Method Man

Clifford Smith (born March 2, 1971), better known by his stage name Method Man, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. He took his stage name from the 1979 film Method Man. He is perhaps best known as a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He is also one half of the hip hop duo Method Man & Redman. In 1996, 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 American R&B singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige.

Method Man has appeared in films such as Belly, How High, Garden State, The Wackness, Venom, Red Tails and The Cobbler. On television, he and frequent collaborator, fellow East Coast rapper Redman, co-starred on the short-lived Fox sitcom Method & Red. He also had a recurring role as Tug Daniels on HBO's Oz and Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff on the HBO's The Wire.

In 2012, The Source placed him on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time.

Early life

Born on March 2, 1971, in Staten Island, New York, Smith divided his childhood between his father's Long Island residence and his mother's home in the Park Hill section of Staten Island (colloquially known as Killa Hill). He has two sisters, Terri and Missy.

Inspectah Deck

Jason Hunter (born July 6, 1970) better known by his stage name Inspectah Deck, is an American rapper, producer, and member of the Wu-Tang Clan. He has acquired critical praise for his intricate lyricism, and for his verses on many of the group's most revered songs. He has grown to become a producer in his own right, taking up tracks for fellow clansmen and his own projects.

Background

Early career

Hunter was born July 6, 1970 in Brooklyn, New York, but grew up in Staten Island. Hunter routinely mentions the Park Hill Projects in Clifton, Staten Island, where he grew up and went to school with the future Method Man, Raekwon, and Ghostface Killah. Coming from a musical family, his father died when he was six years old, and seeing his mother support the family contributed to his laid-back, quiet mentality; this led to his stage name, as he decided to play a low-key counterbalance to the antics of Method Man, Ol' Dirty Bastard, and RZA. This is also referenced by Method Man at the end of the track "Can it Be All So Simple?" on Wu-Tang's debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) :

Solar deity

A solar deity (also sun god or sun goddess) is a sky deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms.

Overview

The Neolithic concept of a "solar barge" (also "solar bark", "solar barque", "solar boat" and "sun boat", a mythological representation of the sun riding in a boat) is found in the later myths of ancient Egypt, with Ra and Horus. Predynasty Egyptian beliefs attribute Atum as the sun-god and Horus as a god of the sky and sun. As the Old Kingdom theocracy gained power, early beliefs were incorporated with the expanding popularity of Ra and the Osiris-Horus mythology. Atum became Ra-Atum, the rays of the setting sun. Osiris became the divine heir to Atum's power on Earth and passes his divine authority to his son Horus. Early Egyptian myths imply the sun is within the lioness, Sekhmet, at night and is reflected in her eyes; or that it is within the cow, Hathor, during the night, being reborn each morning as her son (bull).

Ghostface Killah

Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and prominent member of the Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), the members went on to pursue solo careers to varying levels of success. Ghostface Killah debuted his solo-career with Ironman in 1996, which was well received by music critics. He has continued his success over the following years with critically acclaimed albums such as Supreme Clientele (2000) and FishScale (2006). His stage name was taken from one of the characters in the 1979 kung fu film Mystery of Chessboxing. He is the founder of his own label Starks Enterprises.

Ghostface Killah is critically acclaimed for his loud, fast-paced flow, and his emotional stream-of-consciousness narratives containing cryptic slang and non-sequiturs. In 2006, MTV included him on their honorable mention list of The Greatest MCs of All Time, while the editors of About.com placed him on their list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time (1987–2007), calling him "one of the most imaginative storytellers of our time."Q magazine called him "rap's finest storyteller."Pitchfork Media stated that, "Ghostface has unparalleled storytelling instincts; he might be the best, most colorful storyteller rap has ever seen."NPR called him "a compulsive storyteller", and asserted, "His fiction is painterly."

Wu-Massacre

Wu-Massacre is a collaboration studio album by American rappers and Wu-Tang Clan members Method Man, Ghostface Killah and Raekwon, released March 30, 2010 on Def Jam Recordings. Production for the album was handled by several hip hop producers, including RZA, Allah Mathematics, Scram Jones, Emile, Ty Fyffe, BT and Digem Tracks Productions.

The album debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 37,900 copies in its first week. It charted modestly in international markets and produced four singles. Upon its release, Wu-Massacre received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album has sold 64,000 copies in the United States.

Background

The album was first announced in July 2009, when Method Man mentioned the project to MTV News, stating that he wanted to do an album with several other Wu-Tang members. He described the album as being a "Rae, Ghost and Meth album," with "RZA-produced tracks, as well as some outside producers." Initially, the album was to be titled Wu-Massacre, and was later renamed Three the Hard Way, however, after the leak of the Wu-Massacre artwork, it was later re-affirmed as the official album title. Though unsubstantiated rumors began to circulate that the project would be a new group, Method Man refuted these claims in a cover-story interview with The Source, stating: "By no means are we trying to start a group, that's why I was mad as hell that people was jumping the gun and shit, asking us to name our group and all that. What the fuck we look like making a new group?" Ghostface Killah also touched base on the subject in an interview with Rap Radar, stating "We not a group. We already in Wu-Tang. So it’s not like we trying to start a group. We don’t need that."