Clifford Smith, born March 2, 1971, in Hempstead, Long Island, spent part of his childhood on Staten Island and became the Wu-Tang Clan’s first solo star as Method Man. His debut Tical came out in 1994, and in 1996 he won a Grammy with Mary J. Blige for I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need to Get By.
A New Yorker on “All Eyez on Me”
In 1996 relations between Death Row and the New York scene were poisoned. That makes the guest list on Tupac’s double album All Eyez on Me (February 1996) all the more striking: on Got My Mind Made Up, Method Man and his partner Redman rap alongside Tha Dogg Pound, Daz Dillinger produced the track and Kurupt has a verse. Inspectah Deck also recorded a verse that didn’t make the album version; his nickname “Rebel INS” can still be heard as the song fades.
The track shows that Tupac’s hostility was not a blanket war on the East Coast. He went after Bad Boy, Biggie and certain rappers, while still working with New York artists he respected.
Death Row East and “One Nation”
It is often said that Tupac had bigger plans with the Wu-Tang Clan and that the Clan was supposed to join a planned Death Row East label. What is documented is that Death Row was building an East Coast offshoot in 1996: MTV reported a new New York office in April 1996, and at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 1996, according to Nas’s brother Jungle, members of Death Row East were already around the Outlawz. His One Nation project, an album with rappers from both coasts meant to defuse the conflict, is also documented (see His companies). That the Wu-Tang Clan specifically was set to sign with Death Row East could not be confirmed.
All of these plans died with Tupac in September 1996. Method Man has spoken respectfully of Tupac over the years, but a close friendship of the kind sometimes suggested is not documented. Got My Mind Made Up remains their one shared recording, and a hint of how the story might have gone.