Who had the most fame / appeal / stardom early on (93-97)?

[Shaolinmonk]

After going through that 2000 collection and trying to get an album together for ODB, I was surprised how often ODB appeared on tracks with big rap and R&B artists early on. We are talking Big Daddy Kane, Busta Rhymes, George Clinton, Blackstreet, En Vogue, Mariah Carey, E-40, Coolio, McEiht and likely even more I am unaware of. This is all up until Wu Tang Forever. So I was wondering, was ODB the biggest / most appealing / famous artist to the public? If so, was it because of how unique his flow was, his crazy behavior, a combination of both? And lastly, even if Method Man was bigger or whatever, that still does not deny how ODB probably more than anyone in the group appeared on tracks with some of the biggest names. Is there maybe something there in labels requesting a Wu member to appear on a track and or did RZA / the group or whoever push for ODB to be that guy?

[hiphopjunky]

I think Dirty was on more radio-friendly tracks. Meth's early features were more gritty/underground-type tracks (with Spice 1, Biggie, Shaq, etc).

[Sam the Seed]

Yeah, ODB was the most famous and mainstream even if he was the most controversial and probably disliked by a large portion of society. He was their mascot like Flava Flav to Public Enemy. After he did the song with Mariah Carey, he was an A-list rapper. She was literally the biggest female at the time besides Madonna. His discography might not reflect it because Def Jam wanted Meth and ODB but RZA only wanted them to have Meth, which pissed off ODB. RZA wanted him on the label he went to because he wanted "Return" to be the most 5 Percenter album and they had Brand Nubian on their roster. His 2nd album is usually called too commercial because thats the space he was in in terms of fandom. His fans were way broader than just Wu fans or rap fans. Like white frat boy type levels and he was the only Wu Tang member that was embraced down here in the South. I also think he had a big female fanbase because of the sex lyrics and the RnB tracks. "Ghetto Superstar" was probably as mainstream as a Wu Tang member ever got... or Meth's song with Limp Bizkit.

[ForensikZ]

Method man was a hip hop star

dirty was a pop star

dirtys album was a ug hip hop album kinda tho so sales wise not really reflected there, but he was a big draw for features. Didnt hurt hed show up to your sessions by accident and rock shit and demand payment after either lol. Tho i think that was a 98/99 thing. Early on they came to him.