The Tunnel Rats were formed on December 11, 1993 21 years ago at Dax Reynosa's home in Whittier, CA. They became a Hip Hop super group that used the aggression of battle rap to spread Christian themed messages. The Tunnel Rats were often called devils in church and not paid for their performances. But they persevered to set a template for artists like Lecrae and Tunnel Rats member Propaganda.
The name Tunnel Rats is taken from the nickname of American soldiers, who needed to check tunnels on bombs in the Vietnam War. American troops were active in Vietnam from 1965, until their official withdrawal in 1973. Dax used to be a "tunnel rat". Pioneers in the Christian hip hop genre, Tunnel Rats often met with resistance from church leaders who disliked the collective's aggressive style and felt that Tunnel Rats praised their rapping skills more than glorifying God.
Due to a high number of Mexicans in the collective, Tunnel Rats also encountered racism when performing in the South. Despite these hardships, Tunnel Rats managed to garner critical acclaim and majorly impacted the Christian hip hop movement. The collective has released four albums, plus numerous additional recordings from its affiliated groups and individual members. Though currently on hiatus, Tunnel Rats has not disbanded, according to a statement by member Peace 586.
The Tunnel Rats formed after rapper Dax Reynosa performed at a graffiti equipment store Hex's Hip Hop Shop. After the performance, he invited about two dozen rappers to his house for an open mic. The performers came from racially diverse backgrounds, a mix of Latinos, whites, and blacks, groups which Reynosa says did not always get along then. Among the standout performers that night were Reynosa's cousin Jurny Big, his sister Zane One, the four-member group Future Shock (consisting of Ahred a.k.a. Redbonz, Ajax Starglider, Sojourn, and DJ Trey-Qel), and Shames Worthy (a.k.a. Raphi), all of whom came together to form the Tunnel Rats. Reynosa was inspired to name the group "Tunnel Rats" after his father, who served in the Vietnam War as a tunnel rat. Ahred, a member of Future Shock, stated in an interview that "We just put a name to it and called it Tunnel Rats. In Vietnam, the tunnel rats were the guys who went underground to make sure that the tunnels were clear so the soldiers could go through. We considered ourselves as those guys going first to make the way clear for people to go after us. Reynosa recounts that "we never believed that we were called to emcee or rap, never. We were called to minister.
The Tunnel Rats performed at churches throughout Southern California, and eventually throughout the Northeast and Deep South. While the group found some acceptance from progressive church leaders, who thought that hip-hop might be a way to reach youth, many church leaders took issue with the group's style, which fell somewhere between battle rapping and street preaching, and accused the group of sinfully glorifying their rapping skills as opposed to glorifying God. In addition, the group, consisting predominantly of Mexicans, encountered prejudice when performing in the South. Reynosa recounts how one night in Mississippi, an establishment would not serve the group because some of the members were Mexican. When they went to a Motel 6, member Redbonz screamed "WHY?" continuously into a pillow. "He couldn't believe that we had given up our lives to minister the gospel through rap music and ... had nothing. The group also was paid very little, often not at all, for its church performances, and Raphi recounts that if a church managed to book a hotel for the group, he, as the youngest member, often was relegated to sleep in the bathtub.
Since the mid-1980's, Reynosa and his cousin Jurny Big performed as the duo LPG, and they released The Earthworm in 1995. With breakbeats, melodic riffs, and strong production, the recording broke new ground. The Tunnel Rats proper released its debut album, Experience, in 1996 on Brainstorm Artists International, and started receiving letters from teenagers who were inspired by the group to leave gangs or excel in school. The group's efforts also started impacting the Christian hip hop genre, which started garnering serious critical attention. In 1997, the Brainstorm label folded, but Tunnel Rats' membership expanded, with Sev Statik of Deepspace5 and the brother-sister duo New Breed joining the group At this point, the group Future Shock decided to leave Tunnel Rats and go on independently. Tunnel Vision impressed critics and influenced a whole generation of Christian rappers. Rapper and poet Propaganda, rapper-producer duo The Foundation (consisting of Dokument and Jermz), and Griffin joined the group in time to record on the Tunnel Rats' next two albums, the compilation Underground Rise, Volume 1: Sunrise/Sunset, released in 2003, and Tunnel Rats, released in 2004.
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