Tha Alkaholiks: X.O. Experience : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Unlike the Los Angeles gangstas with whom they share a hometown, Tha Liks - formerly Tha Alkaholiks - don't peel caps. They twist them. The trio of J-Ro, Tash and producer E-Swift have been clinking glasses in song since 1992; theirs has largely been a one-trick bender, but catchy, exuberant tracks like "Make Room" and "Only When I'm Drunk" have kept their fans fiending. On X.O. Experience, their fourth album, the buzz wears thin. The blurry horns of E-Swift's production still have punch, and Tash's slap-happy nasal flow is still charming, but they can't redeem Tha Liks' hackneyed concepts: trifling women ("My Dear," "The Best U Can") and, of course, sustained inebriation ("Bar Code," "Bubblin"). Raps Tash on "Dadadada," "Fuck a CD, fuck a tape/We should sell this shit in bottles." Where else would an intoxicated demon misplace his hip-hop?

JON CARAMANICA
(RS 872 - July 5, 2001)