“Well, we haven’t really taken a hiatus, we just haven’t put an album out,” E-Swift, the resident beat-miner of the crew, admits. Further expounding, “After Loud Records, we were on Loud Records for almost ten years, (so) after they closed the doors over there, we’ve been in two different record deals, so that took a lot of time to get situated on all the legal stuff. Then, we were touring a lot — extensive touring, even without our album out. So, that took a lot of time. And then, we were in the studio working on this Firewater album, which if you add all (this) stuff up it takes a minute. But, we ain’t missed a beat. We just been doing our thing, and now the world’s gonna get to hear the songs that (we’ve been) working on (for) this album.“
E-Swift, J-Ro, and (Ca)Tash(trophe) collectively known as The Alkaholiks, they later shortened their moniker to the less negative sounding Tha Liks, assembled under the tutelage of West Coast rap pioneer King Tee. Their debut appearance came courtesy of Tee‘s The Triflin’ Album on the posse cut,
