| Just how much alcohol can the Alkaholiks drink? Try nearly $50 worth of imported beer. That's how much they consumed last July at a Bomb Magazine party. Very little was left for anyone else. "Sorry about that," chuckles Tash. "How much do we owe you?" Alcohol may be the operative word, but music has always been a priority for the Liks. Tha Alkaholiks are very adamant about being taken seriously. "We're taking this alcoholic concept as far as we can, but it's just a concept. It's not like we were alcoholics then said, 'Hey, let's start rapping.' We're rappers first," says J-Ro. "We're trying to stress that it's not a gimmick," adds Tash. "We're not trying to just get everyone down with drinking forties." There's no doubt that the Liks take their music quite seriously. One listen to their album 21 & Over and it's more than apparent. For the skillful, old school flavored rhyming of J-Ro and Tash to the highly unique production style of E-Swift, their music is refreshingly different. "That's the type of shit we're on, 'cause we never stopped loving that old shit," says J-Ro. "A lot of people try to take rap to another level, rapping with polka music and shit, but we stuck with what comes natural." The result is an incredibly solid album an album full of freestyle-sounding, free flowing rhymes and beats an ideal example of what patience and persistence can lead to. "This was always what I was going to do," says E-Swift. "After I figured out that I could get paid for it, there wasn't any way I was going to get out of it. It was a habit, something I did all day making beats, DJing, writing songs." E Swift, the Liks producer, is a transplant from Toledo, Ohio. It was during his senior year in '88 that he decided to journey west, dreaming of of a career in music. It wasn't long in coming. He quickly found work DJing local clubs and house parties around Los Angeles. It was while working at | one of his many gigs that he first met J-Ro. "When I met J-Ro, he was in a group with King T. He hooked me up 'cause King T needed a DJ, so we started making records and going on tours." E-Swift's association with King T soon lead to ever increasing success, including a deal to produce St. Ides beer commercials along with DJ Pooh. "People see them on my resumι, and those commercials get a lot of acknowledgement. They really helped me a lot." Of course, producing beer commercials has other advantages too. "We were getting like ten cases a month of forties free delivered to the houses," reminisces E-Swift. "People used to come in, and the whole wall would be stacked up with boxes of forties. We were drinking them muthafuckas hot, no refrigerator. Those were some struggling times." Although producing commercials and DJing for King T kept E-Swift busy, he maintained contact with his friend J-Ro. There had been talk between the two of starting a group, and these dreams had yet to be realized. They added a new member to the crew Tash (who is also from Ohio) formed what would become the Alkaholiks, and began working on a demo. "We weren't Tha Alkaholks then. We were called E.S.P.," states E-Swift, "but another group, a wack group, came out calling themselves E.S.P. We didn't want to deal with people thinking that was us so we changed our name." So how did they become "Tha Alkaholiks"? Tash tells the story. "One day somebody came to the club and saw King T with a drink in his hand and was joking like, 'Damn, you're an alcoholic. Every time I see you, you have a drink in your hand.' King T was like, 'Damn, that would be a dope name for a group.'" The name fit perfectly for the drinking trio of E, Tash, and J-Ro, but as Tash explains, the name isn't to be taken too literally. "The people | who we make our music for, they realize what's up with the name. They know we're not really straight alcoholics. We handle our business and everything." Little did they know at the time but when King T named them Tha Alkaholiks, it was to be the turning point of their careers. However, it was not until they created the song "Got It Bad Y'all" that things really came together. "'Got It Bad Y'all' was actually the first song on Tha Alkaholiks' demo, but when King T heard it, he liked it. So he was like, 'Yo, I wanna rap on that.' He rapped on it and then Capitol (records) heard the song and they were like, 'We want to put that out as the first single (on King T's Tha Triflin' Album)." Having their song released as the first single on King T's album proved to be a major stepping stone, giving them some much needed exposure. But it wasn't until they brought their demo to a man named Fade at Loud records that their dream was finally realized. Fade knew what other labels didn't this was the bomb, an album full of potential hits. "The deal they offered us was what we had been waiting for, and they liked our shit so they put us on. It was that quick," explains E-Swift. The days of drinking hot St. Ides are now long gone for Tash, J-Ro, and E-Swift. Bring in the new days days of records, autographs, cold Heineken (which they indulge in often), and an upcoming tour with A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, which will give them the nationwide attention they deserve. In a time when the average rap record would put an insomniac into a coma, are the Alkaholiks the last call for real Hip Hop? |