Why is Method Man’s 4:21… The Day After on my best 1,000 albums ever list?
High highs, consistently stellar production work, and A Game from our man. That being the M-E-T-H-O-D Man.
What does Method Man’s 4:21… The Day After mean to me? What does it make me feel? Why is it exciting or compelling?
When exploring the solo works produced by members of the Wu-Tang Clan collective (and throw in the various alumni of Wu-adjacent artists), it’s a lot to plow through. Some of it, frankly, doesn’t hold up. 4:21… The Day After isn’t a perfect album by any means, but it has enough high highs and stellar production work throughout to make it a well worthy entry in the best 1,000 albums ever.
There’s a whole sub-genre (sub-sub genre?) of taking verses posthumously from Ol’ Dirty Bastard and producing new work from them. “Dirty Mef” is a strong representative, with hard staccato piano that’ll get your head bobbing, and it’s simply wonderful to hear Method Man and ODB to do their thing together even if it’s more of a “together” scenario. Also: ODB sounds particularly fantastic on his solo verses.
Get impressed by the slinky, synth-y keyboards on “The Glide,” featuring Method Man, Raekwon (The Wu-Tang supports each other, to everyone’s benefit), and La The Darkman.
“Is It Me” has a little bit of a west coast G Funk vibe, and might be the prettiest and cleanest-sounding song on the album. Method Man’s flow is highlighted perfectly over tinkling piano and thumping, spare bass.
Some stats & info about Method Man – 4:21… The Day After
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Hip Hop, Rap, East Coast Rap, Underground Hip Hop, Hardcore Rap
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 3 out of 5 stars
- When was 4:21… The Day After released? 2005
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #929 out of 1,000
Method Man’s 4:21… The Day After on Spotify
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective take on what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.