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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
There's sadly not much positive to say, 5 Mar 2003
‘Tical 2000’ didn’t really impress me upon release and unfortunately time hasn’t been particularly kind to Method Man’s sophomore effort. Recorded in 1998 during the pinnacle of the Millennium Bug / end of the word hype, much of the album is now pretty redundant. The ‘Intro’, for example, now just sounds embarrassing. We were nowhere near to the apocalypse and Meth’s predictions seem a more than a little off-kilter. It was Meth’s ability to mix wit with menace that made ‘Tical’ special. Here, he tries in vain to find the same balance. The joker in Meth makes an appearance ten seconds into the first track as he parodies Sly Stallone’s Rocky, by yelling “Adriannnnn” – it’s pretty funny, but totally out of place. Elsewhere, the Chris Rock skit, ‘You Play Too Much’ is admittedly hilarious, but I’ve always thought that comedy skits have no place on hip hop albums. For the MC who isn’t prepared to thrill his audience with enlivening stories or to challenge the listener with perceptive ideas, creating two albums will be a struggle. Where his contemporaries Raekwon, Ghostface Killah and Gza each give their own spin on criminal life, Meth meekly treads over ground he already covered in his debut. “Brain is punctured and drained through the nasal”, he drawls on ‘Spazzola’ in a nod to the intro to his anthem, ‘Method Man’. There are a couple of instances he just recycles verses from earlier releases, most notably on the sterile, ‘Killin Fields’. Perhaps predictably the production is uninspired. 4th Disciple, True Master, Inspectah Deck and the Rza each fail to set the album alight. Surprisingly, Eric Sermon’s contribution ‘Step by Step’ is no better. Given the talent behind the production desk, it seems odd that Method Man would produce the best track himself, ‘Judgement Day’ is the focal point, and indeed the most dazzling track on the LP. The production successfully straddles the line between cinematic and being a decent head-nodding track, but it is proceeded by 50 seconds worth of nonsense and one of the verses is recycled from Method Man’s collaboration with (ahem) Texas. The fact that it is the best track is a pretty damning indictment of the overall quality. The only other track worth noting is ‘Break Ups 2 Make Ups’, D’Angelo is as silver-tongued as ever and he and Method Man make a respectable pairing. Overall, it’s just not good enough and there are several criticisms to level at ‘Tical 2000’. Frankly twenty-eight tracks is far too many for any album by any artist. Admittedly, eleven of them are skits, which itself ridiculous. The very notion that Meth has included as many skits as most artists have tracks is crazy. Those Wu fans that remain blind (or should it be deaf?) to the Wu’s least inspired albums will no doubt lap this up. But anyone more discerning should consider my awarding of two stars as pretty generous.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Forget everything you've heard about this album, 10 Sep 2006
As far as underrated albums go, this one is somewhere near the top of the list. U probably notice everyone comparing this to his other work in some sense, but that's not how a review is written. Sure it's not Tical but this album is worth a lot more than what most people are giving it.
This is a very packed album, with very few RZA productions (just three). It's True Master who takes the reigns for most of the production here, and I personally, am not complaining. The opening track is the RZA produced Perfect World. Great opener. Relatively reminiscent to a Tical beat, easing you into the change in beats. The next few tracks, although not featuring RZA's production skills are still ridden wit heavy baselines. One of my favourite tracks is Torture with production credits by True Master, Meth does this like a real rap track should be: very basic, not complicated chorus, where he just repeats torture over and over, and unleashed some really laid back verses.
Retro Godfather has RZA violins and horns that remind me of Criminology, but Meth does what he can to make it sound different, and puts words in the chorus, instead of instrumental. Nice track still. Spazzola is the crew cut here, produced by the Rebel INS himself. Step By Step produced by Erick Sermon is THAT TRACK. Great beat, and Meth does what he does on his own here. Tough drums and a sampled chorus. Deck returns on the production with Elements ft. Star & Police. Deck is an ill lyricist, but he's no weaker on the production boards, and you can't be mad at that. The 6 minute Judgement Day ends the album with a bang. Meth just has a stream-of-consciousness type moment here and just rips it.
Overall this album is a step away from Tical, it achieves a much less gritty sound, but adapts more to '98 hip-hop. The baselines still leave your ears ringin, and Meth's rhymes and lyrics are as street as ever. But at 27 tracks it is well packed and does take a while to listen to. Not a Wu-classic, but for anyone into the Wu's sound it's most definitely worth a purchase.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not The Best, 2 Nov 2001
This Album is good, though it lacks the same quality as 'Tical' and 'Blackout'. The good songs have to be 'Retro Godfather' and 'Break Ups 2 Make Ups' which are clearly classics. Though I can't listen to the whole album, which unlike the other two albums Meth has made, it has countless numbers of skits which get very tiring. Go buy Tical instead, it's better.
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