Method Man, Redman - Whateva Man

JUL 01 1997 · 12:00

Method Man, Redman - Whateva Man (1997) Director: Steve Carr Era: Golden Age Hip-Hop / East Coast Mid-90s (1996–1997) - Peak era of Def Jam's visual identity, marked by comedic concept videos and cross-artist cameo culture emerging from the Wu-Tang/Def Squad orbit. High archival value as an early and well-documented example of hip-hop's comedic concept video tradition at Def Jam, capturing the Redman/Method Man chemistry at its formative stage. The Blues Brothers parody premise, confirmed by multiple sources, provides a rich case study in cinematic intertextuality. The video's role as a promotional artifact for Muddy Waters, Redman's most commercially successful album, and its #42 Hot 100 peak make it a significant marker of mid-90s East Coast rap's mainstream crossover moment. Context: Released in 1997 as the second single from Redman's third album Muddy Waters (Def Jam, December 10, 1996), 'Whateva Man' arrived at a pivotal moment in East Coast hip-hop: the Biggie/Tupac feud dominated headlines, yet Redman and Method Man forged a playful, genre-refreshing counter-narrative built on humor, camaraderie, and intertextual pop-culture referencing. The video's Blues Brothers parody signaled hip-hop's growing confidence in claiming Hollywood iconography as its own. The Erick Sermon-produced track reached #42 on the Billboard Hot 100, the highest charting single from Muddy Waters, and was included in The Source Presents: Hip Hop Hits (1997). The Red/Meth pairing previewed the chemistry that would later anchor their collaborative album Blackout! (1999) and the film How High (2001). Director notes: Steve Carr is credited as director on the Music Video Wiki Fandom entry for 'Whateva Man.' Carr had a well-documented professional relationship with Def Jam and Def Squad-affiliated artists throughout 1996–1998; Tribute.ca specifically lists Def Squad among his music video clients, and SHOOTonline (1999) confirms he was actively directing Redman videos during this period. The video is a comedic parody of The Blues Brothers (1980), featuring Redman and Method Man in black suits, hats, and sunglasses driving a vintage police cruiser, a concept consistent with Carr's known comedic visual sensibility demonstrated in his later film work. IMVDb lists no confirmed director credits for this video in its public-facing database, and IMDB's entry for the video does not surface a director credit in the crawlable metadata. Confidence is 'likely' rather than 'confirmed' as the sole direct credit source is the community-edited Music Video Wiki Fandom page.