LUDIC LOG

In each generation, it falls to two or three rappers to define their time. In succession, Mel, Rakim, KRS, Chuck, and Snoop have left indelible imprints on their craft. And though the books are barely open on the emerging generation, there is one young rapper who is virtually unrecognizable from one joint to the next -- and unforgettable in every one of them. His work as a guest star has matched his solo work stroke for brilliant stroke, leading fatlaces.com to say that our guest is all set to become the most forceful emcee of his generation. Ladies and gentlemen...Method Man.

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

A number of my niggas here in the crew are close to you in age, and all of them are about set out on the terrain that you traveled. So our guests' itineraries are of interest too. Where is Shaolin?

Where is Shaolin. Shaolin is Staten Island, in New York.

And what is Shaolin like?

Well, Shaolin is one of the many areas of New York which is underrepresented in our field. Many speak of representing Brooklyn/Queens, but few are we who shout out from the hinterlands of Shaolin. It's the realm that be as deep as the Poseidon adventure.

Speaking of representing, tell us about the RZA.

The RZA is a consummate craftsman, a strong personality who has forged a, well, to be frank, a ragtag band of conflicting personalities into a powerful functioning unit which I flatter myself has had something of an impact on the rap community. Prior to our association, we didn't make much of an impression, but now, when you walk up in this Dead Zone wit' all that wack shit, now you know you dead wrong.

So he's the anvil against which the Wu is forged.

He make me reminisce true like deja vu.

What followed the oh-so-typically atypical upbringing in Staten Island? When did you find rapping?

Well, it so happens that when I was a sophomore in high school, I was going to try out for the baseball team, but there was this girl I remember I was rather sweet on. And she was on the LIRR one afternoon, heading for a Boogie Down Throwdown, and I ran into her. So, I thought to impress her -- me, with my dreams of playing for the Yankees! The next thing I knew, damned if I wasn't on stage, with the scriptures hit the body like sawed off shotties like my hair -- knotty -- and my nosepiece -- snotty! And of course I lost the throwdown, but it was too late. I'd found my calling.

I understand that there were some near fistfights over who, which of you was the true and authentic Method.

Oh, dear. This is so embarrassing! Ha, ha.

Well, that's what you're here for, my boy! Ha, ha!

Yes, oh, dear me. Well, initially, when we were stumbling in the dark to aquire the character traits that would define our roles in the Wu, the Genius and Masta Killa felt that I hadn't really found Method Man's voice. They felt that my clumsy graspings had been very rough -- a charge I can scarcely deny! -- and that I had failed to truly inhabit the Tical. In fact, I remember one night it was at Citrus, and we were about to go into the studio, and GZA had actually suggested that Deck perform take the lines. Well, obviously, I was in a panic, and out of sheer desperation, I spat out, "Upside, downside, inside and outside, hittin' you from every angle -- there's no doubt I am the one and only Method Man, the master of the plan wrappin shit like Saran". After that, well, the Rebel INS had do be satisfied. He took a gamble on my readiness for a starring performance -- for which I am eternally grateful.

Whatever we thought of Dr. Trevis, or you, I don't think any of us were quite ready for the skewed, diamond-hard brilliance of "How High". Was that written with Redman in mind?

Well, yes, obviously. No one could have possessed the role quite the way he did, I don't think. He was so sick you can suck my dick.

Something that is done in the film, which is absolutely fascinating, is that so often, you are framed together on screen, making a two-headed Cerebrus of rapping elan.

Oh, yes. I mean, well, it be goin' down. Diggy diggy down. Diggy down down!

It's almost like a Greek chorus. And your face and body language continually comment on the action. Is that deliberate on your part?

Yes. The Green-eyed Bandit will trust that I'll do something that will fill out the reality of the scene, and yet not entirely draw interest away from anything that he might be doing that's interesting. That's why I love working with him. But, really, I think in the end it's all about the ensemble. When you think about it, my peoples -- if you wit' me, where the fuck you at? Niggas is strapped, and they tryin' to twist my beer cap.

Method Man. Thank you for being with us here today. Thank you for teaching us.

It's my pleasure. And if I could just mention, to all those posin' a threat, if I go, everybody gotta go next. Y'all niggas know the code of the street soldier: I'm watchin' time, and time watchin' me colder.

Indeed.