Tash from Tha Alkaholiks arriving at a Save The Pitbulls event in Orange County Calif. He poses with three friends.

Photo by Charles Purnell

We was getting ripped off in the 90's. I would say my peak year was (2003?). That's when everything came in at once and I was like, dang, I ain't never seen this much money. It was all hard work though. It was three tours combined.

And you getting $15,000 per show and you doing fifty shows in one tour... People paying you to wear they clothes and people wanting you to be in they commercials. People want features and your feature price dun went up and people mad at you.

Did you guys have beef with anyone?

That's one thing about the Alkaholiks, Smoke-a-holiks now, we never really beefed with no rappers. The little fights we been in... that was some whole other shit. I get along with everybody who respect what I'm doing and not looking down at me because I ain't selling as many records.

I just did a song, the song is old but I re-recorded it, but I did a song called "Please Diss Me". And the whole song is about me basically sayin' I been at this shit for 30 years; whenever "21 and Over" came out. That was when we was officially on the map. I been around with King T beefin'. With Cube beefin' with Cypress Hill. And This nigga beefin' with that and everything. I felt left out. Am I irrelevant? Why ain't nobody... So I was like, I get it - because I know you can't fuck with me on that mic!

A while ago J-RO had said something about Das EFX in a song. He didn't even mean it like that. And they saw us somewhere and ... and we was like...

We just help niggas that's in the beef. We don't really attract no enemies.

Just check out the clothes line at Live Victoreus on the IG. Snoop on there wearing it. Crooked I. All these different rappers supporting it. Check for the Smoke-a-holiks brand of marijuana products. We opened a new lane so please support it like yawl did the album. And check for new Alkaholiks music because - it's because of music we have all this other stuff going.

How did you come up with your name?

... when I was twelve. My grandfather took over the fatherhood and he died in 1993. So around that time I was just getting into the industry and I was looking for a name different than everybody elses. ... And that's what Tash meant. No clue how it popped in my head but I thought I sounded good. Tash.

The name of the Alkaholiks was given to us by King T. We were in a group called ESP. Everyday Street Poets. That was me, E-swift and J-ro. And we just figured that was one of the lamest names that we could probably think of. Everyday Street Poets?

So weeks went on and everything. One day we were at a club. We would go to the club with King T and he a gangster rapper. We was just chillin' in VIP. We cracked chicks but we never danced. All we did was drink and party. That was our whole shit. Some girl walked by and said 'yawl look like a some drunks. Yawl look like a bunch of alkaholiks.' That's what she said to us. Then T-LA took that and a couple days later he was like, 'Remember what that girl said to us? Ahma call yawl the Alkaholiks.'

Just think about it, he said. If you have a name like "Tha Alkaholiks" - once you hear that one time you're never going to forget that. And then he was saying, what would be a party without alcohol? You're name is going to be at every party. We went with it. We built a legacy out of that.

Why weren't you on the Trifflin' Album?

Me and E-Swift we was born in Ohio. Then we moved out here to L.A. That's when I moved. When my dad got killed. At like, 13 years old. We moved out here to the West. I used to go back every summer to see my peoples out there. My family members. It was weird because, one summer I went back, I went to a club. I was an L.A. dude by then. I came back with Ice Cube jackets and T-shirts. I was running with King T. We was Likwit Crew and all this shit. I don't know what it is about them dudes but the drug dealers back there, they get jealous when somebody else come in and they flossing. I had a Cadilac rent-a-car. A big Ice Cube jacket. Bottom line, I was breeding hatred. So, I was walking out this club. This drug dealer I heard about, named Terry, they say he was supposed to be a straight killer, he just tripped out on me one time. We got into a fight and I fucked him up!

I slammed him on the car. Busted him up. Chipped his tooth off with my knuckle. And I can't even fight that good. He must've been drunk or something. But I won this one.

The police came and shit. The projects was right across the street. I went with my cousin Aaron, we just walked over to the projects. I was like, damn, I fucked up. I fucked up Terry.

What ended up happening is, Terry, he dead now, rest in peace. But he went and told everybody in my little neighborhood, my little neck of the woods, that he was gawn kill me.