Second studio album by LA hip-hop group Tha Alkaholiks. Production is handled almost exclusively by E-Swift, along with Diamond D and Madlib, most notably the latter being at his first solo beat after producing a track on Liks' previous record under his group name Lootpack. Guests are Lootpack, Declaime, King Tee, Q-Tip, Xzibit, Les July, The Baby Bubbas and Diamond D.
The album follows the formula built in the first LP, the boys have fun without worries by dropping bars on alcohol, girls, parties, with a slow, calm and regular rap, excellent and fresh, on a lively and unpredictable production. E-Swift chooses dry and hard midtempo drums, enveloping loops, raw and deep bass lines, dissonant sounds in the middle section, sometimes dark, sad and melancholy, which create an interesting contrast with the cheerful and carefree rap of the performers.
Liks aren't the best performers of their era, and in fact they're often surpassed by guests on this record, evidently by King Tee and Q-Tip on "All the Way Live". Nonetheless, the production is one of the freshest, most interesting and alternative of the period: E-Swift draws samples from funk, jazz, soul, rbn, dance and hip-hop, someone from movie soundtracks, providing a memorable soundscape. For the last, brilliant, song, performed by the group, Diamond D goes down behind the keyboards and brings out a boom bap with dry and gaunt drum midtempo, tied to a melancholy, sad and excellent loop, directly from "Seach for Jenny" by Francis Lai: this song, from the soundtrack of the Oscar-winner "Love Story", deserves a separate listening.
Released by Loud and RCA, the album received well-deserved praise especially from retrospective critics, and achieved a discreet sales result, finishing in the top fifteen on hip-hop releases. I believe that the list of the best moments of this project changes according to the listener, each track is wonderful in some way, E-Swift provides good music for almost every taste and Liks create a fantastic project with solid replay value, essential not only for West Coast heads.
Rating: 8.5/10.
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