Before there was Method Man, Tical, Johnny Blaze and the rest of his aliases, there was just Clifford Smith. Born on April 1, 1971 in Long Island, NY, Clifford was raised along with two sisters in both Long Island with his mother and Staten Island with his father.

The soon to be Method Man was taught by his father to play the drums and learn poems that began early rap, which had a huge influence on him. That was not the only influence on the soon to be Method Man; he was also a comic book fanatic, imagining himself as characters such as Ghost Rider (not coincidentally, the alter ego of one Johnny Blaze). At age 15 he joined the Five Percent Nation where he converted his father’s namesake, Clifford Smith, to a non-slave name, Shakuan God Allah. “My birth name isn ’t important. That’s still a part of me, but I don’t recognize that part.”

While trying to focus on more positive things, he got a job working at the Statue of Liberty but was quick to quit and turn to selling drugs due to the wages being cheap. “I hated selling that shit. I was a front-line nigga, and I hated that. I don’t talk about that in my rhymes at all.” But he remained optimistic, knowing he wouldn’t be on the streets forever.

Shakuan later met a group of cousins (Wu-Tang’s Rza, Gza and Ol’ Dirty Bastard) where they begin rhyming forming the Wu-Tang Clan. By this time Shakuan already earned a name for himself around Staten Island as Shakuan the Poet, for his rhymes including his first song he wrote called “The Panty Raider”. The name “Method Man” was created upon himself because at that time Staten Island referred to a breed of weed as Method, which he related to.

The group recorded tapes of their rhymes at Rza’s house. Eventually Rza hooked the nine members of the Wu-Tang Clan with studio time. They each had to pay $100 for their tracks to be recorded. Hits like “Protect Ya Neck” and the famous “Method Man” were recorded and the first album “Enter the Wu-Tang (36th Chambers)” was released with Loud Records. Def Jam Records signed Method Man with a solo deal a year later in 1994.