Jammin' in Vicious Environments

From Korn and Limp Bizkit to Rage Against the Machine and Fat, numerous alternative-rock outfits heavily incorporated rap into their music during the 1990s. For those acts, rap wasn't just something to flirt with on occasion -- a real hip-hop sensibility pervaded their work. Hip-hop is an integral part of Shootyz Groove's sound on Jammin' in Vicious Environments. Excellent cuts like "Soulfreak," "El Sol," and "Respect" might favor loud alternative-rock/metal guitars instead of technology, but the rapping has a genuine hip-hop sensibility in lieu of coming across as the work of dilettantes. Had the rock musicianship been replaced with electronic hip-hop tracks, it's quite possible that retailers would have placed Jammin' in Vicious Environments in the rap section instead of the rock section. When this album came out in 1994, a generation of young rockers had been holding rock and hip-hop in equally high regards -- so things sound quite cohesive and organic when the New York band merges the two on this album. Jammin' in Vicious Environments makes it clear that Shootyz Groove had a lot of potential.