Tilden Stone: Southern Surreal

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Gregg Museum

Tilden Stone, carver

The year 1993 may have been the most significant cultural touchstone ever for hip-hop music. On the East Coast, both A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul dropped their third, critically acclaimed LPs, while Wu-Tang Clan, The Roots, Black Moon, The Beatnuts, Fat Joe, and Mobb Deep all made their debuts. The west was a treasure trove of releases, ending the year with Snoop Dogg’s behemoth Doggystyle before 2Pac, Souls of Mischief, Cypress Hill, and The Coup all warmed up the left-coast vanguard with classic projects of their own. And yet somehow, three soused shit-spitters from Los Angeles (Tash, J-Ro, and E-Swift), aptly named The Alkaholiks, dropped the year’s most amusing album: the trio’s debut, 21 & Over, introduced producer E-Swift as one to sway from pungent (“Only When I’m Drunk”) to pugilistic (“Make Room”) at the pop of a cork. More spectacular, however, was Tash’s underrated and unending ability to maintain his battle-ready bars, keeping the crew lyrically viable even in moments of utter ignorance such as “I never drink and drive ‘cause I might spill my drink.” Twenty-five years and a few hundred more similar beer-toast rhymes later, we’re still chanting “It’s Tha Liks, baby. It’s Tha Liks!” Tuscon, Lazarus, and C. Shreve open.