Customer Reviews

Tical 0: The Prequel

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(34)
1 star:		(38)

 

 

Every great MC is entitled to one slip up but the problem with The Prequel is that its so bad that Ugod's album(which sucked) that came out in the same year(Ugodzilla) seems more inviting after hearing this. The problem is not just the bad production but Method Man's rhymes were lazy beyond belief. He not only drop some laughables on here but also his punchlines and phrases were extremely dated. Examples: /I tell it like it T I is(Come on Meth, people stopped saying that since SWV was a still a group). /These n***** wanna know how I come ask your dame/(Too Short's been saying that since Shorty The Pimp). /you need to put your walking shoes and step your game up/ and if you aint feeling my style then you can hang up/(WHAT?). Should I go on? It makes no sense for one of the nicest lyricists in the game to spit candy bars like that. The Good: The only decent tracks are The Motto,The Turn featuring Raekwon and Ridin For Outro featuring Black Ice. The Bad:The track The Prequel was a weak way to kick off the album as Meth spits some unenthusiastic bars on the track. Busta Rhymes and Method Man deliver the most dissapointing collabo joints of all time, What's Happenin'(sick beat, mediocre rhymes). I was excited to hear they had a joint together but when I heard it I wasnt impressed. Busta took too long to connect his rhymes and Meth busts some Puffy-style clunkers on here/ wack n***** get pimplapped gimme some powder/click clack running you trap I wont allow it/(SIGH). AfterParty featuring Ghostface, is bland as hell even with the decent beat and how many people are going to bite Snoop Dogg's rhymes from the past? Act Right would clear any dance floor(even though most brain dead ones LOL). The Show is another joke as Meth drops some retarded punchlines like this /Oh you aint crushin sista/ I cant do nothing with ya/ My money celibate honey and we aint f***** with ya/(!!???!!!???). How pointless is Say What? What purpose did Missy serve on the hook and why is Puff Giddy on this song? The Ugly: We Some Dogs featuring Redman and Snoop Dogg could have easily been the worst song on the album until you hear...... Tease featuring Chinky! The worst rap song for the ladies next to Sheek Louch's One Name and that is the most awkward beat I've heard in a while. No disrespect to Method Man and Ludacris but the track Rodeo is gay. The hook is too fruity for comfort. Baby Come On is another timewaster thats relegates the ever so underrated Kardinal Offishall to a lousy hook and Meth keeps dropping this silly lines again. Example: /heard she could suck a ball through a plastic straw/(Uh huh, okay, alright). More diposables: Never Hold Back, Who You Rollin Wit and Crooked Letter I. Bottom Line: Method Man soiled his own reputation with The Prequel. Lazy rhymes, wack beats, wasted guest efforts just a garbage album period. Method Man will always be a sick MC to me but albums like this will remain a distant memory.

This is easily one of the worst albums of 2004. The single is cool but thats where it stops. Every song on here is some weak attempt to appeal to the commercial fans. The only other decent song on here is "the turn" which has been on the net a year before this album dropped. Meth was originally going to have puff do this album, maybe he should of! At least he might of went platinum with a garbage album. Meth you say you say you dont get enough respect in the game, I wonder why!

I preordered the cd back in May, and think its fair to say I shoulda saved my money. With the exception of The Motto (track 5) and Turn (track 7), theres hardly a listenworthy track. This may not be Meth's fault from what I hear, something about def jam wanting a more commercial type record, but its still a weak effort. His cameos seem stale except for Raekwons, and who knows what missy, busta, or snoop dogg are doing on his tape. Track 5 and 7 sound like some of the older wu solo tracks, which I think are the only songs worth listening. Do yourself a favor and just download those two and skip the rest.

Why would Def Jam mess with Method Man's stlye like they clearly did on this cd? I waited six years and looked at every insert on every Def Jam cd since Judgement Day came out that said "Method Man - Tical 0 'coming soon'" for this. If this was a Method Man album, it would be filled with songs like Motto, Turn, What's Happenin', Show, Tease (not exactly meth's style, but still hot), and Prequel. Instead, Def Jam decided to screw with the meth man and I have to listen to songs like We Some Dogs (one of the top five worst songs I've heard in my life) and Rodeo. What happened to songs like I Came to Bring the Pain, Release Yo Delf', and All I Need. Those are types of songs that made Method Man hot, not crumby hooks with beats behind them that sound like they were made on an electric keyboard. If you listen close, you can still find the real Method Man on the cd which makes it worth picking up. I don't mean to hate on Method Man, but I hope his TV show gets canceled real quick (which it definately will) so he can get back in the studio and make another cd the way he wants to.

Before you listen to this album (or any other former Wu solo joint), repeat to yourself: "There will never be another Supreme Clientele, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Liquid Swords, or Tical..." The ex-Clan members are victims of their own successes. Every new Wu joint inevitably draws comparisons to the laundry list of amazing titles that their members have produced in the past. Tical 0: The Prequel is not a legendary Wu CD. It's not even a great hip-hop/rap joint, but it is still light years better than most of the crap you'll hear on any clearchannel "Kiss" radio station, and there are enough solid tracks to at least give you hope that Meth might have something left in the tank for a future release.

Undoubtedly, this album disappoints for lack of RZA-produced tracks. Today with the emphasis on overproduction and style over substance, tracks laid down by the RZA such as The Turn on Tical 0 (and "Run" on Ghostface's "Pretty Toney") really stand out and remind you what real musical genius can do. Instead, the album is a mix of club-type beats and your generic thumps. Again, compared to what else there is to be had, this is still pretty good stuff.

Also a noticable weakness on this album are the guest vocals. The only good guest spots come from Busta Rhymes and fellow Wu Ghostface and Raekwon. Noticable by his low presence on the disc, as well, is Reggie Nobel aka Redman. Meth and Red seem to bring out the best in one another and its a shame he is limited to one guest verse on one of the weaker songs on the disc. Similarly wasted are cameos by Snoop Dogg (who at this point is almost a cliched parody of himself) and Ludacris. "Rodeo" w/ Luda could have been a good track if Meth had just let the Mouf of the South freeflow and bring a little humor onto the disc.

This is not to say the disc is totally without merits, though. Johnny Blaze can still drop a great verse when he's feeling up to it, and it shows on several of the tracks. "The Turn" w/ Raekwon captures a flicker of old Wu-magic, and "Afterparty" w/ Ghostface is a similarly good track. Also very listenable is "Never Hold Back" w/ Saukrates and E3 and "The Motto."

In sum (and after several plays through) this is a very mediocre disc. It is not nearly as bad as some reviews say, it is also not nearly as good as others claim or other things that Meth has done in the past. Still, when it's a choice between this or more garbage from Lil' Jon, I'll pick the Method Man any day.

***/5

1. Why did Meth even offer this trash to the public?

2. Why did ANY of the Wu Tang soloists (except for Ghostface) abandon RZA's production skills? Isn't that what made them classic acts to begin with?

3. Why is P. Diddy on this album?

4. Why are all the tight MCs foresaking skills in exchange for commercial success and risking their core audience in the process?

5. Why is the last track (Ridin' For Outro) the tightest track on the whole album?

Now......the review:

Speaking as a die hard Wu fan that thought Meth was the best MC when they first came out, I find it hard to say this. But Method Man's album is wack. Straight up. I never thought I'd say this, but out of all the Wu releases this year, Masta Killa put out a better album than this and Ghostface's album blows this one out of the water too. His lyrics have fallen off drastically. He spits wack lines like "I'm trying to get the dollars like Creflo" and "Like Gwynn Stefani, you know there's no doubt". With the exception of Busta Rhymes, Black Ice, and a very tight appearance from Raekwon, even the guest appearances from Missy Elliott, Kardinall Offishall, Snoop Dogg, Saukrates, Ludacris, and the normally reliable and consistant Redman are straight wack. There's even an appearance from P. Diddy......that pretty much sums things up. And what's worse, the P. Diddy appearance is actually one of the better songs on the album. Even the appearance by Ghostface is questionable, but not quite wack. The "Intro" features The RZA and is very misleading because it has a tight beat and leads you to believe that this album is going to be hot, but it's actually the opposite. You want to know how far Method Man has fallen? Just listen to "Tease" or "Rodeo" feat. Ludacris and you'll see. After track 9, the album drones on and is very painful to listen to until you come to "Ridin' For Outro" feat. Black Ice. You might rememebr Ice as that incredibly skilled cat from the Def Poetry Jam show. His appearance is the only thing that saves this CD from achieving coaster status. This CD rates right down there with Chingy and Baby Bash. An album like this might be forgivable if Meth was putting out hot albums every year, but 4 tight tracks out of 17?! Come on. It takes him 5 years between albums ('94, '99, '04), so he should have plenty to say. Albums like this further strengthen my position on the piracy / downloading issue. Why shouldn't people know of this sort of wackness before we actually decide to pay for it? I would strongly reccomend that you download this album and test it out before you actually put any dollars on it. Overall, I don't know, if you like pop rap, you might like this. But for heads like me that wants skills, stay as far away from this album as you can. I'll never buy another Method Man album again because of the laziness he displayed on this LP. This CD is pure garbage.

Standout Tracks: Turn feat. Raekwon, What's Happening feat. Busta Rhymes, Ridin' For Outro feat. Black Ice (My Favorite), and Afterparty feat. Ghostface

Meth!!!!!!!! What is the deal!!!!!!! I can only say for those who love the Wu-Tang, do not get this LP!!!! YOU would probably either 1. get so pissed off that you use this CD as a coaster for your drink or 2. CRY.............then use this CD as a coaster!! I am highly dissappointed in this release...I hope Redman don't fall into this, please not Red!!! I can count how many songs I like..................3 or 4.mind you there are 17 songs total!!! not a good percentage! ...The Prequel, What's Happening w/Busta Rhymes...(Busta killed it on there), The Turn w/Raekwon...has that old time Wu-Tang feel to it-Plus RZA produced it.) NOTE: (I have noticed, that when the Wu-Tang members that don't use RZA anymore for the majority of tracks on their LP...the joints don't do as well..think about it..you do the research...there are a few Wu-Tang solos without RZA's production-and they sucked!!-just wanted to note that.), Afterparty with Ghost is cool too! But Method Man seems to want just radio play!!! Every song seems that he is targeting just that!! Anyway, I don't care if this review helps anybody, but I just want you to know ....this LP is not the Method Man that you came to know and love....if you get this...don't say you wasn't warned!!!!!!!!

Method Man had a number of guest artist-Raekwon,Redman,Busta Rhymes,Missy,and Ludacris there were some good songs but there were many that were very bad and should not be on any album they are all Filler is there a badder artist right now then Missy Elliott.There are a few good joints on here such as
"What's Happinin","Motto" and "Tease" but there is not enough power to save this album remember Tical-The Original
Lyrics-5/10 Production-4/10 X Factor-2/10 Classic-5/10 Replay-4
Total=4 out of 10 Fingers not recommended

Meth's needs to leave rap albums alone, this album had me so pissed. its weak, the intro has the beest beat, with rza saying how wu is together and praising meth i guess the intro was recorded b4 the album. Meth needs to listen to Masta Killa's No Said Date, and pretty tony, cuz he has no clue whats he doing.

14 years ago, Method Man's debut album, "Tical" became one of my favorite albums ever. And now hearing this album, I see that Method Man has lost alot of his talent. I liked a few songs like Say What, and Act Rite, but the rest of them I didn't seem to like. Tical is a much better album. It was from 14 years ago, but I can't believe how much skill Method Man has lost. I suggest you pass buying this album.