Method Man & Redman and The Lox

Method Man grew up in both the Long Island and Staten Island neighbourhoods of New York, splitting his time between his separated parents. He first rose to stardom in the early 90’s, as the youngest and arguably most successful member of the now legendary New York Hip-Hop collective, Wu-Tang Clan. Method Man has recorded five studio albums with the Wu, as well as four of his own solo releases with Def Jam. Method has also proven himself as a strong actor, starring in comedies “Scary Movie 3” and “Soul Plane” and gangster flick “Belly”.

Redman, who grew up in Newark, announced himself onto the hip-hop scene with a notable guest appearance on an EPMD album in 1990. Following that brief cameo the infamous Def Jam snapped him up, and distributed his debut album “Whut? Thee Album” in 1992, the same year he was named “Rap Artist of the Year” by The Source Magazine. Since his debut Redman has released a total of seven studio albums, and also featured on Christina Aguilera’s smash hit, “Dirrty”.

The pair were friends before collaborating, having met on previous Def Jam tours. They were first featured on the same song together when they both contributed verses for rapper Tupac’s “Got My Mind Up” in 1996. They released their debut album “Blackout!” as “Method Man & Redman” in 199, when they were at the height of their popularity. The album was met with critical acclaim and named in many album of the year lists.

The first album served as a prelude to the pair’s debut as an acting duo, in the 2001 motion picture “How High”, a stoner comedy that achieved cult status in the early 2000’s. They also filmed a sitcom in 2004 called "Method & Red".

In 2009 the pair reunited to record their follow up album “Blackout! 2”. The pair stated that they delayed the release of their second album to focus on their various solo ventures. The album was a commercial and critical success despite the 10 year gap, cementing their status as one of raps go-to partnerships.

The group came together as high school students and started to perform local shows, developing a following. They had celebrity followers in Mary J. Blige who was the person who passed on their demo tape to Sean Combs, who later signed them to his labels. This was when the band confirmed their name The L.O.X, which stands for Living Off Experience.

They broke through to the mainstream, featuring on the song “It’s All About the Benjamins” after “We’ll Always Love Big Poppa”. They would go on to feature on many pop successes such as “Honey” by Mariah Carey and “Jenny From The Block” by Jennifer Lopez. The group released their debut album “Money, Power & Respect” on January 13th 1998 which would go on to peak at number 3 on the Billboard 200 and number 1 on the Top R&B albums. The group’s following album “We Are the Streets”, released on January 25th 2000, managed to reach number 5 in the Billboard 200 and number 2 in the R&B chart. It was produced by Timbaland and produced the singles “Wild Out” and “Recognize”.

The band would go on a hiatus that would end with a collaborative album with Wu-Tang Clan, which was released on November 27th 2012. The album was entitled “Wu Block”. They embarked on a worldwide concert tour called The Trinity. On March 1st 2014, the group released a song called “New York” which was endorsed by Funkmaster Flex.