal 0: The Prequel

The Wu-Tang Clan released The W on November 21, 2000 and Iron Flag on December 18, 2001. The W received both critical and commercial success for the group, while Iron Flag did receive some but not to the effect of The W. The efforts earned two more platinum plaques for the Wu-Tang Clan.

In 2004, Meth released his third solo album Tical 0: The Prequel, which featured the hit party single "What's Happenin'" with Busta Rhymes. Hip hop critics voiced their displeasure with the album, many agreeing that Tical 0 felt like generic party rap and featured too many mainstream guests, detracting from his own performances. Regardless, this album sold reasonably well and was certified gold record by the RIAA relatively quickly, but would not see the platinum success of his previous solo releases. There was trouble even before the album's release when Method apparently complained to the press about excessive interference from Def Jam over the album's beats (Meth supposedly desired more input from Wu-Tang leader RZA). On its release, many fans and critics were taken aback by its strong "mainstream" or "commercial" sound, highlighted by the guest appearances of pop-rap stars like Missy Elliott and P. Diddy, two artists that are involved with much different facets of rap music.

P. Diddy was one of the executive producers for the album, although Meth later voiced his displeasure with the final product. "On the third LP, it was suggested (by Def Jam) to bring in Harve Pierre and P. Diddy. Who am I to argue? Puff knows how to sell some records. But that wasn't the direction to go in, and I know that."^[6]

[edit] 2006–07: 4:21... The Day After

Method Man at the 2007 Eurockéennes.

Method Man's fourth album, entitled 4:21: The Day After was released in August 2006 with a star lineup of producers featuring Havoc, Erick Sermon, Scott Storch, Allah Mathematics, Mr. Porter, and, most importantly to Meth, RZA. This time around, a more focused Method Man went back to his hip hop roots and both hip hop fans and the media took notice. He did an interview on the ItsHipHop.Tv.^[7] Despite this being one of Meth's strongest solo efforts to date, the album failed to do well commercially due to it having no single or video, which Method Man has held discontent towards his own label for. However, he has been touring strongly all over the world to promote the album, and has appeared onstage with fellow Wu-Tang member Inspectah Deck, as well as New York up and comers Saigon, and Gat Murdah. Meth contributed various reasons for the problems between him and his label, Def Jam. While he puts most of the blame on personal agendas in the Def Jam offices, Meth did take some blame, himself, for giving into his record label.

In early May 2007, Method Man's camp leaked the street single "New York New York" which became a popular track on the internet.^[8]

[edit] 2007–10: Blackout! 2

On March 27, 2007, Redman confirmed on BET's Rap City: Tha Bassment that the sequel to How High, How High 2, is currently being written.

In an April 10, 2007 Onion AV Club interview,^[9] Redman hinted that there would be a second collaborative album with Method Man, with work beginning in midsummer or early September.

In early 2008, a remake of the Smoothe da Hustler and Trigger tha Gambler classic Broken Language was released to the internet by the duo entitled Broken Language 2008, fueling rumors of a Blackout! sequel coming soon. This rumor was further fueled by the duo while performing in Gainesville, Florida at the University of Florida. A Blackout! 2 LP was scheduled for a December 9, 2008 release but was recently pushed back to the first quarter of 2009, with a new release date on May 19. Bun B has confirmed that he will guest star on Blackout! 2 – in April 2009, a single has been released named City Lights, produced by Nasty Kutt ^[10] Also producers such as Erick Sermon, Rockwilder and Pete Rock have announced their presence on the album.

The duo has finished their Still High tour with Termanalogy, the Alchemist, and Evidence of Dilated Peoples.

[edit] 2011–present: Crystal Meth

Crystal Meth is Method Man's upcoming fifth studio album.^[11][12][13] The album has no confirmed release date. The Crystal Meth was first announced before Method Man began working on his and Redman's sophomore collaboration album, Blackout! 2. In the liner notes of that album, it was given a scheduled release date for 2009. The album, however, was further postponed until it was later mentioned in an MTV interview it would be released in early 2010.^[11] no update on the album's progress or release date has been made. At a concert on the 23 of December 2010 Method Man told the crowd to look for his album in March 2011. However the album was pushed back to an unknown release date.

In a recent interview with The Come Up Show following a recent performance in Canada in April 2011, Method Man replied with this regarding his current 'weed-loving' image:"When you get older and you've got kids and your kids are going to school and you know [their] teachers...and they see how active you are and concerned [you are] with your kids' education or well being, it's hard to sit there and be taken seriously if people are always talking about he's always high...which is totally not the case," he said. "When I first came out, I was young, we were doing our thing, we smoked a lot...and we didn't care if the world knew. Now, I have to use more discretion because of my kids. This is not for me; everything I do is for them now, so I use a bit more discretion and I don't put weed as a forefront any more."

On October 5, 2011, a new single from Method Man, titled "World Gone Sour (The Lost Kids)", was released on iTunes.^[14] Recently, he confirmed that the album will come out next year and will have the usual line-up of producers including RZA, Rockwilder, Erick Sermon, 3rd Digala of Digem Tracks and some other new underground producers he's begun to work with.^[15] He also expressed a desire to work with Odd Future frontman Tyler, The Creator.^[16] It was recently announced via Facebook that Crystal Meth will be his last album & to be fully produced by RZA.