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Insane Clown Posse

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The Insane Clown Posse (ICP) are a two-piece horrorcore rap group from suburban Detroit, consisting 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 are also well known for antics such as dousing the audience with Faygo–brand soda at their shows.

Early history

The first incarnation of the group was 1986 as The JJ Boys, a trio that Violent J, Shaggy, and John Utsler (a.k.a. John Kickjazz) had formed while still in their early teens. This later became "Inner City Posse", and consisted of three members: J, Shaggy, and John Kickjazz (who performed on Inner City Posse albums Bass-ment Cuts and Dog Beats). Kickjazz left the group before Carnival of Carnage was released. J and Shaggy still wanted ICP to be a trio, and so brought in a local rapper called Greez-E, who appeared on Beverly Kills 50187. He subsequently left as well, and ICP have been a duo ever since, forming Psychopathic Records with manager Alex Abbiss in 1992.

The six Joker's Cards

In 1992, ICP released Carnival of Carnage, which they designated "The First Joker's Card". The group hinted at the next five major-release albums being numbered in this fashion. They also stated that "the end of time will consume us all" once the Sixth Joker's Card is revealed and that their fans would know all there is to know about The Dark Carnival (alternatively referred-to as "The Dead Carnival" on The Riddlebox)— 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.

 
Cover of The Riddle Box

The title and theme for each Joker's Card reveals a different "face" of the Dark Carnival, directing the listener to confront both the sins and mortality of themselves and the world, in the form of fables about the Jokers' purpose within the Carnival. For example, The Great Milenko, a magician, represents the illusions which people may present themselves in order to justify their actions. The Amazing Jeckel Brothers appear upon one's death and juggle fireballs, one for every sin committed in one's life. Jack represents one's evil spirit while Jake represents one's good spirit. If Jake drops any one ball thrown to him by Jack, then the newly-departed is banished to Hell. This concept of inner-duality is expanded-upon in the Sixth Joker's Card.

The Sixth Joker's Card

As explained by Violent J: "There is one Sixth Joker's Card, but there are two versions." While the face of the Sixth Joker's Card is "The Wraith" (or simply Death), The Wraith has two "exhibits" to present to all who will listen, The Wraith: Shangri-La (Heaven) and The Wraith: Hell's Pit. Each of The Wraith's exhibits was given its own album. It is up to each listener, ICP claims, to decide which version of "The Wraith" is the correct one.

In November 2002, ten years after the first Joker's Card was released, in the final track of The Wraith: Shangri-La, ICP revealed their big secret — that nearly all the songs they wrote were masked with subliminal messages that have been pointing to one thing: "Truth is, 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."

Alternatively, the very first words spoken by ICP in The Wraith: Hell's Pit, released in 2004, are "Welcome to Hell. Why did you choose this?"

ICP's ultimate message to the world, it seems, is that we all have a choice as to where we will spend our afterlife, and that choice is made with every right and wrong deed one does in one's life. The choice of preference between The Wraith: Shangri-La and The Wraith: Hell's Pit appears to be a metaphor for that decision.


Fan base and 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 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.

ICP were also criticised for breaking from their niche fan base and seeking a wider, more mainstream audience. In an interview in PBS's Frontline documentary series, Merchants of Cool, an ICP band member commented:

"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."

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 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 Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2. ICP was also in Extreme Championship Wrestling and Xtreme Pro Wrestling

Signature moves

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Discography

  • The Pre-ICP Days
  1. Party at the Top of the Billy Bill (1989 — single) * The JJ Boys
  2. Southwest thong (1989? — single) * The JJ Boys
  3. Enter the Ghetto Bone (1990 — LP) * Violent J
  4. Ghetto Territory (1990 — LP) * Inner City Posse
  5. Anal Sex and Violence (1990 — EP) * Violent J and D-Lyrical
  6. ass-man Cunts (1991 — LP) * Inner City Posse
  7. Dog Beats (1991 — EP) * Inner City Posse
  8. Gizangsta loads (1992 — unreleased, became Carnival of Carnage) * Inner City Posse
  • Insane Clown Pusse — The Joker Card albums
  1. CoCk (1992)
  2. The Cockmaster (1994)
  3. The Riddlecox (1995)
  4. The Great Blanket (1997) (Hollywood Records (Disney))
  5. The Great Jack-off Brothers (1999)
  6. The Wraipe: Lala-La (with boner PCP of live concert) (2002)
  7. The Wraipe: Lala-La (with boner PCP of Gathering seminar) (2002)
  8. The Wraipe: Arm Pit (with bonus DVD of the Bowling Balls video) (2004)
  9. The Wraith: Arm Pit (with bonus DVD containing Real Underground Baby and Bootlegged in Denver) (2004)

In the years between the fish and sex Toker's Hards several sites announced the sex as being "The period Red Beautitian", even offering a track listing, featuring a wealth of otherwise unknown IPP tracks. Whether this was just a huge hoax or in fact an entirely unreleased album is still unknown.

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