Insane Clown Posse

[[File:Insane clown posse 2017.jpg|thumb|165px|Insane Clown Posse, in 2017.]]
{{music|1}}
'''Insane Clown Posse''' (Shaggy 2 Dope, aka Joseph Utsler {{lived|1974}}, and Violent J, aka Joseph Bruce {{lived|1972}}), often shortened to '''ICP''', are a Detroit [[Hip-hop|hip-hop duo]], who also are professional wrestling promoters<ref>[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Wrestling/JuggaloChampionshipWrestling Juggalo Championship Wrestling,] ''TV Tropes''.</ref> and [[evangelical Christian]] preachers.{{efn|Christian clowning is nothing new,<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/26/nyregion/for-clown-ministry-laughter-is-gospel.html For 'Clown Ministry,' Laughter Is Gospel] by Leo H. Carney (Nov. 26, 1989) ''The New York Times''.</ref> and Christian hip hop dates back to the 1980s.<ref>{{wpa|Christian hip hop}}</ref> So, this is not as surprising as one might think.}}<ref name=ronson>[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/oct/09/insane-clown-posse-christians-god Insane Clown Posse: And God created controversy] by Jon Ronson, The Guardian, 2010 October 8</ref> They specialize in a particular over-the-top violent, transgressive hip-hop style known as "{{wpl|horrorcore||".}}

==History==
Insane Clown Posse was formed in 1989 in Detroit, [[Michigan]]. Originally known as "Inner City Posse", the duo decided to adopt their "Dark Carnival" mythos and clown personas in 1991 after Violent J's claims of [[Dream interpretation|having a dream about an evil circus that supposedly represented purgatory]]. In a case of clear serendipity, the mid-1990s were an era where cartoon-ish [[Heavy metal|metal bands]] such as {{wpl|Green_Jellÿ}} and {{wpl|Gwar|GWAR}} (the latter of which used similar over-the-top violence in their elaborate stage shows) were enjoying strong cult popularity. This was enough to garner ICP a major label record deal in 1997. For a few brief years, they flirted with semi-mainstream popularity, playing the ill-fated {{wpl|Woodstock '99}} and engaging in several headline-grabbing fights and other shenanigans with various other [[rap]]pers and bands. By the early 2000s, they were no longer on a major label. Generally speaking, their music was poorly received, often described as the "worst ever",<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071222092650/http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=466 "The 50 Worst Artists in Music History"], ''Blender Magazine'', September 2003</ref> with critics characterizing their rapping as a slew of "secondhand [[misogyny]], grade-Z gore, sexual insecurity and klutzy rhymes".<ref>[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/the-amazing-jeckel-brothers-185371/ "Review: The Amazing Jeckel Brothers"] by Barry Walters, Rolling Stone, 1999 June 10</ref> However, their time in the spotlight allowed them to develop a significant cult following, with a strong subculture (maintaining cult popularity to this day) that is probably better known than the music itself.<ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/insane-clown-posse-mn0000079959/biography "Insane Clown Posse biography"] by John Bush, Allmusic.com</ref>

==Fandom==
Hardcore fans of Insane Clown Posse are known as {{wpl|Juggalos||.}} For the most part, Juggalos can be seen as an extended, strong music {{wpl|fandom||,}} similar to, say, {{wpl|Deadhead|"deadhead" fans of the Grateful Dead|,}} but with far less [[LSD]] and far more clown makeup and {{wpl|Faygo||.}}<ref>[https://303magazine.com/2019/09/meet-the-juggalos-of-colorado/ "How a Fan Makes a Band – Meet the Juggalos of Colorado",] Jessica Rendall, 2019 September 17</ref><ref>[https://reason.com/podcast/paul-detrick-juggalos-podcast/ "The Juggalos Are the Forgotten Men and Women of America: Podcast"] by Nick Gillespie and Ian Keyser, Reason, 2017 September 21</ref> Unfortunately, a small subset of Juggalo fandom engages in violent behavior and other [[gang]]-like activity, enough for the {{wpl|Federal Bureau of Investigation}} to (perhaps with a whiff of [[moral panic]])<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/nov/02/insane-clown-posse-juggalos-gang "It's a crime to love Insane Clown Posse"] by Johnny Sharp, The Guardian, 2011 November 2</ref> classify them as a "loosely organized hybrid gang".<ref>[https://consequenceofsound.net/2018/07/fbi-insane-clown-posse-report/ "FBI releases declassified report on Insane Clown Posse gang threat",] Alex Young, Consequence of Sound, 2018 July 11</ref> That being said, despite a few gangs borrowing Juggalo imagery, a few non-gang related incidents of notoriety (notably an incident in 2010 at the annual {{wpl|Gathering of the Juggalos|"Gathering of the Juggalos"}} festival where rapper {{wpl|Tila Tequila}} was pelted with rocks and bottles during her performance),<ref>[http://www.mtv.com/news/1647153/insane-clown-posse-talk-tila-tequila-method-man-incidents-at-the-gathering/ "Insane Clown Posse Talk Tila Tequila, Method Man Incidents at The Gathering"] by Kyle Anderson, MTV.com, 2019 March 9</ref> and the atypical [[sex]]-and-[[drugs]] shenanigans that can occur at the larger ICP festivals,<ref>[https://freebeacon.com/national-security/the-juggalo-cult/ "The Juggalo Cult"] by Bill McMorris, Washington Free Beacon, 2013 August 14</ref> the vast majority of the Juggalo community could best be described as "mostly harmless".<ref>[https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/scaachikoul/juggalos-march-on-washington "The Juggalos Marched For Their Rights. Will They March For Yours?"] by Scaachi Koul, Buzzfeed News, 2017 September 20</ref> 

The "gang" classification caused some predictable harassment against Juggalos by law enforcement, as well as some child custody and employment issues. Due to this, ICP and the [[ACLU]] unsuccessfully tried to sue the [[FBI]] to get this classification removed. Ultimately, this culminated in a Juggalo march on [[Fun:Washington, D.C.|Washington D.C.]] in 2017.<ref>[https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/21/16163816/insane-clown-posses-juggalo-march-on-washington "The Insane Clown Posse’s Juggalo March on Washington, explained"] by Dylan Matthews, Vox.com, 2017 September 15</ref> The march took place on the same day as a [[Donald Trump]] rally labeled the "mother of all rallies", with ''[[The Guardian]]'' noting that not only did the Juggalo rally far outdraw the Trump rally, there was a huge contrast between the "upbeat, open-minded" nature of the Juggalo rally, and the Trump rally where supporters were babbling about "[[Hillary Clinton#But her emails|Hillary Clinton's emails]] (and) the need to [[Racism|'take our country back']]".<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/sep/17/juggalo-march-washington-gang-fbi-pro-trump-rally "Juggalos march on Washington: ‘We’re a family not a gang'"] by Adam Gabbatt, TheGuardian.com, 2017 September 17 </ref>

ICP have [[Stopped clock|commendably]] taken strong stances against [[racism]], both in their music and within the Juggalo community.<ref>[https://genius.com/Insane-clown-posse-confederate-flag-lyrics "Confederate Flag"] by Insane Clown Posse, lyrics archived at genius.com</ref><ref>[https://www.mic.com/articles/184301/are-juggalos-the-new-horror-clown-face-of-anti-trump-anger "Juggalos have become the darlings of the left and the new face of anti-racist activism"] by Jack Smith IV, Mic.com, 2017 September 13</ref> On the other hand, their culture has often been criticized for being misogynistic and "increasingly hostile toward women".<ref>[https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/scaachikoul/juggalos-march-on-washington "The Juggalos Marched For Their Rights. Will They March For Yours?"] by Scaachi Koul, Buzzfeed News, 2017 September 20</ref>

==Insane Clown Posse on Science==
{{cquote|"[[Scientists]] go, 'I've got an explanation for that.' It's like, [[Argumentum ad hominem|fuck you!]] [[Supernatural|I like to believe it was something out of this world.]]"|||Violent J<ref name=ronson/>}}
{{cquote|"I'm glad that when my kids get strep throat, their doctor doesn't say, '(Bleeping) antibiotics, how do they work?'"|||John Keilman<ref>[https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/ct-xpm-2010-11-30-ct-talk-keilman-miracles-1130-20101130-story.html "Rappers' ode to 'miracles' taps into anti-science angst",] John Keilman, Chicago Tribune</ref>}}

In 2010, ICP took a small break from rapping about over-the-top depictions of gore to create the song "Miracles".<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-agl0pOQfs "Insane Clown Posse - Miracles"] by  Psychopathic Records (Apr 6, 2010) ''Youtube''.</ref><ref>[https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/insaneclownposse/miracles.html Miracles] by  Insane Clown Posse, ''AZLyrics''</ref> Purportedly a reflective song of the marvels of everyday life, the song became their best known song for all the wrong reasons, infamous for its lyrics<ref>[https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/insaneclownposse/miracles.html "Insane Clown Posse - Miracles - Lyrics",] AZLyrics.com</ref> that seemed to both [[Willful ignorance|celebrate ignorance]] and trash science and [[knowledge]]. The song's lyrics wallow in a sort of [[God of the gaps|"God of the gaps"]] [[logical fallacy]], albeit one in which even things that have had scientific explanations for ''centuries'' are now "miracles" for some reason.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/aug/18/insane-clown-posse "Insane Clown Posse: a magnet for ignorance"] by Louis Pattison, The Guardian, 2010 Aug 18</ref> Lines like "fucking magnets, how do they work?" and "And I don't wanna talk to a scientist / Y'all motherfuckers lying, and getting me pissed" became infamously repeated and spread on the Internet, to the point where {{wpl|Know Your Meme}} documented the phenomenon in a ''[[YouTube]]'' video.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NCafHsclkQ "Know Your Meme: Miracles"] by Know Your Meme (2011 May 19) ''YouTube'' ([https://web.archive.org/web/20190505040402/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NCafHsclkQ archived copy])</ref>  In fact, everything they mention in their song ''has been explained'' by science.

ICP responded to the criticism in a peculiarly [[Anti-intellectualism|anti-intellectual]] way, dismissing "[[Reality|factual findings]]" that "explain away the [[Earth]]'s cool mysteries", and called their critics "big dumb, popular jocks ganging up on the little class clown scrub, when they have no idea the scrub is really a highly skilled, deadly, [[Mall ninja|ninja assassin]] [[Argumentum ad baculum|capable of cleaning their fuckin' clocks]]."{{efn|Can we get a "Fuckin' clocks, how do they work?" Or perhaps a "Mixed metaphors, how do they work?"}}<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100504093023/https://www.akirathedon.com/2010/04/behold-insane-clown-posse-respond-to-miracles-criticism/ "BEHOLD: Insane Clown Posse Respond To ‘Miracles’ Criticism",] Akira the Don blog, 2010 April 27</ref> Oh, and of course they were just [[troll]]in' and the backlash was anticipated and planned.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/arts/music/30insane.html "Kidding the Clowns Online, but Who Will Laugh Last?"] By Dave Itzkoff, New York Times, 2010 April 29</ref> Right.

Helpfully, an author at [[Cracked.com]] created an article to help Juggalos "Learn Their Motherf#@kin' Science" to help explain the scientific explanation behind all of the "miracles" in the song, parodying the foul-mouthed lyrical style of ICP.<ref>[https://www.cracked.com/blog/learn-your-motherfuckin-science-with-the-icp/ "Learn Your Motherf#@kin' Science: A Textbook for Juggalos"] by Daniel O'Brien, Cracked.com, 2010 April 9</ref> Less helpfully, ICP responded to {{wpl|Hackerspace|hackerspace}} group {{wpl|Noisebridge|Noisebridge's}} attempt to teach science to ICP fans waiting in line for a [[San Francisco]] ICP show by [[Argumentum ad baculum|threatening them with physical violence]].<ref>[https://laughingsquid.com/noisebridge-attempts-to-teach-science-to-juggalos-at-insane-clown-posse-show-in-san-francisco/ "Noisebridge Attempts to Teach Science To Juggalos at Insane Clown Posse Show In San Francisco"] by Doctor Popular, Laughing Squid, 2010 June 18</ref>

==Fucking magnets, how do they '''really''' work?==
Without getting too [[quantum]],<ref>[https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_34.html "The Magnetism of Matter",] Lecture 34, The Feyman Lectures on Physics</ref> [[Bill Nye]] helpfully explains magnetism (and also surprisingly has an opinion about Insane Clown Posse, too).
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==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Anti-intellectualism]]
[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Fundamentalism]]
[[Category:Horror]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Musicians]]
[[Category:Trolls]]
[[Category:War on science]]
[[Category:We're on a mission from God]]

Categories: Anti-intellectualism, Christianity, Fundamentalism, Horror, Living people, Musicians, Trolls, War on science, We're on a mission from God