There have been a handful of great MC duos in the history of hip-hop. We’re not referring to “He’s the DJ, I’m the rapper” duos like Eric B & Rakim or Gang Starr. We’re talking about pairs of MCs who seem to have a telepathic connection. We are talking about Run and DMC, Salt and Pepa, Q-Tip and Phife (R.I.P.), Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, Andre 3000 and Big Boi, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith. And you have to include Method Man and Redman as one of these duos. 

Meth and Red came to prominence separately. Of course, Method Man, aka Clifford Smith, Jr., is a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, formed in the early ‘90s by the RZA (Robert Diggs), the GZA (Gary Grice), the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard (Russell Jones), Ghostface Killah (Dennis Coles), Inspecta Deck (Jason Hunter), U-God (Lamont Hawkins) and Raekwon (Corey Woods). Meth got a solo track on their debut album, 1993’s Enter The Wu-Tang: (36 Chambers). “Method Man” launched him to solo stardom before he even made his own record. But he was the first member to get a solo album after that album’s release: 1994’s Tical was also a huge hit. 

Redman, aka Reggie Noble, was a DJ/MC who was discovered by Erick Sermon of EPMD, and got a job for the group as a roadie and occasional featured performer. Of course, he went on to solo fame, and also joined Sermon and Keith Murray in the group Def Squad.

According to Hot New Hip-Hop, Meth and Red first met at an industry party for the duo Kris Kross in the early ‘90s; years later, they were both signed to Def Jam Records as solo artists. In 1995, Def Jam founder Russell Simmons narrated and appeared in a documentary about hip-hop called The Show, which featured a number of hip-hop icons, including Afrika Bambaataa, the Notorious B.I.G., Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J and Run-D.M.C. And the soundtrack featured the original version of “How High,” the first collaborative track by Method Man and Redman. The duo would collaborate frequently, leading to their first duo album, Blackout!, which turns 25 on September 28. They followed it up with Blackout! 2 in 2009. They’ve often guested on each other’s albums and they frequently tour together. Meth recently spoke with Vanity Fair about his discography, saying, “I have a few favorite [songs], but my most favorite ones are with Redman. Let’s just say that. He’s my brother. From another mother. Sometimes people just click—and I hate to use that cliché, but we’ve never had an argument. I never had an ill thought about him; he’s never had one about me.”

We decided to round up some of our favorite tracks that feature both Meth and Red. This isn’t a ranking: we’re going through their collaborations chronologically. 

• Method Man and Redman - “How High” from “The Show” (1995)

  This is where their partnership started. “How High” celebrated Meth and Red’s mutual love of marijuana. It was produced by EPMD’s Erick Sermon. The remix was more popular, but we have to start at the beginning here. Method Man told Complex about how he and Redman wrote the song. “We did the hook before we did the record. We were on the road together, thinking of a hook and it just came to me one night. ‘How High? High enough to kiss the sky/How sick? So sick that you can suck my d—,’ I came up with that. Doc [Redman] came up with, ‘Look up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane/Recognize Johnny Blaze, ain’t a damn thing changed.’ Then we came up with our rhymes and s—. That was us just brainstorming and being on the road with each other for three weeks. When I said, ‘Excuse me as I kiss the sky,’ That’s my version of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Purple Haze.’ When people got that in their heads, people who know music and know lyrics, when they heard that, they were like, ‘This n—-’s either a genius or just a klutz genius.’

• Tupac featuring Method Man, Redman and Tha Dogg Pound - “Got My Mind Made Up” from All Eyez On Me (1996)

  The song was originally a track for The Dogg Pound and featured The Lady Of Rage. Meth, Red and Inspecta Deck were on the original track but when Tupac returned from jail and joined Death Row’s roster, he got the song. Meth told Complex hadn’t even met Tupac at the time and wasn’t aware that he was on Tupac’s album until he heard the finished track. He noted that he later met Pac and they were cool despite the east coast/west coast issues of the time. 

• LL Cool J featuring Method Man, Redman, DMX and Canibus - “4,3,2,1” from “Phenomenon” (1997)

  The song is most well known for kicking off the much-talked about beef between LL Cool J and Wyclef’s protegee Canibus, due to his line, “L, is that a mic on your arm? Let me borrow that!” Meth and Red each got their own verses, but also tag-teamed to set up LL for his closing verse: “Ayo, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven/Blaze the hot trizack, shine like Heaven/Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one/Come on, Mr. Smith, come get some .” LL did get some, telling the younger rapper: “Tell little shorty with the big mouth the bank is closed (Ha, word up)/The symbol on my arm is off limits to challengers/You hold the rusty swords, I swing the Excalibur!”

• Method Man featuring Redman - “Big Dogs” from Tical 2000: Judgement Day (1998)

  From Meth’s second solo album, this song was later included on Blackout!. Hip-hop fans know that many times, a featured guest just does their own verse on a track. But by now, Method Man was a team player with Wu-Tang and a solo star, thanks the the success of Tical. He and Redman weave their verses around each other like two guitarists in a rock band who know how to play together really well. “Ayo, we bring the beef to you infested with the mad cow disease/We set to load, cock and squeeze/Boo-yah, we too hard to hold off/One arm slam ya like Nikolai Volkoff/When I dip-dip-dive, uh (Dive, uh), the anti-socializer (‘Lizer)/Everything be ice cream, observe the Frusen Glädjé/We rock ya, knock ya fuckin’ whole team off the roster/Starting lineup, Iron Lung and Funk Doctor.” That turned out to be a solid starting lineup. Also, how many other songs name drop pro wrestler Nikolai Volkoff and ice cream company Frusen Glädjé?

• Redman featuring Method Man - “Well All Rite Cha” from “Doc’s Da Name 2000” (1998)

  This is from Red’s fourth solo album. It’s  another track that showed the duo’s chemistry. Like “Big Dogs,” this was later included on Blackout. Produced, like many tracks already mentioned, by Erick Sermon, it shows that the EPMD rapper did some of his best work for other artists, which is the sign of a great producer.

• Method Man and Redman - “Blackout” from “Blackout!” (1999)

  The opening track from the hotly antipated first duo album from Method Man and Redman. It showed that the duo were coming in hot; a few seconds in, it was clear that this had the potential to be a classic LP (and indeed it is a classic). Another great Erick Sermon production.

• Method Man and Redman - “Cereal Killer” from “Blackout!” (1999)

  We should note that we could have selected pretty much any song from Blackout! for this list, but we’ll limit it to a few. In “Cereal Killer,” Meth and Red try to get into the mindset of a serial killer. It’s a pretty dark track and it’s no suprise that this one was produced by the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA (you can imagine that it would have fit in on a Wu-Tang Clan album). Meth makes a good comparison at the end of the song: “I think too much, I drink too much/My crew don’t really give two f—s, about you ducks/We over here Shaolin/What?! Spontaneous combust when I smoke a bag of dust/Uh, what a rush, cigar be the Dutch /Method Man and Redman, Starsky and Hutch!”

• Method Man and Redman - “Da Rockwilder” from “Blackout!” (1999)

  It’s no surprise that we would include this all-time classic, which was produced by Rockwilder. It’s so good, but it’s too short: the track lasts only two minutes, sixteen seconds. They have played it back to back at their concerts because people can’t get enough. The song was so massive that it appealed to the true hip-hop heads as well as the MTV TRL crowd. Method Man told Complex why the song is so short: “Red didn’t like the beat, that’s why the record’s so short. When I first heard it, I was like, ‘F— that!’ Wrote my verse right there and spit on it and I was like, ‘You know what? We gon’ call this s— ‘Rockwilder’ after you, my n—-.’ That’s how much I love this beat. For Rock, that’s what spring-boarded his s— into the ‘Bootyliciouses’ and ‘Do It Again’ with Jay-Z and all them n—-s because everybody was coming for that beat.”

• D’Angelo featuring Method Man and Redman - “Left and Right” from “Voodoo” (2000)

  In which Meth and Red venture into the neo-soul world, bringing humor and pop culture references with them. In the one-minute intro, Redman lets us know, “In ’83, I was that scrub TLC talked about!” And Meth says, “Baby, you got me like Joanie had Chachi… until she got high and went and f—ed Potsi!” They also end the track, where an excited Red says, “It’s Doc: pack guns, don’t sling weight/Only thing I sling is condoms for spring break!” Meth agrees: “‘Tis the season for draws droppin’ and heavy breathin’!”

• Method Man and Redman - “Part II” from “How High” (2001)

  The duo’s first single was such a hit (pun intended) that it led to a feature film. The plot: Silas (Meth) and Jamal (Red) smoke the ashes of their dead friend, his ghost visits them and they do so well on their school exams that they both get scholarships to Harvard University. And then, you guessed it: hijinks ensue! Hey, classic stoner flicks don’t really need to make sense. “Part II” is an updated version of “How High,” with some of Redman’s most ridiculous lyrics, including: “My dash is 180, my weed half a pound/when the smoke in the air my nose like basset hounds!”

   

• Method Man and Redman with Cypress Hill - "Cisco Kid" from "How High" (2001)

  Here’s a teamup that was always waiting to happen, and the How High soundtrack was the perfect place for it: Method Man and Redman with Cypress Hill. Produced by Rockwilder, this track was an update of the War classic of the same name. No need for any coastal drama here: as Redman rapped, “Yo, give me the gun, we don’t need to fight/Hold that blunt, I’ll give you a light/Don’t no n—- want to die tonight/With all this week, get high tonight, bitch!

• Method Man and Redman featuring Saukrates - "A-YO" from "Blackout! 2" (2009)

  Ten years after Blackout!, Method Man and Redman returned with Blackout! 2. Their rapport and vibe was as strong as ever. The album didn’t make the impact of the first one, but that’s probably more about the marketplace than about the quality of the music. As Meth rapped here, “Like all jokes aside, I’m serious with mine/And now I’m on this grind like Method Man in his prime.” This track, produced by Pete Rock and featuring Canadian rapper and singer Saukrates, was the album’s biggest hit

• Wu-Tang featuring Redman - "People Say" from "The Saga Continues" (2017)

  What would it sound like if Redman was a member of the Wu-Tang Clan? “People Say” gives us a good idea, as he drops a verse alongside the other members, including Method Man, Raekwon, Masta Kill and Inspecta Deck. It has a classic Wu-Tang sound, although it wasn’t produced by the RZA (his protegee, Mathamatics, produced the track). (By the way, the album was credited to “Wu-Tang,” as opposed to the Wu-Tang Clan, due to the fact that some legal issues between the group and U-God.) Over two decades after their debut, Wu-Tang still sounded potent, and they weren’t chasing trends. As Meth rapped, “Nah, see I don’t dab and I don’t nae nae.” We’re glad he didn’t. Here’s hoping that there is still more music coming from Wu-Tang, and Red and Meth.

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