THE TUNNEL

At 12th avenue and 27th street, a line wraps around the corner. Thousands of hip-hop devotees are waiting to hear Biggie, 50 Cent, Nas, Jay-Z, and the Wu-Tang Clan, to hear what are yet to be household anthems played for the first time. But shields from the 10th Precinct lurk nearby and not everyone will be lucky enough to make it inside… Welcome to the legendary Sunday night at the Tunnel

Welcome to the legendary Sunday night at the Tunnel.

In 1993, DJ Funkmaster Flex was looking for a permanent address for his and Chris Lighty’s hip-hop party, Mecca. By chance, New York’s Club King Peter Gatien had just acquired an 80,000-square-foot loading terminal in Chelsea and was willing to give Flex a chance. Until then, hip-hop had remained in the outer boroughs, excluded from mainstream platforms and confined to smaller stages or the streets. Flex, his party promoter Jessica, and Gatien all got lucky. Sunday night at the Tunnel broke records, launched artists, and affirmed that a new culture was here to stay.

The West Coast might have ruled the rap scene in the early 90s but when the Tunnel took off the East Coast brought it home. The club became an incubator for some of the biggest acts and albums of the Golden Age of hip-hop, which saw the extraordinary album output of 1996 and perhaps its highest water mark in 1998. Nas’ Illmatic, Biggie’s Ready to Die, Mobb Deep’s The Infamous, and Wu-Tang Clan’s Wu-Tang Forever all got test runs at the Tunnel, because if it stirred that Sunday night crowd it was going to make it big.

By the mid 90s, the Tunnel became synonymous with a new genre. “Tunnel Bangers” were hardcore, street records that whipped up the crowds, underground records that would later become mainstream hits. Artists rapped and rhymed about growing up in poverty around crime and violence—they told the story of the ghetto, unapologetically. Gangster anthems that the radio weren’t ready for the radio made their break at the Tunnel.

The club also became the backdrop for some of the most famous and infamous tales in hip-hop history. It’s where Eazy-E had his life changing conversation with Ice Cube, shortly before dying of AIDS. It’s where DMX and Ruff Ryders formed their unit, and filmed the music video for music video for “Get at Me Dog”. It’s where Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg had their first New York City performances. And it’s where Hype Williams shot the iconic opening scene for his film Belly, featuring Nas, DMX, and Method Man.

When Giuliani began to crack down on nightlife, though, the Tunnel took a hit. The police presence on 12th avenue on Sunday nights was overwhelming; shields surrounded the club, waiting for the smallest sign of trouble. The Tunnel already had a security check that rivalled JFK’s but after Giuliani launched his “civic cleanup” campaign, you were lucky if you even made it to the line. In 2001, with mounting pressure from the mayor, the Tunnel was shut down. In the name of quality-of-life, the first home of today’s most popular genre of music closed its doors forever.