Countdown to 8 Diagrams, Part 7: Method Man.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony appeared on Life After Death, and had a 2Pac guest spot on their Art Of War LP. Too Short appeared on Life After Death also, and rapped along side 2Pac on Ant Banks’ album. Redman appeared with Biggie on the classic posse cut “The Points”, and also appeared on “Got My Mind Made Up” on Pac’s All Eyez On Me LP. The point of all of this?

Method Man is only* MC to appear on a non-posthumous (no Duets nonsense) Biggie album — “The What” off Ready To Die — and a non-posthumous (no Pac’s Life bullshit) 2Pac album — the aforementioned “Got My Mind Made Up”. Wrap your mind around that.

Download: Method Man – “Ice Cream Man” (unreleased demo, 199?)

I think I came across this track over at WuTangCorp.com‘s massive collection of rare Wu tracks (although it doesn’t appear to be there anymore). This sounds like it was recorded just before — or maybe just after — “M.E.T.H.O.D. Man”, and one would assume that it served as an inspiration to Rae’s classic track of a similar name.

Download: Wu-Tang Clan – “Cash Still Rules/Scary Hours” (off Wu-Tang Forever, 1997)

I remember reading a review of Wu-Tang Forever on MTV.com (MTV was somewhat respectable back then) that said that Meth’s appearances on the double-disc were the least impressive of the crew. True, Meth wasn’t as energetic as he was on, say, “Release Yo Delf” or “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing Ta Fuck Wit”, but lyrically, he was as sharp as he’d ever been… perhaps, sharper than ever. This is probably my favorite track on the whole double-disc, up there with “Heaterz”… and “Hellz Wind Staff”… and, of course “Triumph”… see why I said probably?

Download: GZA – “Shadowboxin'” featuring Method Man (off Liquid Swords, 1995)

Meth must’ve really been on one in this recording session — I mean, how often does a guest MC get two verses on a song to the album artist’s one verse? The Smoking Section included Meth’s appearance here on a short list of rappers getting murdered on their own shit. I personally wouldn’t go as far as to ever say that GZA’s been murdered on his own shit, but Meth’s flow on this track is so against the grain. Definitely the stuff of legends.

Download: Notorious B.I.G. – “Rap Phenomenon” featuring Redman & Method Man (off Born Again, 1999)

I know that I sort of shunned posthumous Biggie releases just moments ago, but the fact that both Red and Meth actually worked with Biggie while he was alive makes this track more worthy of appreciation. Not to mention that both Red and Meth kill their verses (especially Meth), the recycled Biggie verse wasn’t too widespread beforehand (from a Biggie guest spot on a Tracey Lee album), and DJ Premier laced the beat. The only other way to get to hear Method Man over Primo is to have to withstand Fred Durst’s rapping, and no one should be subjected to that anymore than they already have been.