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Insane Clown Posse

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Insane Clown Posse
Years activec. 1990 to present
MembersViolent J (Joe Bruce)
Shaggy 2 Dope (Joey Utsler)

The Insane Clown Posse (ICP) are an American hardcore hip hop/midwestern rap group originally from Detroit, 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 a number of platinum and gold albums as well as a dedicated fan base.



Fan base and criticism

Main article: Juggalo

Fans of ICP are called Juggalos (female fans are sometimes called Juggalettes). "Juggalo" derived from one of Violent J's alter-egos, "The Juggla", a psychotic carnival juggler from the ICP song of the same name, and somehow the fans came to be known as "Juggalos" in homage. Juggalos often paint their faces in black-and-white clownface makeup, especially at ICP concerts.

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. Nevertheless, Spin, Rolling Stone, and Vibe have been singled out for mockery in several ICP raps.

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-proclaimed 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. 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.

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." Abbiss claimed ICP was being scapegoated by the media.

There have been other instances of self-proclaimed Juggalos and ICP fans who have engaged in violent activities; see Violent incidents allegedly involving Juggalos.

Professional wrestling

The Insane Clown Posse have long been involved in professional wrestling. In 1998, they were brought in by the then World Wrestling Federation, now known as WWE. ICP also wrestled for the other 2 major North American companies during the late nineties WCW, Extreme Championship Wrestling making them one of a handful of performers to wrestle for all three. They also run their own independent promotion, JCW or Juggalo Championshit Wrestling.

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 (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

Source: RIAA Searchable Database (search for "Insane Clown Posse", not "ICP".)

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

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