>and it's a shame that he doesn't. He's definitely under
>appreciated and should get the same level of respect as Nas or
>Biggie.
>

Level of respect? I guess. But then how do you cut the fact he doesn’t have an Illmatic or Ready To Die. And I will disagree below more in depth, but his sophomore album isn’t It Was Written or Life After Death. So it’s kind of hard to put him at the same level. When you couple that with the fact he had probably more hype and higher expectations, his disappointing albums amplify.

>I just think it's super interesting to discuss why he doesn't
>have a certified classic album (IDK wasn't Tical initially
>considered one of the Wu classics or did I imagine that?)
>

It’s hard for me to tell. I was 12 when Tical dropped and while I copped it the day it came out, I don’t remember the actual convo around the album outside of my circle. I believe it got 4 mics. But if I remember correctly, it was always seen as a bit of a let down. We liked it and rocked it, but if we are honest, Illmatic and Ready To Die had already dropped. The year before we got Doggystyle. It was never on that level and he was the hottest MC in the game leading up to that album. His hype was more similar to Snoop than anyone else on the west because just like The Chronic had us anticipating Doggystyle, 36 had us anticipating Tical and it simply didn’t live up to the hype beyond Bring The Pain. As you said below, All I Need is dope but had the Razor Sharp mix been on the album...maybe we would be having a different discussion.

>My theory is that he was limited initially by being in the Wu
>while at the same time being bolstered by it. The first album
>was a RZA album featuring Method Man, but then when he had
>more control he didn't deliver.
>

I guess you could make the case that his skill set may have been better off served coming in as a solo artist and having a crop of producers to choose from but he really hasn’t done anything his entire career to make us believe that would’ve given him a better outcome.

>He was the first to get a Wu solo and I think RZA learned from
>his mistakes, which allowed him to come stronger with the
>other 4 (Ghost, Rae, GZA and arguably ODB). I think Tical
>suffers by being a little too short, not having as many Wu
>members on it (it's really just Rae, RZA and Deck), and not
>having the Razor Sharp remix of All I Need on it. It also has
>a remix of M.E.T.H.O.D. Man which could have really just been
>a B-side.
>

This I agree with. RZA hit his stride with Cuban Linx and continued through Liquid Swords and Ironman. ODBs was more in line with Tical if you ask me and I never liked that album outside of the singles.

>You can see him trying to course correct really blatantly on
>his second album by having a million cuts and skits (28
>tracks!) and being all over the place thematically. By having
>regular Wu/RZA type cuts on there and then the more mainstream
>stuff like the Trackmasters produced break up song with
>D'Angelo and... (Actually this album doesn't sound that
>commercial to me today, but I remember feeling it was very
>commercial when I first heard it. But that was another era...)
>
>

I don’t even think I copped that album when it came out. I was somewhat past Meth at that point. But I don’t recall anyone thinking it was commercial. Listening to it now I have a lot of appreciation for it. But overall, you’re right...it’s a sloppy mess of an album. Which leads me to my initial opinion that the issue was more with Meth when it came to crafting a classic album.

>He definitely attempted to follow the Biggie and Nas formula
>and didn't produce a classic. (But personally I think this
>album is very similar to It Was Written: All over the place
>production-wise, a bunch of great songs, a bunch of filler, a
>couple skippable tracks, and some obvious cross over
>attempts.)
>

I don’t think it’s anything like It Was Written. IWW is a certified classic and always has been. Sure there were people complaining about it not being Illmatic but they are in the minority. The album is cohesive and the beats are nowhere near as “shiny” as people try to fault it for. IWW also isn’t all over the place as far as quality of songs. Bunch of filler? Where?

>He's got an Erick Sermon beat, a Havoc beat, a Prince
>Paul/Chris Rock skit and Trackmasters besides Wu producers.
>Maybe he didn't go far enough and get more outside help from
>Premo, Pete Rock or some others. And, I think he messed up
>again by not having barely any Wu members on this one again.
>The track with all the Wu features, Spazzola is the worst beat
>on the album (produced by Deck).
>

And this is really the problem. He didn’t go all in on the Wu lane but he didn’t go all in on the “let me get the best production” lane. The Havoc beat he picked is average as FUCK. If Meth really wanted to be on that Nas, Big level, he had to get Preemo, Pete, and others. Do you know dope Meth would sound on some Buckwild or Beatminerz production??!! Perfect! Listen to Half Man Half Amazing...and yes, that was a Grap beat but dammit...it was so in-line with a PR banger I feel we can use it as proof of how dope a Meth/PR joint would’ve been. And that is 98 at the same time frame so why not work out the “I’ll hop on Soul Survivor, you bless a beat on my album” type of deal. But again, this proves my point that he just couldn’t craft *that* album. And maybe he was tied to Wu and RZA only loosened the leash so far. There’s stories of him having to sneak out to do The What and How High and those are damn near his two most iconic joints!

>I don't know. This album was a huge success initially without
>really standing the test of time. There are easily 8 excellent
>songs on this looking at it right now though. To me, I would
>take Method Man every single time as I think Illmatic is a
>little bit overrated (and nothing after that comes close to
>it) and I'm not that into Biggie (who only put out two albums.
>

But look at 94 as a whole. Yes, Nas and Big are the two biggest albums from that classic standpoint and those are the MCs Meth is closest to as far as stature. But is Tical real better than any of these albums;
Word...Life
The Sun Rises In The East
Resurrection
Dare Iz A Darkside
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
The Main Ingredient
Hard To Earn
Between A Rock And A Hard Place
The Diary
Blowout Comb
Stress...The Extinction Agenda
Street Level

The year was PACKED so for him to put out a disappointing album when all these other albums are dropping...it just makes the let down even worse IMO

Tical is closer to the east coast Regulate...G Funk Era than it is Illmatic.

More along the lines of The Most Beautifullest.

And I LOVE those albums but when we are talking about an A-Level MC releasing that level of an album...it just doesn’t sit right with most people and the MC gets more shit than they deserve. Because Tical is still dope as hell.