Source: Kevin Winter / Getty
Method Man recently shared that he resented the sex symbol persona attached to him, following the success of his 90s-era Grammy-winning song “I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need To Get By” with Mary J. Blige.
The Wu-Tang Clan member said despite women’s love of his swagger and flow on the track, he hated that “All I Need” made him a hip hop sex symbol.
“I fought that ‘All I Need’ sh*t,” the 51-year-old said during a recent appearance on Math Hoffa’s My Expert Opinion podcast. “I didn’t wanna put it out because it was at a point where, when we were doing Wu-Tang shows, I would come out and it’d be girls screaming.”
“Now, for me, it’s like, I’m grimy. [I’m a ‘wear the] same clothes for three days in a row’ [type of] n—a,” Meth explained of his image at the time. “Who wants to go the sex symbol route at [that] point?!”
Meth also recalled thinking all the performers “that did the sex symbol sh*t lost their audience.”
How Method Man’s Audience Responded
Meth said there was a complete difference in how crowds received him in clubs following the release of 1994’s “Bring the Pain” versus “All I Need,” which dropped the following year.
“Before [‘All I Need’ was released], the shows were packed but it would be a bunch of f–king gangstas all in the front, ready to vibe out. I’d jump in the crowd, throw water and all that sh*t,” he explained.
“After that ‘All I Need’ [song] dropped, n—a… it was a bunch of blonde-haired, silver clothing-wearing — flooded [crowd], all chicks.”
Overall, the rapper thought the love he was getting from the ladies would turn off his male audience from his music.
“And it gets to the point where it’s like, ‘Yeah, I did come to see the n—a. How many b–ches in here yelling for that n—a? Man, f–k that n—a! I hope he trip on stage and break his f–king neck,'” Meth said, mimicking the perspective of his male audience.
While the artist noted his male fans didn’t explicitly share that’s how they felt about his sex symbol persona, Meth said he would’ve been off-put if it’d been him in the crowd.
See the clip down below.
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