Method Man Raps Fox

Method Man is ready to go gangsta on Fox.

The Wu-Tang emcee is slamming the network for taking the "ghetto" out of Method & Red, his new sitcom with fellow rap star Redman.

"This is frustrating for me, and it's not turning out for me as expected," Method Man bitched to the Los Angeles Times in an interview appearing Saturday. The hip-hopster said that even though he's an executive producer he's been unable to exert any creative control over the project.

"I'm trying to keep this show ghetto, and there's a way for it to be both ghetto and intelligent. But it's not going that way."

Recycling the premise behind The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Method & Red follows two rich rappers who move to a mostly white affluent neighborhood in New Jersey and predictably turn the community upside down with their antics.

The show debuted last Wednesday to an audience of 8 million--a decent showing for a summer series. But critics assailed the sitcom as nothing more than a collection of racial stereotypes.

Method Man says that while the urban comedy retains a certain hip-hop flavor, it's doesn't jibe with the original subversive vision he and Method & Red's producers intended.

"I know what I wanted this show to be, but there's been too much compromise on our side and not enough on their side," Method said. "I want more ghetto stuff but all they care about are people who have Nielsen boxes."

Aside from the watered-down subject matter, Method Man lashed out at the "lame jokes" which have managed to find their way into scripts. He also bemoaned the use of a laugh track, which he said he never agreed to.

Method launched into his tirade against the Man after hearing an acting coach on local L.A. radio who said the duo's show smacked of "coonery," i.e., the racial stereotypes prevalent in entertainment during the era of Jim Crow and the early 20th century, as well as criticism from such outlets as BET.com, which labeled Method & Red "unfunny" and attacked it for aiding a "downward spiral in black entertainment" by offering "a benign buffoonish broth ready for mainstream consumption."

"I'm no coon," the Soul Plane star vented. "I'm being criticized by people who have never set foot in the ghetto, who have never put up a brick inside the ghetto. I'm from the ghetto. We can't all be the Cosbys. There needs to be a yin and yang as far as what is shown of black people on television. But I don't want us to be used as a scapegoat for their crusades."

Method Man expressed concern that such views of his show might negatively impact a career that has scored both musically and cinematically (Method Man and Redman previously costarred in the hit 2001 pot comedy How High).

"I hate the title because it locks both of us right in, rather than just calling it something like Two Guys in the 'Hood," he noted. "We've got a lot on the line here. I'm a musician."

"At the end of the day, if this show fails, all these other people can go on to other projects. We'd have to go back to where we came from, and they'd be saying, 'Oh, there goes Method Man and Redman, they went Hollywood.' Where are we going to go?"

Fox reps declined to comment on the controversy Monday, while a publicist for the rapper was unavailable.

After his defensive remarks became public, Method Man backpedaled, claiming that some of his comments were "were far-fetched" because he was in a "particularly bad mood" that day.

"That remark about 'cooning' really, really hurt me. I'm a sensitive dude, and it really set me off all day, " he said. "What I want to make clear is that working on this show is a learning process on both sides. I just flew off the handle. At the end of the day, I want to be proud of this show and what we do."

Regardless of Method & Red's fate, the rapper still has a music career to fall back on.

According to concert trade Pollstar, after a decade away from performing, all 10 original Wu-Tang Clan members are set to headline the Rock the Bells concert July 17 at the National Orange Show Pavilion in San Bernardino, California. Redman is also on the bill.