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Tical (album)

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Untitled

Tical is the highly acclaimed debut album by Wu-Tang Clan member and hip hop artist Method Man. It was released by Def Jam in 1994 making it the first Wu-Tang solo album released after Wu-Tang Clan's debut, Enter the Wu-Tang. The word "tical" is a reference to a marijuana cigarette laced with a sweetener, or in some cases, PCP ("lac it" spelled backwards).

It was a commercial success reaching #4 on the Billboard 200 and earning a platinum certification from RIAA on July 13, 1995.[1] This success was driven by its two singles, "Bring The Pain" and also "Release Yo' Delf", which boasts an interpolation of "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor. The album is also critically hailed by many hip hop fans as a classic album. This may be attributed to the gritty production which was handled almost exclusively by RZA. Its success is matched by its influence as a major piece in the East Coast hip hop renaissance.

History

In 1991, the rapper GZA tried to help out colleague Method Man by shopping him to label executives at Cold Chillin' Records.[2] GZA was unsuccessful, but when he formed Wu-Tang Clan, Method Man was included in the group. Method Man went on to perform on eight of the twelve tracks on Wu-Tang's acclaimed debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang, and even had a solo song named "Method Man". That song as well as "C.R.E.A.M." on which he performed the chorus reached #69 and #60 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100.[3] These two songs had better chart positions than any other tracks on Enter The Wu-Tang and thus hyped Method Man's solo career greatly. At the time of Wu-Tang Clan's debut album, Method Man's deadly rhymes, charisma and smooth, deep voice made him the group's most popular member.[2]

RZA produced the album in its near-entirety - except for "Sub Crazy" and "P.L.O. Style", co-produced by 4th Disciple and Method Man respectively - leading Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic to refer to the album as "a two-man show".[4] As with rest of the first round of Wu-Tang albums, RZA would recreate the distinct "Shaolin" sound while tailoring it to the featured rapper. On Tical, his production was especially dark and murky, complementing both Method Man's distinctly smooth-yet-rugged voice and his raps of cannabis smoking ("Tical"), project love ("All I Need"), and traditional hardcore hip hop lyricism ("Bring The Pain"). In those early days of the Wu-Tang Clan the RZA was the sole provider of beats for eight talented emcees, who he would have battle over the rights to record over them. This approach to quality control would result in Tical's "Meth Vs. Chef", a recording of one such a battle between Method Man and Raekwon.[2] "Meth Vs. Chef" was recorded in 1993 before RZA's 36 Chambers Studios was flooded, destroying reportedly fifteen beats per Wu-Tang Clan rapper.[2] Many of the beats for Tical would be hastily recreated and mixed, resulting in a decrease in sound quality.[2]

In 1994 the lead single "Bring The Pain" (backed with "P.L.O. Style") was released. "Bring The Pain" was an RZA-produced track with an understated but funky groove, capped with the ragga vocals of Booster. The single would reach #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Hot Dance chart. The follow-up single, 1995's "Release Yo' Delf", was a more upbeat track - at least by RZA's standards - and featured Wu-affiliate Blue Raspberry singing a B-Boy interpretation of Gloria Gaynor's disco anthem, "I Will Survive". "Release Yo' Delf" reached #98 on the Hot 100, failing to match the success of "Bring The Pain"; Tical however remains the only Method Man album with two singles reaching the Billboard Hot 100.

To continue the album's promotion, "All I Need" was remixed and released in the summer of 1995 as "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By". There are two versions of this Mary J. Blige duet: one remixed by Puff Daddy and one remixed by the Trackmasters' Poke. Puff Daddy's version featured a sample from The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Me & My Bitch". The RZA remix is more popular and famous. Its accompanying video helped the song reach #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Rap, Dance and R&B charts[5]. The RZA remix also won the two a Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group Grammy Award in 1996.

Reception

  • Rolling Stone (12/29/94-1/12/95, pp.178-80) - "He's...capable...of something resembling a love song....But it is with its heaviest numbers...that Tical delivers the primo goods."
  • Entertainment Weekly (12/9/94, p.76) - "...one or rap's most formidable players....[Method Man's] gripping rhymes creep out of the darkness and take listeners hostage." - Rating: B
  • Q magazine (2/96, p.65) - Included in Q's 50 Best Albums of 1995 - "...every second [is] worth paying attention to."
  • It was included in Q Magazine's 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time.[6]
  • The Wire (10/01, p.46) - "Compact but fried....There's a reason Meth is the closest The Wu have to a star."
  • Vibe (11/94, pp.125-126) - "Method is the man who would be king....Method takes the listener on a brilliant journey through the broken boulevards of existence."
  • The Source (1/95, p.85) - 4 Mics - Slammin' - "His hoarse voice and sense of what's metaphorically fly have seen him take over as hip-hop's urban paramilitary....He shows a fragmented hip-hop nation what this music is really about."
  • Melody Maker (5/23/00, p.56) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[Meth] comes correct with [this] beamed-down-from-Planet-Mars [stuff] making music that's way darker and more disorienting than was previously thought possible. 'Bring The Pain' is 'still' the bomb."
  • NME (12/23-30/95, pp.22-23) - Ranked #40 in NME's `Top 50 Albums Of The Year' for 1995 -
  • NME (1/28/95, p.47) - 8 - Excellent - "The East Coast hip-hop renaissance continues apace...supremely laid-back, mooching along at a bass-weighted amble whether it's framing the monogamous lover's lament of `All I Need'...or the `I Will Survive' hook of `Release Yo' Delf'."

Track listing

# Title Producer(s) Length
1 "Tical" RZA 3:56
2 "Biscuits" RZA 2:49
3 "Bring the Pain" RZA 3:09
4 "All I Need" RZA 3:16
5 "What the Blood Clot?" RZA 3:24
6 "Meth vs. Chef" (feat. Raekwon) RZA 3:36
7 "Sub Crazy" RZA, 4th Disciple (co) 2:15
8 "Release Yo' Delf" (feat. Blue Raspberry) RZA 4:15
9 "P.L.O. Style" (feat. Carlton Fisk) RZA, Method Man (co) 2:36
10 "I Get My Thang in Action" RZA 3:45
11 "Mr. Sandman" (feat. Blue Raspberry, Carlton Fisk, Inspectah Deck, Streetlife, RZA) RZA 3:37
12 "Stimulation" (feat. Blue Raspberry) RZA 3:46
13 "Method Man" (Remix) RZA 3:16
14 "I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need To Get By" (feat. Mary J. Blige) RZA 5:09

Information on each track is taken from discogs.com.[7]

Samples

The information on the sampled music is extracted from the-breaks.com.[8]

Tical

  • "Master Killer" theme music and dialogue
  • A synthesized reworking of the First Promenade theme in Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, used in the production logo for the World-Northal Corporation, a distributor of martial art films in the 70s and 80s.

Bring the Pain

All I Need

Meth Vs. Chef

  • "Papa Was Too (Live)" by Joe Tex
  • dialogue from the film "Master Killer"

Release Yo' Delf

I Get My Thang in Action

Method Man (Remix)

Singles

The information on the singles is extracted from discogs.com[9] and Allmusic.[10]

Single information
"Bring the Pain"
  • Released: 1994
  • B-side: "P.L.O. Style"
"Release Yo' Delf"
  • Released: 1995
  • B-side: "Bring The Pain (Remix)"

Chart positions

Albums

Album chart positions are taken from Billboard magazine (North America).[11]

Year Album Chart positions
Billboard 200 Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums
1994 Tical #4 #1

Singles

Singles chart positions are taken from Billboard magazine (North America).[5]

Year Song Chart positions
Billboard Hot 100 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks Hot Rap Singles Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales
1994 "Bring The Pain" #45 #30 #4 #1
1995 "Release Yo' Delf" #98 - #28 #6

References

  1. ^ "RIAA Searchable Database". Retrieved November 15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e Cowie, Del F. "Days Of The Wu". Retrieved November 15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) Billboard Singles at AllMusic.com". Retrieved November 15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Birchmeier, Jason. "Tical at AllMusic.com". Retrieved November 18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ a b "Method Man Billboard Singles at AllMusic.com". Retrieved November 18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "Q Magazine's 50 Heaviest Albums". Retrieved February 14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ "Tical at Discogs.com". Retrieved November 15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "Method Man Entry at The-Breaks.com". Retrieved November 18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ "Method Man Entry at Discogs.com". Retrieved November 18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Method Man Singles & EPs at AllMusic.com". Retrieved November 18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "Method Man Billboard Albums at AllMusic.com". Retrieved November 18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
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