Naked Music Monday: Insane Clown Posse

I’ve been workshopping an excuse to write an Insane Clown Posse post for a couple years now, but could never find a plausible reason to do it. But you know what? It’s 2017 now. Nothing makes sense anyway; a reality TV star is President, knitted pussycat hats are considered revolutionary, and McDonald’s sells guacamole. Anything goes! So gather around, children—I have a story to tell you. A story of two magical wizards from the annals of Southwest Detroit, men who forged their mark on our cultural schism with a palette of face paint and a lot of Faygo two-liters.

For some perspective: On September 17, Detroit’s whitest, Confederate flag waving-est rapper, Kid Rock, will be performing his third in a series of SIX no doubt sold-out concerts in the city’s brand new, tax-payer-subsidized hockey arena. Kid Rock is handily Detroit’s most obnoxious musician, and yet he was asked to christen the shiny new venue. On the same day, Detroit’s original white rappers, the Insane Clown Posse (whoop whoop), will be performing for free in Washington D.C. as part of their Jugallo March on Washington. So while Kid Rock is gaslighting us with his fake-but-maybe-not-fake Senate run, ICP has organized direct political action. Why? Because the FBI labeled their dedicated fan base a gang. (The FBI get zero whoops, thank-you-very-much.)

A pro-Trump rally is also scheduled for that day, at nearly the same location. Which … will be interesting. Because if you explore ICP’s body of work, you’ll see that they don’t have much patience for rich people (“richies” in Juggalo-ease) or racists. For the past decade, ICP have garnered some pretty condescending and embarrassing coverage. But now that the liberal media has nominated Juggalos as the first line of defense against the alt-right, people have started examining ICP and their movement more closely. Turns out they’re not idiots, nor are their fans.

Just for funsies—and so I’d actually have a sex work peg for this post—I asked Tits and Sass contributor Kitty Stryker of the Struggalo Circus to speculate if ICP would support the decriminalization of sex work. She told me their record on slut-shaming isn’t great (but what male musician’s is?), but that they would, because ultimately, “They care about individual freedom without the influence of government.” Seems fair. So maybe the ICP are allies? At least we can determine they aren’t enemies, which we could never say about the FBI.

Anyway. Are you working this week? Delight your client or your tip rail with this colorful, anti-racist, and oddly politicized ICP playlist. Support the Juggalos. Because they’re being targeted too, and they might inadvertently fuck some Nazis up for us. 

Tell me the lyrics to “My Axe” aren’t poetry: My ax is my buddy, I bring him when I walk. Me and my ax will leave your head outlined in chalk. My ax is my buddy, he always makes me laugh. Me and my ax cut bigot spinal chords in half. My ax is my buddy, and when I wind him back. Me and my ax will give your forehead a buttcrack. My ax is my buddy, I never leave without him. Me and my ax will leave your neck a bloody fountain. Everybody, everybody, everybody run! Murdering, murdering, murdering fun! Swing, swing, swing! Chop, chop, chop!

“Chicken Huntin” is a song about killing racists.

“Bitches”—so offensive that I’m surprised I don’t hear it on regular rotation every Friday night with that “Crazy Bitch” song. It’s got a verse by the late ODB.

I think “When I’m Clownin” was released at the height of the ICP backlash. Did it phase them? Nope, they went FULL CLOWN and got a cosign from Danny Brown.

“Halls of Illusion,” from the bands’ masterwork The Great Milenko, is essentially a revenge story that condemns child and partner abusers straight to hell.

“Your Rebel Flag” was released 25 years ago. Sometimes they’d set the flags on fire on stage.

“Confederate Flag”—no nuance here, kids. This is Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope spinning a tale where they’re mercenaries taking out Klan members, particularly Klansmen that are public servants.