Back in April, Golden Era rap veterans Nas and Wu-Tang Clan teamed up to announce their NY State Of Mind Tour, which is set to close out summer and ride through the beginning of October. Obviously, old-school hip-hop fans were excited to see the two trailblazing acts on the co-headlining tour, but attendees at the first four shows were dismayed to learn that Wu-Tang was missing a key member: Method Man. Apparently, in posting about their disappointment, a few crossed the line, prompting the man himself to offer an explanation for his absence on Instagram Live.
To put it simply: It’s because he’s filming a movie during the same window as the tour and one had to take precedence. Since Wu-Tang’s portion of tour proceeds has to be split eight ways among the band’s surviving members, he probably stands to make more from the film. In August, Deadline announced that Method Man would join the cast of the action-thriller Shadow Force along with Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Kerry Washington, and Omar Sy; this could be the role keeping Meth from joining his band on tour. He’s also cast in One The Come Up, which drops 9/23 on Paramount+ and for which he’ll probably need to do press, as well (incidentally, Randolph also appears in this one).
On Instagram Live, Meth said:
I’ma say this one last time. I’m one of the nicest mothaf*ckers in the world, but I am not a pushover. I have sacrificed so much over the years to satisfy the fans, and I’m pretty sure that’s vice versa, and that’s why I love y’all. That’s why I don’t hesitate to go all-out for y’all. But to be dissatisfied or to even blame me for your experience is unfair. Very f*cking unfair. My brothers are super duper talented, with or without me. And I know a lot of people, or a few people, have paid their money to see me perform, but that bill said Wu-Tang Clan. And you know, these things happen and dudes do have to feed their families. Albums don’t sell the way they used to, I’m pretty sure you guys know that. So in order to preserve my lifestyle and to feed my family, I had to have alternative means of doing that. And I’m glad to say at 50 years old, I have options. Not everybody can say that. Everyone cannot say that they have options.
I f*cking love Wu-Tang, wish I could have been on that tour with them. The booking came at a bad time – I was already booked to do a movie. Only reason why I’m coming back saying this is because of my love for my fans, okay. The real fans. Not the ones that’d jump in your DMs and curse you the f*ck out all call you all kinds of bitches.
You can check out the full video below, and for 5011th time, please stop mistreating entertainers just because you think you have access to them.
