Last Call, Last Call For Alkahol!

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Firewater will officially be Tha Alkaholiks last album as a group. This marks over ten years of drunken funk from Catashtraphe (Tash), J-Ro and E-Swift. The first single that I heard was “Make Room” from their debut album “21 and Over” which was my introduction into the Likwit sound. Tha Alkaholiks continued to put out hit albums throughout the years such as Coast II Coast, Likwidation, X.O. Experience and now Firewater. King Tee (King T) was the man behind bringing Tha Liks to the forefront and they have never forgot that or him. On the same note, Tha Liks have introduced and influenced many people including the Lootpack, Defari Herut, Phil Tha Agony and Xzibit. This is only a shortlist and I think RZA said it best, “There’s no counting how many emcees’ have sprung from my fountain.” Tha Alkaholiks have probably inspired thousands of artists. They will be truly missed and this should not be the last that we hear from them. This is an excerpt from their sight and official press release: “We were party animals for over a decade. Times are changing,” says Tash. “We’ll still get together once in a while to do a song here and a song there, but this is going to be it as far as albums go.” So raise your glasses and let us give a toast to Tash, J-Ro and E-Swift of Tha Alkaholiks, may your legendary music and drunk status never sober.

Top 10 CDs From The 1990s

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  1. Wu-Tang Clan – Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
    First time to hear something so groundbreaking.
  2. Redman – Dare Iz A Darkside
    This is his second album where Red shows raw talent.
  3. Tha Alkaholiks – Coast II Coast
    The second time for Tha Liks but more storytelling and defined their sound.
  4. Ice Cube – Predator
    Ice Cube use to rhyme with emotion attached to great stories.
  5. Cypress Hill – Black Sunday
    Second effort also defining their sound and going insane in the brain.
  6. Del The Funkyhomosapien – No Need For Alarm
    Rumored that he freestyled this whole album and that is the correct spelling of his name on the first album.
  7. Company Flow – Funcrusher Plus
    Independent as…open the case and remove the CD to find out.
  8. Gravediggaz – 6 Feet Deep
    Labeled horrorcore at the time but the best collaboration with Prince Paul and RZA.
  9. Lyricist Lounge – Volume One
    So much talent packed on two cds.
  10. Boogie Monsters – Riders Of The Storm : The Underwater Album
    This group was overlooked but is a great album.

This was a list that I posted on the CAG forum about my top CDs of the 90s. I based my list on how I much I listened to each CD back then and how it impacted me at that time and now.

Jay Dee Aka J Dilla Rest In Peace

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Jay Dee aka J Dilla passes away at age 32 on Februray 10, 2006. This is really sad day in music because he had his own sound and it will be missed. He had finally hooked up with Stones Throw and I thought it was a perfect match. R.I.P. Jay Dee aka J Dilla I will play his new album Donuts, Slum Village and Jaylib all night in his memory. If you want a complete list of his music there is a list on Stones Throw. I am really at a lost for words.

Update: According to Stones Throw front page, J Dilla had suffered for over three years with an incurable blood disease, and had also been diagnosed with lupus.” They are also taking donations for his mother and family and all the info can be found on the front page.

CAGs Unite and Rejoice

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I wish I had found this website when it first started as I would be swimming in video games by now. That is a personal dream. Anyways, The place I am talking about is CheapAssGamer.com, all they do is look for deals on video games at the lowest price. So you are probably saying oh great I could use a price comparison website and achieve the same thing. Wrong! They give you brick and mortar (b&m) stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City and Target ads to show the newest game at the cheapest price. One of the first things I saw on their CheapAssGamer.com or CAG for short is an ad for EB Games for a sale at least two weeks ahead of time. This in turn had me at the store early enough on the sale day to pick up all of the NES games they had for half price. Even the employee was mad because he said he was going to pick up some of the games I got. My best deal to date is picking up Half-Life 2: Collectors Edition for $20.00 because I saw the ad for it at CompUSA but got Circuit City to match the price at the time Circuit City was selling it for $69.99. CAG also gives you coupons to use at b&m and online stores to save even more. CAG has exclusive coupons only for their website like up to 25% off at EB Games and free shipping. So you are probably wondering why would I give this secret away when I could hog all the savings for myself. Well it is simple, the more people that give info on the forums the more deals for everyone.

CheapAssGamer.com - Cheap video games, video game sales, and video game deals for your cheap ass

E3 and Me Finally Finished

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I have finally gotten around to posting all 4 of my reviews for last years E3. It was a great show and one of my personal dreams to attend. I will probably not make it to E3 this year because my application was rejected with their new standards even though I used the same information from last year. Oh well, that is how the ball joystick jerks you sometimes but I still have the memories and choppy video from last year. Here is a link to all four reviews for easy access:
Four Part Review:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

E3 and Me (My First Experience) Review Part 4

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Day 3: Today I was on a mission because there was so much I still had not seen and played and this was the last day! This was the first time in my life I wish I had a PDA because in my mind I had a long list of what I wanted to do. My first priority was to see the PS3 and I thought it would be better to go to it immediately because of the long line from the day before. Wrong, other people had the same idea and I was still buried in the back, so out comes the PSP. Again other people had the same idea and pull theirs out. Don’t know why we didn’t have huge wi-fi battles but I think we all were more concerned with our position in line. Finally the doors open and I am in a dark room with some plasma televisions on the wall talking about how the PS3 will take gaming and entertainment to the next level. Just then another set of doors open up and we are in a darker theater room with a large screen. The video demo starts and they show how the cell processor will make it easier for developers to make more realistic elements and environments. The demonstration had one ducky in a bathtub being rained on by a barrage of duckys. Next up was a city environment with people walking around with people looking and acting unlike anything I have ever seen on a console or pc. From there it goes into a war scene with soldiers on a modern terrain with hi-tech weapons. Every single preview just kept building up my excitement for this console and it’s potential. The excitement contributed to another outburst of guys turning into raving schoolgirls with anticipation. The doors open and their in a shiny display are three PS3s with different colors from white, silver to black. With the futuristic looking controller now being called the “Boomerang” by some gamers. I had no time to sit there and take it in, so I walked to the next room to get a ticket for the Square Enix movie. I got a ticket for a later showing so I had time to go wait in line for the New Legend of Zelda game. The line was huge as expected so again out comes my PSP. In this line I actually spotted some Nintendo DSes but the Sony PSP was still there because at that time it had just came out. But to be honest I did not see that many playing the PSP probably due us being in a Nintendo line. Of course I was a rebel and had my Ridge Racer out for the world to see. So the line moves and I am still not even half way there so I get back to my game. All of a sudden a lady says excuse me and I look up and standing there is a lady with an official looking Nintendo shirt. Here we go I think to myself, because I thought the Nintendo employee would ask me to put my PSP away or some other type of drama. Instead she asks me a simple question, “What would it take for you to put that away?” pointing to my PSP. So a simple answer pops in my hand and I say, “It would take getting to the front of this long line”. She says okay and I follow her to the front of the line. So with a smile and handshake I am in to play Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (thanks to my PSP) way faster than I would have imagined. The first part of Zelda that I played was getting Link on to a horse and fighting monsters on horseback. The graphics were beautiful and rich to be running on a Gamecube. The next room featured a mechanical wolf with a sinister looking moon that gave way to a video demo of Zelda. The next level available to play was Link fighting a spider type creature. The mix of story and adventures drew me into the game and seeing a mature Link in full 3D was mind-blowing. With no time to waste I dart to the Square Enix show with ticket in hand to wait in a line with a ton of RPG fanatics. The previews shown were all beautiful but the one I was personally there for was Advent Children because at the time I was lead to believe it was a PSP movie exclusive. Cloud is shown with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within graphics bouncing on screen with his huge sword in hand. I still can’t wait for this one, which has since release in Japan. The last thing for me to do was to play the Xbox 360 and take in as much as I could since it would be and has been released this year. The games that I played for the Xbox 360 was Full Auto, Condemned: Criminal Origins and Need for Speed: Most Wanted. The most impressive game of all three at that time was Need for Speed because of the graphics, game play and speed of the game. Condemned did not interest me because I was not into FPS at the time and with a controller it did not make me walk away a fan. Full Auto compared to Need for Speed could not hold up and the demo was running so slow that the weapons and driving did not make it that memorable. The Xbox 360 did not make me feel like it was next generation in my opinion like the PS3 video demonstration even though I had no game play with the PS3. This was my final day at E3 and even now I can close my eyes and still feel the sensation of the event. It had a huge impact on me and I will try to attend every year if I can.