Method Man moves among many worlds, including TV

If career hopscotch were a sport, Method Man would be its world champion.

The performer, who rose to fame as a member of ’90s New York rap collective the Wu-Tang Clan, has played gangsters, stoners and gangster-stoners in feature films, starred in his own wacky Fox sitcom “Method & Red” and been one of the few fortunate actors to land recurring roles in three critically lauded HBO series, including “Oz” and “The Wire.”

Over the next few weeks alone, Method Man (given name, Clifford Smith) will wrap up his first season as “the pretty pimp” Rodney on David Simon and George Pelicano’s HBO series “The Deuce,” debut as host of TBS’ new competition “Drop the Mic” and drop a new album with his old crew, the Wu-Tang Clan.

“I’ve always been game for anything that has to do with entertaining. I think it all started when I decided I wanted to be Ricky Schroder, you know, from ‘Silver Spoons,’ ” said Smith, half-joking about his wide-ranging passion for performing. “If you saw what I watch at home, you’d be shocked.” In three words: “Danny Kaye musicals.”

It’s hard to picture the 6-foot-3 Smith, who used to deliver unprintable lyrics and come with a parental warning sticker when he performed alongside Ole Dirty Bastard, now whistling along to “Hans Christian Andersen.”

If there’s anything predictable about the 46-yearold, it’s that he’s willing to try anything.

As Rodney on “The Deuce,” Smith is unrecognizable. He’s transformed into a 1970s-era “pretty pimp” who likes to keep his shoes as shiny as his silky, shoulder-length hair. Smith’s modern-day swagger, perfected over years in the hip-hop business, is all but gone and replaced by a slick demeanor more akin to the seedy streets of Times Square circa 1972, when the series takes place.

“It’s definitely not me,” Smith said after a photo shoot in LA, his large frame barely wedged into an average-sized director’s chair. “I am a totally different person. But I’m familiar with those sorts of guys, from growing up around pimps, or people who thought they were pimps.”

Smith’s referring to a rough part of Long Island and the “Killa Hill” area of Staten Island where he grew up. He claims to have dealt dope for a living before finding a career in hip-hop.

“Drop the Mic,” cohosted by Hailey Baldwin, is as much a comedy as a competition. Celebrities such as Rascal Flatts and Gina Rodriguez compete to see who does a better job covering popular rap songs. The show was spun out of a popular segment from “The Late Late Show With James Corden.” (Corden is producing.)

“It’s not like James and those guys (behind the show) are reinventing the wheel,” Smith said. “They’re just putting a nice, shiny new rim on it.”