Happy Birthday, Method Man!

Today, March 2, is the 47th birthday of Staten Island rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member Clifford Smith, better known as Method Man.

Growing up in Staten Island and Long Island, N.Y., Meth began rapping early and joined Staten Island crew Wu-Tang Clan at its inception in 1992. Meth was one of only two members to get a solo song on the crew's 1993 debut album, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), with the song "Method Man (Skunk Mix)." Meth's rough yet comical delivery made him a leader early in the group. By 1994, Meth dropped his own debut album, Tical, which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and solidified Meth as a stand-alone star.

As Wu-Tang rose to stardom and began to break off into subsets, Method Man and Def Squad's Redman became closer and started collaborating more. In 1999, Method Man and Redman dropped their first collab project, Blackout!, under Def Jam and the project went platinum. Method Man and Redman won fans over with their dynamic chemistry on songs and their funny, weed-smoker personas. They even parlayed their 1995 hit single, "How High" into a full length comedy movie, How High, in 2001, a cult classic among hip-hop fans. Ten years after Blackout!, the duo followed up with a sequel, Blackout 2.

To date, Meth has five solo albums under his belt, the last one being 2015's The Meth Lab and is rumored to be working on a sequel of How High. He's recently been collabing with young bucks likes Dave East.

Happy Birthday, Meth!

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