Method Man was born Clifford Smith on April 1, 1971 in Hempsted, Long Island, New York. During his childhood he spent his time rotating between his parents' homes - sometime visiting his father in Long Island and then spending some of his time at his mother's house in Staten Island. The time he spent in Staten Island proved to be key in his development as an artist, as that is where he met the future members of Wu-Tang - RZA, Genius/GZA and Ol' Dirty Bastard. When the group formed their first hip-hop collective, Method Man signed on immediately and soon found himself heavily featured on the their late-1993 debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).

Following the success of the Wu-Tang debut album, Method Man released his first solo album, Tical, in 1994. The album was highly anticipated and proved to be very successful, entering the charts at number four it went platinum shortly after its release. Following the success of his debut album Method Man began to appear on the albums of many other famous hip-hop artists. Wu-Tang released another album Wu-Tang Forever in 1997, before commencing on another set of solo projects. Tical 2000 was the title of Method Man's second solo attempt, again proving that this artist was incredibly talented and successful.

After Tical 2000 Method Man spent some time launching his acting career, his first appearance on screen was in the film Belly. He teamed up with Redman in 1999 to create the album Blackout which hit number three on The Billboard 200. Since then he hit the charts with the album Tical 0 - The Prequel which topped out the charts at number two on The Billboard 200, number three on Top Canadian Albums and number one on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. 4.21...The Day After reached number eight on The Billboard 200 and number four on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.