Album: Tical 2000: Judgement Day
Release Date: November 17, 1998
Producers: True Master (tracks 4, 6, 8, 16, 17 and 23), RZA (tracks 2, 10 and 11).
Guest Producers: 4th Disciple (tracks 7 and 27), Havoc (track 19), Inspectah Deck (tracks 13 and 22), LB da Life Bringa (track 3), Mathematics (track 21), Method Man (tracks 1 and 27), Prince Paul (track 15), Poke/Tone/Quran Goodman (track 26), Redman (track 24), Erick Sermon (tracks 18 and 24).
Review: Tical 2000: Judgement Day 1) immediately follows the multi-platinum-selling, chart-topping Wu-Tang Forever, 2) marks Method Man's second solo outing before half the Wu even put out their debut solo records, 3) is a concept album about Y2K apocalypse theory and the Mad Max-style fallout that follows, 4) departs from being an almost exclusively RZA-produced Wu-family album, 5) uses 12 producers and nine skit tracks and 6) boasts 28 total tracks. Looking at these factoids alone, the set of balls on Method Man for releasing an album like this is already massive, which is to say nothing of the demonic voice effects, harmonic dissonance, mortality obsession, guest list and horror artwork in the package itself.
And for the most part, I love it.
Tical 2000 kicks off with "Judgement Day (Intro)," in which the countdown to the millennium on New Year's Eve being interrupted by an explosion. Method Man narrates that "first they dropped the bomb, then came the disease" before getting into it on "Perfect World." As usual, his flow-switching verse is on point: "Yo, on foreign land keep your toast up, hot rocks / Catch a close up of your snot box, broke up" (stay armed and beware the dangers of strange places). RZA sets the tone with brooding bass and drums and an ill keyboard for the treble end. "Perfect World" sets the scene for Method Man's character's evil tendencies with lines like "Mr. Sandman bring 'em a dream / Infrared light beams, homicide scene: perfect world."
Next up is "Cradle Rock," featuring Left Eye from TLC sounding harder than she ever has. LB da Life Bringa uses a catchy violin riff and samples "Bright Tomorrow" by Mighty Clouds of Joy to juxtapose violent lyrics. Likewise, Wu-affiliate True Master (who produces more tracks than anyone on the album) uses horns and guitar to emote a sound similar to RZA's on "Sweet Love," a slow jam about sex that catches Method Man revising his hook for Raekwon's "Ice Cream" - "Watch these rap niggas get all up in yo' guts." Cappadonna turns in a solid verse here, as does Streetlife - a Method Man disciple who appears on several tracks throughout the album.
The real star of the album for me, musically speaking, is "Shaolin What." While billed as a skit, "Shaolin What" is a two-minute song with a 30-second in-character vocal intro and a solid 90-second verse over the best music on the disc. Whereas most hip-hop beats loop in a few seconds, the two odd piano parts harmonizing on "Shaolin What" take a full 22 seconds to repeat. Big props to 4th Disciple for turning in this short-but-sweet gem. The harmonic dissonance continues on True Master's next production, "Torture," with its clipped keys. RZA returns for the bass guitar-heavy "Suspect Chin Music" and the old-school "Retro Godfather." True Master's next turn is on "Party Crasher," a clear RZA-inspired horn loop; and the brilliantly discordant "Grid Iron Rap," which features the kind of out-of-tune keys one would expect from Nine Inch Nails. Much of the album's music evokes the broken, apocalyptic feeling introduced by the first tracks' prophesying, continuing at least through True Master's flat keyboard part in "Killin' Fields."
Sadly, Tical 2000 is not without its problems. You'd expect the music would suffer, but that's not really the case. I'm fine with the producers on the album taking the reins from RZA. If RZA spent five years of his life cooped up in his home studio producing six albums in a row, Lord knows he deserved a break. The whole Clan can't depend on him forever to make every album they want to put out, especially when you look at a year like 1999 which featured a half-dozen releases on its own. True Master, 4th Disciple, Inspectah Deck, Mathematics and Method Man are all legitimate Wu affiliates and they produce 12 of the 19 actual songs on the album - and they do a fine job. In fact, much of their despondent sound would carry to RZA's 1999 score for the film Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, so again I see no real problem.
If Tical 2000 has any real issues, they ultimately lie with the amount of non-musical skits and an abandonment of concept in the final act. Before the music gets going on "Perfect World," I appreciate Method Man setting the scene for his rugged dystopia, but the (admittedly cute) sample of his son on "Dooney Boy," the phone messages from Donald Trump and Janet Jackson and the farewell at the end of the album don't serve the record like they should if they're meant to be included. I appreciate the respect from such high profile names, but I don't need them to be in the playlist. Ed Lover's "Where's Method Man?" is hilarious, and Chris Rock's "You Play Too Much" is funny, but they and the intro are the only three skits that really make sense. The other speedbump the album hits is that it abandons its own theme a half dozen tracks from the end. "Killin' Fields" is a great song, but it opens with a radio DJ explaining that "the big alert has been called off" and all the end-of-days fuss was over nothing. How can that be, if so much of the rest of the album spends time explaining this bleak scene? Aurally, the rest of the album after "Killin' Fields" doesn't fit the rest of the brilliant "gloom and doom" sound the first 23 or so tracks set up so well. Redman is great on "Big Dogs," but the music is considerably brighter; "Break Ups 2 Make Ups" is sweet and soulful (at the end of a full hour of the end of the world); and "Judgement Day" sounds upbeat and like a precursor to the much-contested Wu track "Gravel Pit." After spending an hour imagining all the street warfare of hip-hop has taken an ironic literal role in a fight over supplies post-apocalypse - one of Tical 2000's most underrated and brilliant ideas - the last thing it needs is for the last five tracks to say "Naw, just jokes."
Speaking of the lyrics, the album is great for its flow and rhymes with moments of real brilliance peppering its rhythms and themes throughout. In "Shaolin What," Method Man provides imagery of his place like Walking Dead's The Governor in his nightmare world: "Makin' maneuver through the slum / Nigga, Iron Lung / Ladies and gentlemen / Welcome to my torture chamber, my pit and pendulum / Foul play, T-2000 be the Judgment Day / Face millennium, hell to pay." Meth's flow never fails him, especially shining on tracks like "Step By Step" with intricate sections like
"Deadly melodic, robotic, Steez-o blur your optic
So you can't see the topic, condition combo
Blaze bring the heat to your Mourning like Alonzo
Head honcho like Eastwood, gun in my poncho
Another bad desperado
Trapped in between the hills and El Dorados."
Method Man is referencing Gangstarr, Alonzo Mourning, Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name trilogy and the mythical city of El Dorado - all in an impossibly smooth stanza of lyrics - to get his audience hyped for his track.
There's so much to love on Tical 2000, it's hard to understand the haters. While not immune from criticism (again, the skits are cool but not so necessary and I wish the grimy sound would've stayed throughout), Method Man makes bold moves that mostly pay off to keep hip-hop listeners excited about the years to come from the Wu. I love the off-kilter sounds on most of the tracks, Method's flow is always on point and overall this is just a fascinating listen.
Legacy: Tical 2000 is a personal favorite from the post-1997 Wu solo catalog and a great effort by Method Man, True Master and other Wu affiliates to initiate the post-RZA-production era of Wu-Tang. If you thought the only fictional angle the Wu could play was the Italian mafioso influence of Cuban Linx, Method Man is happy to prove you wrong. Ghostface's '80s-inspired Apollo Kids and comic book-esque 12 Reasons to Die followed over 10 years later; RZA's superhero alter-ego Bobby Digital made his debut literally a week later on Bobby Digital in Stereo; etc. Method Man's Thunderdome story is a flag, planted to say "You ain't seen nothing yet." And although it eschews some of the kung-fu feel of earlier Wu-Tang, costing some fans, it's a landmark for a broader range of personalities, stories and ideas expressed by one of hip-hop's most influential groups.
Recommended Tracks: "Cradle Rock," "Shaolin What" and "Torture" for the music, "Spazzola" and "Step By Step" for group and solo lyrics, respectively.
Next Week: RZA: Bobby Digital in Stereo
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