Tunnel Rats | |
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| Also known as | T.R.'z |
| Origin | Whittier, California |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1993–present (on hiatus) |
| Labels | Brainstorm, Thump, Uprok |
| Members |
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| Past members |
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Tunnel Rats is a West Coast underground hip hop collective founded in 1993 in Whittier, California. Named after the tunnel rats in the Vietnam War, the mixed-gender, multi-racial collective consists of some seventeen individual members and incorporates four affiliated groups, LPG, Future Shock, Foundation, and New Breed, which have recorded both within Tunnel Rats and independently. Several members also formed two additional side-projects, Footsoldiers and The Resistance, which recorded one album in 2006 and collaborated with KRS-One. 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.
In the early 2000s, the East Coast Christian hip-hop group The Cross Movement likewise criticized Tunnel Rats, claiming it did not place enough emphasis on the Gospel. Due to a high number of Mexican Americans in the collective, Tunnel Rats also encountered racism when performing in the South. Despite these hardships, Tunnel Rats managed to garner critical acclaim and significantly 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.