Insane Clown Posse

Insane Clown Posse (ICP) is a horrorcore rap group from suburban Detroit consiting of Violent J (Joseph Bruce) and Shaggy 2 Dope (Joseph Utsler). The group 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.

The group was formerly a three piece group known as Inner City Posse, at the time including Shaggy 2 Dope's brother, John Utsler, and later a guy going by the stage name Greez-E before becoming a two-piece and changing their name to Insane Clown Posse. The group is also pretty well known for antics like dousing the audience with Faygo-brand soda at their shows.

Contents

1 Early History 2 The Six Joker's Cards 3 Hollywood Records Controversy 4 Fan Base / Criticism 5 Professional Wrestling 5.1 Signature Moves 6 Discography 7 External links and References

Early History

At one time, Insane Clown Posse consisted of three members. Violent J, Shaggy 2 Dope, and John Utsler aka John Kickjazz (who preformed on Inner City Posse albums Intelligence and Violence and Bassment Cuts). Kickjazz left the group before Carnival of Carnage was released. Because J and Shaggy felt it was right to have 3 people in ICP, John Kickjazz was replaced by Greez-E, who later resigned but appeared on Beverly Kills 50187.

The Six Joker's Cards

In 1992, ICP released Carnival of Carnage, which they designated as "The First Joker's Card", with the group alluding to the next five albums being numbered in this fashion (a bit similar to the Nine Inch Nails "halo" numbering). They also stated that "All will be revealed in the end" (the "end" being the release of the 6th album/Joker Card) and that their fans would know all there is to know about The Dark Carnival- something the band refers to on every album as a powerful force which has spoken to them and is directly opposed to the Devil. In ICP's songs, the Dark Carnival often takes the shape of a travelling carnival road-show, where instead of harmless entertainment, the clowns and rides serve up death and pain as punishment for the wicked.

In November, 2002, 10 years after the first Joker's Card was released, ICP revealed their big secret- that all the songs they wrote were masked with subliminal messages that have been pointing to one thing: "We follow God, we've always been behind Him. The Carnival is God, and may all Juggalos find Him. We're not sorry if we tricked you. We don't care what happens now."

Hollywood Records Controversy

ICP made headlines in 1997, when it was discovered that they had been signed to Hollywood Records, a record label owned by Disney. Embroilled by the controversy, Disney made an announcement that they would drop the group just hours after the release of The Great Milenko, creating an unusual amount of publicity and a boost to sales when the album was picked up by Island Records. In time, not even Island sufficed, and the clowns, together with manager Alex Abbiss, founded their own label, Psychopathic Records.

Fan Base / Criticism

Fans of ICP are called Juggalos (female fans are sometimes called Juggalettes). This derives 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's polls including Spin and Rolling Stone. This has not discouraged the unusual group, and they repeatedly state they don't 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.

Professional Wrestling

ICP have long been involved in professional wrestling. In 1998 they were brought in by World Wrestling Entertainment in a musical role for the stable The Oddities, a group of freak wrestlers led by Golga, a masked John Tenta, formerly known as Earthquake. ICP entered WCW around 2000 and teamed with wrestler Vampiro, forming the group the Dark Carnival. 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 ran their own independent promotion, JCW or Juggalo Championshit Wrestling, for several years (closed down around 2003). 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 Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2.

Signature Moves

• Shaggy 2 Dope = Triple Lindy From The Rafters (Top Rope Leg Drop)
• Violent J = 720 Moonflip (Moonsault)

Discography

• The Pre-ICP Days

1. Party At The Top Of The Hill (1986 single) * The JJ Boys
2. Southwest Song (1988? - single) * The JJ Boys
3. Enter The Ghetto Zone (1990 - EP) * Inner City Posse
4. Intelligence and Violence (1990) * Inner City Posse
5. Bass-ment Cuts (1991) * Inner City Posse
6. Bass-ment! (1991) * Inner City Posse
7. Dog Beats (1991) * Inner City Posse
8. Gangsta Codes (1992 - unreleased, became Carnival of Carnage) * Inner City Posse

• Insane Clown Posse - The Joker Card albums

1. Carnival of Carnage (1992)
2. The Ringmaster (1994)
3. The Riddlebox (1995)
4. The Great Milenko (1997) (Hollywood Records (Disney))
5. The Great Milenko (1998) (Island Records)
6. The Amazing Jeckel Brothers (1999)
7. The Wraith: Shangri-La (with Bonus DVD of 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 containing Real Underground Baby and Bootlegged in Denver) (2004)

• 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 Volume 1 (1995)
2. Mutilation Mix (1997)
3. Forgotten Freshness Volume 1 & 2 (1998)
4. Forgotten Freshness Volume 3 (2001)
5. Forgotten Freshness Volume 4 (2005)

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

1. Dead Pumpkins (1994)
2. Fat Sweaty Betty (1995)
3. Chicken Huntin (1995)
4. Jokers Wild Sampler (1995)
5. Mr. Rotten Treats (1995)
6. Witches and Warlocks (1996)
7. Halls Of Illusions (1997)
8. Mr. Johnson's Head remix (1997)
9. Psychopathic Sampler (1998)
10. Hokus Pokus (1998)
11. Join The Show (1998)
12. Pumpkin Carver (1998)
13. Phat or Wack sampler (1999)
14. Fuck The World (1999)
15. Another Love Song (1999)
16. Mad Professor (1999)
17. Party Mix (1999)
18. Sleepwalker (1999)
19. Jacob's Word (2000)
20. Bizzar/Bizaar sampler (2000)
21. Tilt-A-Whirl (2000)
22. Let's Go All The Way (2000)
23. Hallowicked 2000 EP (2000)
24. Psychopathic Sampler '01 (2001)
25. Hallowicked 2001 (2001)
26. The Wraith: Shangri-La sampler (2002)
27. Hallowicked 2002 (2002)
28. Homies (2003)

• Violent J and Shaggy solo

1. Fuck Off (1994 - EP) * Shaggy 2 Dope
2. Wizard of the Hood EP (2003) * Violent J
3. Fuck The Fuck Off (2005) * Shaggy 2 Dope

External links and References

• Insane Clown Posse official site (http://www.insaneclownposse.com/)
• Psychopathic Records offical site (portal) (http://www.psychopathicrecords.com/)
• anti-Juggalo/parody site (http://www.insaneclownpussies.com)
• About.com article: Hip-hop Horrorcore (http://rap.about.com/cs/alternativehiphop/a/hiphophalloween.htm)
• About.com article: Esham (The Unholy) (http://rap.about.com/library/weekly/aa102003acidrapesham.htm)
• Halls of Illusions: The Story of Insane Clown Posse (http://www.hallsofillusions.com/mainsite/icp/5602)
• Behind the Paint by Violent J with Hobey Echlin ISBN 09741846083