Unlike
Method Man's straightforward debut,
Tical, which was a simple yet brilliant MC/producer collaboration, and a classic one at that, his follow-up,
Tical 2000, is an epic undertaking, involving a long list of collaborators and a conceptual scope. In many ways, it's a more interesting album than its predecessor because of its ambitions. There are 28 tracks in total here, most of them featuring some sort of guest, mainly fellow East Coast hardcore rappers like
Redman and
Mobb Deep but also surprise guests like Chris Rock and
Janet Jackson. The 28 tracks furthermore feature an abundance of producers rather than just
RZA like last time. Some of the more notable contributors include Rockwilder,
Erick Sermon,
Prince Paul,
Havoc, and the Trackmasters as well as in-house
Wu-Tang beatmakers
RZA and
True Master. This large cast navigates its way through a loose narrative about a so-called Judgement Day that seems to liberally take its inspiration from the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day. All of this makes
Tical 2000 a daunting venture that is occasionally entertaining (the many skits), intermittently brilliant ("Dangerous Grounds" and the climactic title track), but unfortunately too often ill-conceived (the overly calculated "All I Need" sequel "Break Ups 2 Make Ups," this time featuring
D'Angelo rather than Mary J. Blige) and also tiresome (again, the many skits). Rarely have such ambitious undertakings as this worked well for rap artists, and
Tical 2000 exemplifies this, as did many of the myriad other epic, often double-disc albums released during the late '90s that were heavy on collaborators but light on consistency. [The clean version edits all moments of profanity.] ~ Jason Birchmeier