Cliff "Method Man" Smith,
welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
Ah, well, thank you for having me, Mr. Noah.
Oh, man, this-this is truly an honor for me.
I spent many, many years of my, uh, of my-my high school life
learning every single lyric of yours.
-(chuckles) -And, uh, and then,
and then you went and abandoned me
and became a major acting star.
I feel like I'm personally aggrieved.
(both laugh)
Well, thank you, sir, thank you.
I think that the transition has worked for me,
and, um, I'm having fun.
That's the best thing I can... I can have right now,
-is fun. -Yeah, man. You're not just having fun.
You're having fun, and you're successful.
We've seen you in everything from The Deuce
all the way through to, like, the best hip-hop videos
and-and movies,
but fans are loving what you're doing right now
in Power Book II.
talk me through a little bit of why you think this show
-is sometimes even more popular than the original. -Um...
I think that people were-- especially after the pandemic--
people were looking for a nice escape.
And, uh, a lot of people were familiar
with the original series, this being a spin-off.
And they were excited to see where it was going to go,
especially after they killed off the main character
-in the series finale. -Right.
So, um, that along with the anticipation
of having a Mary J. Blige in the cast,
people were very curious,
and, um, I think Courtney took great advantage of that.
And, um, the writing has stepped up,
and the character development is key in this whole thing,
because if people didn't receive the new characters well,
then we don't really have a show.
And, um, I'm-I'm taking my hat off
and applauding Michael right now--
Michael Rainey-- for his performance.
He is our leading man,
and we are behind him 110%, brother.
-Mary J. Blige. I mean, the queen. -Yes.
Just the absolute queen.
You two worked together in music such a long time ago.
Did you ever for a second think
that the next time you would collaborate
would be on-screen?
Um, no. No, honestly. I'm just gonna be honest.
I thought that maybe we'd collaborate
on maybe more records over the years.
-Right, right. -Which...
But, um, on-screen,
I-I watched Mary's progression over the years,
and, um, I have to say
that she embodies this Monet character
like it was written for her.
It probably was if you really think about it.
But, um, yeah.
She is such a boss on this show,
just like in real life, and, um...
Um, I think that people are very intrigued
by the Tejada family, and her being the matriarch
of that family makes it even more intriguing.
You know, one of the things I-I love about your acting
is that, in many ways, I feel like you've always had
the ability to craft a story through your words
and through your expressions and through your vibe.
I mean, like, even in your music, like,
you know, every-every song that I would listen to,
it felt like you were embodying a different character, you know?
You know? Whether it was in "Da Rockwilder"
or whe-whether it was, like, you know, like...
like, creeping through a back window,
silent as a mouse, y-you know what I mean?
You always had that feeling, where it was like,
"I'm-I'm embodying a different character."
Do you feel like acting has just always been in your bones?
Do you think you've always had the ability
to shift seamlessly between different stories
that you're telling?
I think being in entertainment as a whole
has prepared me for what I'm doing now.
-especially with the videos that you were speaking of. -Yeah.
And, um, you know, I think a lot of it has to do
with charm and personality.
But the-the biggest effort
and the biggest thing that shows difference is
your dedication to the art form of it.
Unless you're taking classes, you know,
you are-- show up to set on-on time,
ready to work, you know, um, all that plays a part.
And, um, like I said,
being onstage in front of 40,000 to 50,000 people
and entertaining them for a hour, hour and a half,
I think I can pull it off pretty well on a big screen
and a small screen as well.
I mean, um, there was-- there was a day
when you were trending on social media,
and I was like, "Aw, man! What has happened?
-Method Man is trending." -(laughs)
Whenever you see a celebrity's name trending,
you're like, "Aw, man, they died
or they should wish that they died."
It's always one of the two.
Instead, instead, it was Method Man at 50
laying thirst traps that most 22-year-olds
couldn't dream of achieving.
Um, talk me through a little bit about this-this transformation,
because your-your body has gone to another level.
-Like, I heard you used to play video games. -Uh...
-Yeah. -And then I was like,
"That's-that's not a video gamer's body."
-(laughs) -And now, now I hear
that you-you've made a change in your life
and that's why you look the way you do.
Well, I appreciate that. And, yes,
I-I did make a change in my life.
I decided to... start to take more care of my body,
as well as my mind.
Um, I felt like if I was going to improve my mental,
I might as well improve my physical as well.
And, um, yeah, it started with me, you know,
just binging video games, 3:00, 4:00 in the morning.
I'm pretty sure you know what that feels like, my brother.
Yeah. What did you play? What did you play?
It was a lot of Call of Duty. Um...
Free-for-All or Team Deathmatch? What-what was your--
-what was your... -You know what, it--
We-we were, um, Kill Confirms,
-um, Deathmatch, and, um... -Okay.
Uh, what's the, uh-- where you get the points?
-"A," "B," and "C." 'Cause that's... -Oh, yeah. Capture.
-Capture the Flag. Right. -Capture. Yeah.
And, um, you know,
I-I just started feeling real loser-ish, you know?
-(laughing) -Um, you know, you're waking up,
waking up 2:00 in the morning, can't go back to sleep,
and you're on the couch playing video games, just eating snacks.
So, I had this gym, um, subscription.
I had this gym membership, and I decided to take advantage of it.
And the gym happened to open at 4:00 a.m.,
-and I haven't looked back since. -Damn.
I've got a-- I've got a different technique.
What I do is-- I-I play a ton.
And then what I do is, if I am--
Let's say if I'm playing Warzone now
and then I-I get kicked to the Gulag
or I'm waiting for my team to buy me back,
then what I'll do is I got to do, like, ten burpees
or I got to do, like, 20 push-ups or I got to--
So, like, every time I respawn, I got to do something.
I'm not gonna go to the gym for hours.
But I'll punish myself for not playing well
-and then, like, just feel like I'm moving. -(laughs)
I feel like I'm moving.
Um, so, one of the things
that's-that's truly fascinated me about your career
and affected me, I think, is that you-you upended the idea
of what a rapper-- and sometimes even a Black man--
is supposed to be interested in.
You know? You're an avid c-comic book collector.
You were somebody who was never afraid to read
and expand your mind, at a time when--
you know, like, oftentimes in-in hip-hop,
ignorance was celebrated as-as, like, the be-all and end-all.
But you came from a class and a school where you were like,
"No, I'm gonna be informed. I'm gonna read.
"I'm gonna infuse my hip-hop and my work with this.
"I'm gonna be a comic book collector.
"There's no-- there's no nerd title to this.
-This is part of who I am." -Yeah.
Is there a reason you did that? Or-or where did you get
the confidence to do that, in a world and an industry
that always wanted to put people in one box?
Well, it's funny, because I-I am a result of my environment,
a product of my environment.
And, um, you know, the comic book thing
played a major part in my wordplay
because, you know, it basically taught me how to read.
And some of the words in there you were forced to look up
in the dictionary, like you did, the Wu-Tang words,
and when you couldn't find them, you knew
-that we were making this shit up. Like, any... -(laughs)
(laughs) Anyway,
I mean, it just-- it-it gave me a sense of a moral code,
as well as, you know, a vast vocabulary,
especially for writing.
And the beauty of, you know, me being Black
and growing up in these neighborhoods,
I could be around some of the toughest guys
and they still love Thor, the Hulk, Spider-Man.
-Right. -You know? And it was never an issue
of me being a geek or a nerd.
It was just that, "Oh, wow. You know.
Let me check that book out real fast, you know?"
So I never had that stigma.
So it was never any issue for me
to put comic books in the forefront of my rhymes
or-or lifestyle, you know what I mean?
It was just a-an easy thing for me.
Very easy.
Um, I know you've got a new podcast out,
where you're talking to all-all kinds of celebrities
and-and, you know, comic book geeks and nerds alike,
where we're celebrating the art form.
Talk me through that and-and what you love about it so much.
Yeah, the Marvel/Method.
Um, this was, like... years in the making, in my mind.
Because I kept pining for, you know,
just-just letting people know my love for comic books
and how Marvel shaped who I am today
and how it a-- how, you know, it really had an effect
on my lifestyle as a child.
So, for these guys to come
and offer me a podcast talking about books
with people that are in the industry like me,
that's, like, the gift that keeps on giving.
And I learned so much.
Correlation between comic books and life
with a lot of these stars, like, who they are today.
You can see it. And like I said,
there's a moral code in these books,
whether you want to admit it or not, that we all live by.
We don't kill, we-we--
It's like that just-- You know, we want to see justice.
-Right. -We want a happy ending.
And that's what everybody wants in life.
So, the Marvel/Method, when people tune in,
they're gonna get more than just us talking shop
about the books.
They're gonna get, like, a real experience
from artist to artist, talking about their life
prior to books and after.
And we get to talk to some of the writers,
which makes it even more better.
I've always wanted to know. Which Marvel character
would you want to play in a Marvel movie?
Well, there aren't many Black, uh, characters.
Shout-out to Chadwick Boseman, beautiful man.
Um, Wakanda forever, for real.
Um, there aren't many Black characters
in-in the Marvel universe.
There are some, and I cherish 'em. Don't get me wrong.
And, um, I was pining for Bishop. X-Men.
And, um, Adam Brashear, uh, um, the Blue Marvel.
Uh, but now it's like I think it's time for new characters.
If we can just make new characters now,
-you know, we don't have to gender-swap, -I'm liking this.
we don't have to race-swap anything.
Just bring new characters.
All right, so I'll ask you this before I let you go.
If you were to create any character,
what are the powers that you would give that character
and why?
Ooh.
Wow. Um...
Geez.
That's a tough one.
Um, I-I...
Geez.
I think, um...
he would probably be...
I'd make him an empath, an empath.
-Like, he would have the power of em-empathy. -Okay, okay.
Um, and he could reflect that, uh, to the world,
that empathic ability.
And then he can, with that empathic ability,
can cure racism if he wanted to
or can have peace on Earth because he's projecting this.
All he needs is a big stage--
social media-- and people to hear his voice.
That would be dope.
And he could be a villain,
an antihero, so to speak,
because there's a lot of people that don't want that message.
-Damn. Okay. -Think about it. Pow.
Okay. You know how he gets his powers?
He gets his powers because, as a little kid,
he was in a hospital, where they were working on his brain,
and the machine they connected him up to
connected him to the other kids by mistake
and it, like, electrocuted him and he got all of their thoughts
and their feelings inside of him.
-And then that's where he got the power. -Co-creator right...
Co-creator right-right there. Trevor, you are a genius.
Thank you. Thank you.
Yo, Mr. Meth, sir, you made my day, man,
you've made a part of my life, and I appreciate you.
Thank you so much for taking the time.
Thank you, Trevor, appreciate it.
Thank you so much, my dude.
Peace.