Around 1996, Chuck D gets a deal with Sony to distribute the records of his newly formed label Slam Jamz through Columbia, even if at the moment the leader of Public Enemy has no artists on his roster. At that point he turns to friends, the Hyenas in the Desert are formed, the first act to sign with Slam Jamz.
This is a duo from Long Island, New York, formed by producer Gary "Gary G-Wiz" Rinaldo and rapper Kenneth "Kendo" Walker. Gary G-Wiz is a member of the Bomb Squad and longtime collaborator of Public Enemy, while Kendo collaborated for a short period with Erick Sermon and should have joined Main Source after Large Pro's departure: a Kendo cassette ends up in the hands of G-Wiz's sister, who contacts the rapper and the two begin to collaborate.
As for the name of the group, Kendo steals it from that of a crew in prison: in the words of the Strong Island MC, "Hyenas" is the black community, "Desert" are the streets. The cover deserves further study: Kendo wears a hockey mask in the middle of the woods (I don't know how we understand that the boys are in the woods) along with at least three other guys, giving the tape a horrorcore feel. So it's a horrorcore album? Not exactly. Is it a group album? There's only one rapper really, I don't know why there are so many guys on the cover.
Kendo is inspired by Run-DMC, a group thanks to which he approached hip-hop and removed himself from the dangers of the streets, LL Cool J, Public Enemy and Rakim and the album is driven by numerous influences, often by the genre's pezonovantes, such as Wu-Tang Clan, M.O.P., The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z and Mobb Deep. The guys give Chuck D this cassette, nine tracks, raw rapping from Kendo, hard beats from G-Wiz, no guests to be on the safe side (there's only Rahsaan, Kendo's friend), twenty-five minutes of material. Studdah Man co-produces a track and mixes the EP with Gary G-Wiz.
The effort becomes the first disk released by Chuck D's Slam Jamz and is distributed by Sony: the public response is less favorable than that of the critics. The magazine The Source criticizes the project by awarding two and a half mics, while on the opposite Hip Hop Connection allows itself to define this group as the heir of Public Enemy and compares it to the Wu-Tang Clan, stating that this album reinvents the genre and is the most modern of the decade, giving it a perfect score. I don't know which EP they listened to, but there is none of this in the product made by Hyenas in the Desert. I allow myself to go against the grain and say that "Concubinez" is the worst production on the tape, with a horrible and almost unlistenable beat that ruins the project. The rest of the album sounds consistently good and hardcore throughout, providing an ideal sonic backdrop for Kendo's flow. In the following years, the duo should also release an album, but the joint venture between Slam Jamz and Columbia ends and the boys remain without a contract.
Rating: 6/10.
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