We're a couple of years removed now from the height of Insane Clown Posse mania, when SNL parodies and Nightline interviews were coming fast and furious, but the face-painted, Faygo-loving, rapping jesters are still a source of fascination. And all this late-breaking mainstream attention — they'd been at it for almost two decades when "Miracles" made them a national obsession — has been pretty good for their careers. They've still got the built-in, cultishly devoted Juggalo following; now they've got some actual crossover recognition, too. That unlikely swirl has led to a peculiar lineup for the 13th-annual Gathering of the Juggalos, going down in August at Cave-In-Rock, Illinois, and announced today via a 23-minute infomercial.
What It’s About: A sheriff (Shaggy 2 Dope) and a crime lord (Violent J) battle for control of the Wild West town of Mud Bug. Also, many characters wear clown makeup.
Who It’s For: Fans of normal, classic Westerns, and also fans of people who wear clown makeup.
Big Money Rustlas is a comedy Western starring Insane Clown Posse’s Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J, and their label Psychopathic Records produced the film. Beyond laughing along with the rest of the Internet over viral ads for the Gathering, I was not especially familiar with the genre of clown music before I watched this film. It certainly seems weird on paper. An interest in looking like a mean clown is a pretty crazy unifying quality for a type of music, but maybe just crazy enough to work. (It doesn’t work.)
Yesterday, word got out to much of the non-degenerate world that after years of domination, Facebook finally had a serious competitor. No, not Twitter2. Or Google++. Or LinquedIn.
If reading that word, potentially this great world's final portmanteau, doesn't register with you sourly, then up until now you have lived a full, happy life. You haven't been cursed to know the ins and outs of the Juggalos.
(Feel free to skip ahead if you've already been infected.)
"Juggalos" are devout followers of rapmusical duo Insane Clown Posse and other acts under the Psychopathic Records umbrella.
It's pretty much impossible to know when Internet-baiting horrorcore duo Insane Clown Posse is doing something because they really want to or because they think it'll make people's heads explode. The latest, and arguably greatest, WTF example: On September 13, ICP will release a cover of Mozart’s “Leck Mich Im Arsch,” a largely forgotten canon in B-flat whose title translates in English to “Lick Me in the Arse.” Their version will feature instrumental backing from Nashville thrashers Jeff the Brotherhood and production from — ready?! — former White Stripe Jack White. What? Apparently, the Clowns have written their own lyrics, which they'll add to Mozart's original German ones. One way this makes the tiniest bit of noncontrived sense: Both ICP and Jack White are from the Detroit area, and it’s not inconceivable they met years ago — perhaps in some Michigan dive bar, over a game of Big Buck Hunter — and planned a collaboration, only to be sidetracked by their own projects and rises to notoriety. Now, with White in semiretirement, his Third Man Records pumping out novelties (a Conan O’Brien live album, a Stephen Colbert single), and Insane Clown Posse enjoying their greatest fame — why not? Equally as plausible: This was a really good opportunity for Jack White to be photographed, for the first time ever, with people wearing jorts.
