Insane Clown Posse

Insane Clown Posse
Years active	c. 1990 to present
Members	Violent J (Joe Bruce) Shaggy 2 Dope (Joey Utsler)

The Insane Clown Posse (ICP) are a horrorcore rap / rapcore group originally from Wayne, Michigan, consisting of Violent J (Joseph Bruce) and Shaggy 2 Dope (Joseph Utsler). They almost always professionally display themselves in full black and white "evil clown" makeup that could be compared to the corpse paint of black metal musicians or the makeup of the rock group KISS. Violent J's makeup is usually drawn as a smiling face, while Shaggy's is an angry face. While never achieving full mainstream success, the group has nevertheless obtained an impressive collection of platinum and gold albums and legions of loyal fans, known affectionately as Juggalos.

Early history

The first incarnation of the group was in 1988 as The JJ Boys, a trio consisting of Violent J, Shaggy 2 Dope and John Utsler (also known as John Kickchazz, Shaggy's brother, who performed on Inner City Posse albums Enter the Ghetto Zone, Bassment Cuts, and Dog Beats). The group formed while its members were still in their early teens, and the trio later changed their name to "Inner City Posse". Kickchazz left the group before Carnival of Carnage was released. Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope still wanted ICP to be a trio, and so brought in a local rapper called Kalyn Garcia (also known as Greeze-E), who appeared on Beverly Kills 50187. He subsequently left as well, and ICP have remained a duo ever since, forming Psychopathic Records with manager Alex Abbiss in 1991.

The "Six Joker's Cards"

Inside the cd booklet of the album "Carnival of carnage" there was a section of the album art with the cover of the album indicating it's existance as the first slot of 6 available slots of what seemed to be a collection of "6 joker's cards". While many fans were clueless to what the meaning of this part of the album's booklet meant, it appeared again on the second album "The Ringmaster", this time only 4 slots were left empty. The other 2 were filled by "Carnival of carnage" and "The Ringmaster". The title of this section of the booklet read (power phrasing) "When all 6 joker's cards are released, the end will consume us all".

It became quite clear that each joker's card was a methaphor for each album, and that other 4 albums would be released after the "Ringmaster". The strange warning "the end will consume us all" after all "6 joker's cards" were released, became the cornerstone of the "Insane clown posee's dark carnival" mythology, also refered to as the "prophesy" of the arrival of the "dark carnival".

Media history experts and marketing teachers refer to this practice as a "manufactured mythology behind the brand". Such examples cite the rock band "KISS", the independent film "The Blair Witch Project" and the TV series "LOST". A sense of mystery and premonition is injected into the subculture to keep the audience guessing of its authenticity until the very end. This manufactured mythology is most of the times linked directly to a product or a series of products which with any luck the consumer will feel the need to continue buying or acquiring. A very few times this "manufactured mythology" is actually announced to the public as a "true story" or "real life events" when in fact they are just based on random facts and speculations of other events which they are in fact true. It's finest example if the film "The texas chainsaw massacre" which was always announced as a "true story" when in fact it was a rendition of a serial killer profile.

[Yes, this last paragraph at one point will be moved into it's own page when someone else dedicates it's time and effort into it].

In this case, the "dark carnival's 6 joker's cards" became the foundation of the band's secret weapon. Merchandising. Publicly, Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope have admitted that their merchandise anual profit is estimated between 5 and 6 million dollars. ( As told by themselves in the Howard Stern show while being interviewed about being the #1 worst band in the world by an american magazine ). However, this assumption could be credited to their most "mainstream" moment which falls somewhere between the releases of the albums "Great Milenko" and "The Wraight".

As the albums kept being released and the "joker's cards" slots kept being filled, the mystery kept also being fueled in many marketing scheme ways such as secret 1-800 numbers, secret contests, secret shows, hidden messages in their songs and warnings about the "terrible events about to be unleashed onto humanity altogether by the dark carnival". Almost in every single album at least 3 or 4 songs include threats and warnings.

The day finally came when the final album was to be put out, but the success of the 5th album "Jekel brothers" was by far Insane Clown Posse's biggest momentum. #4 on the billboard 200, invitations to big music festivals such as Woodstock '99, A straight to video film about to be realeased, back catalog sales picking up, controversy over violent lyrics on the media ( which equals to albums sales ), overall, the demand for the band was in an all-time peak that their next album was the first to be not only a double album but also the first to not be a "joker's card". It was named "bizzar-bizaar". ( also released separately ).

Many harcore ICP fans will argue that the mythology behind the "joker's cards" is real when in fact Violent J himself admitted in the "Howard Stern show" the day that the 6th "joker's card" was finally released, that the "Dark Carnival", the "6th Joker's Cards" and the infamous "warnings" were all fictitious and part of a story they wanted to tell. As the ICP mythology behind the "6 joker's cards" came to an end, it's biggest dissapointment was in fact that it all built up to actually nothing.

Explanation of each "Joker's Card"

The beginning of each album or each "joker's card" as well as its booklet artwork and text indicates, has a meaning of some kind.

Cover of The Riddle Box

The "Carnival of Carnage", the first "joker's card" was indeed of no meaning whatsoever besides a critizism of the government's poor involvement with making the life of inner city habitants better or more future promising. The first "warning" was included of what the "Dark Carnival" was, however in this first instalment it's addressed as the "Carnival of Carnarge" as the album's title implies. The "warning" was simple, if the government officials don't help the inner city, then the inner city will come to these government official's neighborhoods and unleash "a freak show".

The "Ringmaster", 2nd "joker's card" is introduced as a "force spawned by people's evil doings" who also is the "leader of them all" refering to being the leader of the "dark carnival". Even though there is no official explanation of what the "Ringmaster" really is or who he is, many ICP hardcore fans have found other resources to answer those questions.

The "Riddle Box", 3rd "joker's card" in the series is addressed as the moment when one dies and in the afterlife this "riddle box" decides if we go to heaven or hell.

The next two releases or "joker's cards", the "Great Milenko" and the "Amazing Jeckel Brothers" take the "Dark Carnival" mythology to another level, making the meaning of each card more elaborate and also more difficult to understand. However, at this point is when many media afficionados agree that ICP's music was at it's best and the meaning of the cards became somewhat oblivious to what the album really stood for. "Jeckel Brothers" the "5th card" critizised again how the government and the media were not doing enough to help people in need. Also this "5th card" seemed to have a drastic new musical direction to it, fresher and more audience friendly. It also was ICP biggest success.

The 6th "joker's card" was a double album. The "Wraight", where they symbolized heaven and hell. It somewhat gave a closure to the "Dark Carnival's" tale.

Fan base and criticism

Fans of ICP are called Juggalos (although Juggalo is not a gender based word, female fans are sometimes called Juggalettes to avoid some confusion, i.e. Two juggalos got married) and a Juggaho or a Juffalo is a poseur trying to act like a Juggalo. This derived from one of Violent J's habits, which is constantly inventing strange names and personas for himself in their songs. One of these personalities is "The Juggla", a psychotic carnival juggler, and somehow the fans came to be known as "Juggalos" in homage. Even more common is the sight of Juggalos painting their faces in clownface, the unofficial Juggalo badge.

ICP have been voted the worst band of any genre of music in various magazine polls including Spin and Rolling Stone. This has not discouraged the group, and they repeatedly state they do not care what music critics think of their work. In return, Spin, Rolling Stone, and Vibe have been singled out for mockery in several ICP raps.

ICP besides being voted the "worst band in the world", they also have been voted as the "most hated band in the world" for several reasons including among others their diminishing aproach towards women and female private parts, questionable self-proclaimed background, meaningless lyrics, lack of musical creativity, inability to actually rhyme in some of their songs ( most noticeable in their "Ringmaster" song "the loons" ) and finally, the innability to actually deliver to the much anticipated hype behind the build up to the end of the "6 joker's cards" mythology. A "warning" printed in every single album as "the end will consume us all" proved to be meaningless once the fans realized the band had nothing prepared to conmemorate it's consumation.

The song "tilt a whirl" also made the list of VH1's worst metal songs of all time, citing its childish lyrics. ( However, VH1 as well as the rest of the world seem to be confused as to what kind of music style ICP fits into. It's definetely not metal ).

ICP also has developed more celebrity enemies than celebrity friends. Many A-list celebrities such as Pamela Anderson and eminem seem to have created feuds with ICP mainly because of the bands tendency to talk more than they should. ( Almost every single incident starts and ends with a comment made by either member of ICP while being interviewed in the Howard Stern Show ).

In an interview in PBS's Frontline documentary series, Merchants of Cool, Violent J stated:

"Everybody that likes our music feels a super connection. [...] they feel so connected to it because it's — it's exclusively theirs. See, when something's on the radio, it's for everybody, you know what I mean? It's everybody's song. 'Oh, this is my song.' That ain't your song. It's on the radio. It's everybody's song. But to listen to ICP, you feel like you're the only one that knows about it." " ICP is the closest thing some of my friends have known to family, it's like a getaway from reality, whenever your feeling low just throw on your headphones and let the music take you.... it's not about all the killing and violence, that just makes them different from all the other mainstream groups."

On February 1, 2006, self-described Juggalo Jacob D. Robida attacked people in a gay bar with a handgun and a hatchet, a weapon featured on the logo of ICP's record label, Psychopathic Records. Mr. Robida wore a swastika tattoo and flaunted Nazi insignia and paraphernalia on his website, and was a former teen cadet in the Junior Police Academy. [1] On February 5, he killed a traffic officer at a routine stop. When police stopped him, he killed the passenger in the car and opened fire on the police. He shot himself with the same gun used in the bar shooting during the standoff. [2]

On February 7, 2006, Insane Clown Posse released a statement on the Robida attacks. Alex Abbiss, ICP's manager, extended ICP's condolences and prayers to the families of the victims. "This guy had problems," said Abbiss, and "anyone going into a bar swinging an axe and shooting a gun ... would clearly have to be insane and out of their mind to do this." He went on, "it's quite obvious that this guy had no clue what being a Juggalo is all about. If anyone knows anything at all about ICP, then you know that they have never, ever been down or will be down with any racist or bigotry bullshit." (This was in reference to ICP's long-standing mockery and contempt for racists in their song lyrics). Abbiss claimed ICP was being scapegoated by the media.

Professional wrestling

The Insane Clown Posse have long been involved in professional wrestling. In 1997 they were assaulted by Rob Van Dam and Sabu after running them down on the mic at Hardcore Heaven '97. In 1998 they were brought in by the then World Wrestling Federation, now known as WWE, in a musical role for the stable The Oddities, a group of freak wrestlers led by Golga, a masked John Tenta. ICP entered WCW in 1999 and teamed with wrestler Vampiro, forming the group the Dead pool along with Raven. It was the first time fans saw ICP in a nationwide wrestling role, making their debut with a run-in on Rey Mysterio and Konnan. One of their more infamous moments in WCW was a handicap hardcore match against Mike Awesome (using the That 70s Guy moniker) where in a spot gone wrong Shaggy 2 Dope was powerbombed on top of the "70's Bus" and slid off the side falling to the ground below. They also run their own independent promotion, JCW or Juggalo Championshit Wrestling. JCW was modeled after the backyard wrestling of Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope's youth, as well as the Japanese hardcore wrestling matches featured in bootleg-style videos released by ICP. They are also main characters in the video game series Backyard Wrestling by Eidos for the Xbox and PlayStation 2. ICP was also in Extreme Championship Wrestling, Xtreme Pro Wrestling, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). The ICP were also involved in TNA's first-ever house show in Plymouth, Michigan, where they wrestled in and helped promote the event.

Signature moves

• Shaggy 2 Dope - Top Rope Leg Drop
• Violent J - Moonsault

Discography

1. Carnival of Carnage (1992)
2. The Ringmaster (1994)
3. The Riddlebox (1995)
4. The Great Milenko (1997) (Hollywood Records)
5. The Great Milenko (1998) (Island Records)
6. The Amazing Jeckel Brothers (1999)
7. The Wraith: Shangri-La (with bonus DVD of Gathering live concert) (2002)
8. The Wraith: Shangri-La (with bonus DVD of Gathering seminar) (2002)
9. The Wraith: Hell's Pit (with bonus DVD of the Bowling Balls video) (2004)
10. The Wraith: Hell's Pit (with bonus DVD of Real Underground Baby Music Video and Bootlegged in Denver concert) (2004)

In the years between the fifth and sixth Joker's Cards, several sites announced the sixth as being "The Red Magician", even offering a track listing, featuring a wealth of otherwise unknown ICP tracks. Whether this was a hoax or an unreleased album is still unknown.

• Insane Clown Posse — The Side Shows/EPs

1. Beverly Kills 50187 EP (1993)
2. The Terror Wheel EP (1994)
3. Carnival X-Mas '94 (1994)
4. Tunnel of Love EP (1996)
5. A Carnival XMas '97 (1997)
6. The Pendulum EP (2000 - 2002)

• Insane Clown Posse — the Necromonicon

1. Bizzar (2000)
2. Bizaar (2000)

• Insane Clown Posse — the new era

1. The Calm EP (2005)
2. The Tempest (2006)

• Insane Clown Posse — compilations

1. Forgotten Freshness (Original) (1995)
2. Mutilation Mix (1997)
3. Mystic Wonders (1997) - bootleg; an unofficial follow-up to "Forgotten Freshness"
4. Forgotten Freshness Volume 1 & 2 (1998)
5. Psychopathics from Outer Space (1999)
6. Forgotten Freshness Volume 3 (2001)
7. Psychopathics from Outer Space 2 (2003)
8. Forgotten Staleness (2004) - bootleg
9. Bootilation Mix (2005) - bootleg
10. Forgotten Freshness Volume 4 (2005)

• Insane Clown Posse — Hallowicked give-aways

1. "Dead Pumpkins" (1994)
2. "Mr. Rotten Treats" (1995)
3. "Witches & Warlocks" (1996)
4. "Mr. Johnson's Head (Remix)" (1997)
5. "Pumpkin Carvers" (with Twiztid & Kottonmouth Kings) (1998)
6. "Sleepwalker" (1999)
7. "Hallowicked 2000 Box Set" (Includes Bizaar, Bizzar, Freek Show, Hallowicked 2000 EP, Hallowicked shirt, Hallowicked sticker, Hallowicked flier, certificate of authenticity) (2000)
8. "Every Halloween" (2001)
9. "Children of the Wasteland" (Blaze Ya Dead Homie) (2001)
10. "Waited Till Halloween" (Twiztid) (2001)
11. "Silence of the Hams" (Violent J & Esham) (2002)
12. "Dead Body Man 2002" (Blaze Ya Dead Homie) (2002)
13. "Thug Pit" (with Bone Thugs N Harmony, Kottonmouth Kings, Tech N9ne, & Esham) (2003)
14. "Murda Cloak" (with Anybody Killa) (2004)
15. "Wicked Hellaween" (2005)

• Insane Clown Posse — singles, rare recordings, event tracks, etc.

1. "Fat Sweaty Betty" (1995)
2. "Chicken Huntin" (1995)
3. "Jokers Wild Sampler" (1995)
4. "Halls of Illusions" (1997)
5. "Psychopathic Sampler" (1998)
6. "Hokus Pokus" (1998)
7. "Join the Show" (1998)
8. "Phat or Wack sampler" (1999)
9. "Fuck the World" (1999)
10. "Another Love Song" (1999)
11. "Mad Professor" (1999)
12. "Party Mix" (1999)
13. "Jacob's Word" (2000)
14. "Bizzar/Bizaar sampler" (2000)
15. "Tilt-A-Whirl" (2000)
16. "Let's Go All the Way" (2000)
17. "Psychopathic Sampler '01" (2001)
18. "The Wraith: Shangri-La sampler" (2002)
19. "Homies" (2003)
20. "Something Underground" — Violent J [recorded exclusively for Hatchetradio.com] (2005)

• Violent J and Shaggy solo

1. Fuck Off (1994; EP) — Shaggy 2 Dope
2. Wizard of the Hood EP (2003) — Violent J
3. F.T.F.O. (2006) — Shaggy 2 Dope

Filmography

• Stranglemania (199?) This very rare VHS tape (now out of print) was the 1995 IWA King Of The Deathmatch tournament featuring Superleather, Cactus Jack, Terry Funk, and many more. Violent J and Shaggy dubbed over the commentary and added their own humorous commentary, similar to those on their JCW tapes.
• Juggalo Championshit Wrestling: Volumes 1, 2, and 3
• Strangle-Mania 2
• The Shaggy Show — an internet-based reality show from the road. The concept was taken from an identically-named skit on the Amazing Jeckel Brothers album.
• Shockumentary (DVD & VHS) — this is ICPs hard-to-find documentary. It features all the flavor of the documentary and five music videos.
• Big Money Hustlas (2000)
• Bootlegged in L.A. (2004)

RIAA certifications

• 4 May 1998: The Great Milenko — gold
• 23 July 1998: Shockumentary — gold
• 21 April 1999: The Great Milenko — platinum
• 30 September 1999: Forgotten Freshness — gold
• 23 November 1999: The Riddle Box — gold
• 6 January 2000: The Amazing Jeckel Brothers — platinum
• 4 April 2001: Big Money Hustlas — gold
• 21 May 2002: Shockumentary — platinum
• 17 September 2002: The Ringmaster — gold
• 8 October 2003: Bootlegged in L.A. — gold
• 7 June 2004: The Ringmaster* — gold

* The Ringmaster went gold twice, once on Island and the other on their independent release on Psychopathic Records. Sources: Faygoluvers & Insane Clown Posse.

Chart positions

Albums

Billboard 200

• 1997: The Great Milenko 63
• 1998: Forgotten Freshness Vols 1-2 46
• 1999: The Amazing Jeckel Brothers 4
• 2000: Bizaar 20
• 2000: Bizzar 21
• 2002: The Wraith: Shangri-La 15
• 2004: Hell's Pit 12
• 2005: The Calm (EP) 32
• 2005: Forgotten Freshness: Volume 4 88

Singles

Billboard Hot 100

• 1997: "Santa's a Fat Bitch" #67

UK Singles Chart

• 1998: "Halls of Illusion" #56
• 1998: "Hokus Pokus" #53

External links and references

• Insane Clown Posse official site
• Psychopathic Records official site (portal)
• An Intelligent Look at the Insane Clown Posse
• HatchetRadio.com
• Behind the Paint, Violent J with Hobey Echlin. (ISBN 09741846083)