Blackout! (Method Man & Redman album)

Blackout! is the debut studio album by American hip hop duo Method Man & Redman. It is the first full-length release by Method Man and Redman after many collaborations. The album continued a string of highly successful Def Jam releases in the late 1990s. The album debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 254,000 copies and served as a bit of a precursor to the 2001 major studio film How High. Both rappers enjoyed perhaps the height of their popularity as a tandem after the success of the album and its three charted singles. The singles were also popular videos which were mainstays on MTV and BET. The sequel to the album, Blackout! 2, was released on May 19, 2009.

Background

Originally the name of the album was to be Amerikaz Most Blunted and was advertised as that for months before the release, but they changed it to the more commercially acceptable Blackout!. The CD version of the album features three previously released bonus tracks; "Well All Rite Cha" also appeared on Redman's solo album, Doc's Da Name 2000, "Big Dogz" from Method Man's Tical 2000: Judgement Day and 1995's critically acclaimed single "How High".

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.

Rockwilder

Rockwilder (born Dana Stinson on February 2, 1971) is an American hip hop record producer and singer. A long term friend of Def Jam rapper Redman, Rockwilder got his start producing for East Coast hip hop artists in the mid-1990s. In 1999 Rockwilder produced Method Man & Redman's hit single "Da Rockwilder". He has produced at least one track on every Redman album since 1994's Dare Iz a Darkside.

Biography

Rockwilder began his debut production on the 1994 Organized Konfusion album Stress: The Extinction Agenda & the Flatlinerz album "U.S.A.. He went on to craft records by other artists, including Jay-Z's "Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up)" (1999), Busta Rhymes and Erykah Badu's "One" (1997), Xzibit's Front 2 Back (2000), and De La Soul's "I.C. Y'All" (2000). He also went on to work with Janet Jackson (several album tracks on All for You) and Destiny's Child (the Rockwilder Remix of "Bootylicious" as well as "If" and "Free" from Destiny Fulfilled), and was the co-producer, with Missy Elliott, of the 2001 Christina Aguilera/Lil' Kim/Mýa/Pink cover of Labelle's 1974 "Lady Marmalade" for the film Moulin Rouge! for which they received a Grammy Award. He also produced the song "Dirrty" for Aguilera featuring Redman using the original beat he produced for Redman's song "Let's Get Dirty (I Can't Get in da Club)". In the 2000s, Rockwilder produced several tracks on Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes' Supernova (2001). The songs include "Hot" and "Rags 2 Riches". Later in 2003, he made the collaboration between couple Kelis and Nas, "In Public", being released from Kelis' Tasty.

Method Man & Redman

Method Man & Redman (also referred to as Red & Mef, Mef & Red, Mr. Mef and Funk Doc or Funk Doc and Johnny Blaze), are an American hip hop duo, composed of East Coast rappers Method Man (of Wu-Tang Clan) and Redman (of Def Squad). They are signed to Def Jam Recordings as both solo artists and as a duo. While they had been collaborating since 1994, it was not until 1999 that they released a full-length collaborative effort, Blackout!. The follow-up album, Blackout! 2, was released in 2009.

Method Man often gives a shout out to Redman on tracks that do not feature Redman; this usually comes in the form of "What up, Doc!" referring to Redman's alias "Funk Doctor Spock". In 2001, they starred alongside each other in the cult classic stoner film How High. In 2004, the duo also starred in a short-lived Fox sitcom, titled Method & Red, however they later disowned the series due to lack of creative control.

History

The duo have known each other long before signing with Def Jam. While at Def Jam, they reunited in 1994 on tour and met again in 1995 in the recording studio of West Coast hip hop act Tupac "2Pac" Shakur. They recorded "Got My Mind Made Up" for Shakur's multi-platinum album All Eyez on Me (1996). After this they had friendly battles freestyling with each other on Yo! MTV Raps, which ultimately led to their collaborative debut single "How High". In 1999, the two rappers appeared together on "Rap Phenomenon" from The Notorious B.I.G. posthumous album Born Again.

Method

Method may refer to:

Arts