ICP History
Welcome to the Dark Carnival, a celestial circus of lunacy,
madness,
and excess that travels through time and space to distort
pleasant
youthful memories into a horrific living nightmare. Nearly eight
years
ago, this cryptic force reached into our earthly dimension and
touched
two Detroit street rappers, now known by their carnival names
VIOLENT
J and SHAGGY 2 DOPE, and revealed to them the coming
apocalypse.
Transformed into the image of clowns, VIOLENT J and SHAGGY 2
DOPE
became heralds of the coming judgement, and to make their
warnings
clear, these clowns carry axes instead of balloons.
ICP's
disturbing doomsday visions, extravagant theories, and sociopathic
clown
personas give them more in common with Wes Craven, Edgar Allen
Poe, and
Steven King than with any modern street rappers. Regardless, the
driving
force behind ICP has made their message explode with over 250,000
of their
self -released records having already been sold to new converts of
the Dark
Carnival.
Previous to their transformation, ICP stood for Inner City
Posse and was
an extension of a gang which VIOLENT J and SHAGGY 2 DOPE
started in
Southwest Detroit. Back then, the group had about 15 people and
did straight
gangster rap as heard on their '91 debut DOG BEATS. However,
when the
album started selling well in the Detroit area, their gang's rep
skyrocketed
and caused a serious backlash from the other local gangs. ICP
became
victims of serious gang violence forcing many members to leave
town.
Then came the first epiphany of the Dark Carnival. Alone and
scared,
VIOLENT J and SHAGGY 2 DOPE were visited by the Carnival Spirit
and
told them of a great judgment racing towards earth to punish
evil-doers.
With little time left, the Carnival Spirit ordained VIOLENT J and
SHAGGY
2 DOPE to be ministers of the street through six revelations, refereed
to
as Jokers Cards, which will be manifested in the form of ICP records.
"Six
will visit," said the Carnival Spirit, "followed by the crumbling of
time itself...
a dark carnival sweeping across the land as a shadow, plagued
with destruction."
The other members of ICP were not privy to the same
oracle and thus
rejected VIOLENT J and 2 DOPE's newfound Carnivology. Once
most
of these unbelievers left, the power of the Dark Carnival
descended
upon its remaining devotees as subtle as a calm mist yet as
glorious
as a fiery comet. Made over with make-up and cheap no-brand
shoes,
ICP became the INSANE CLOWN POSSE and exploded with
frightening
regional success.
ICP's Island Records' debut, THE GREAT
MILENKO, is the fourth Joker
Card, preceded by the self-released CARNIVAL OF
CARNAGE, THE
RINGMASTER, and THE RIDDLE BOX. The previous releases
warned
of entities like the Ringmaster, who will represent the sum
judgement
for evil-doing which a man must face in his grave, and the Riddle
Box,
whose crank a man must turn to have his eternal destiny pop up
before
him. The Dark Carnival's newest Joker Card warns of the Great
Milenko,
and evil illusionist from the nethervoid of the shadow walker.
VIOLENT J
explains, "The Great Milenko tempts people with illusions of better
lifestyles
built upon wrongdoing.. The fourth Jokers Card is a warning that
man must
look past these illusions as see the evil judgment that the Great
Milenko
isreally offering." As the Carnival Spirit revealed in Halls Of
Illusion, "Your
death comes wicked, painful, and slow at the hands of
Milenko!". ICP continue
to rail against the richies, rednecks, and racists on
THE GREAT MILENKO,
with tales of death and destruction (or worse) for the
evil doers.
While driven forward by the coming judgement, ICP still
retains a synergy
with the streets of Detroit through Faygo soda, known as
the poor man's pop
because it costs a mere $.60 a 2-liter. VIOLENT J and
SHAGGY 2 DOPE were
raised on Faygo in their poverty-stricken youth, so the
Dark Carnival inspired
them to utilize Faygo as a symbolic reminder. At every
show, ICP showers the
crowd with about six hundred liters of Faygo, which is
only a sixth of what the
crowd brings with them. VIOLENT J remarks, "We like
to shake up the bottles,
poke holes in them, and throw them into the
audience. We even have these
huge guns that shoot Faygo over fifty feet so
its impossible not to get soaked."
Yet Faygo fights are only one small
part of ICP's unparalleled live shows,
which are more appropriately known as
"thematic riots" With every tour, the
Dark Carnival reveals a different theme
to ICP that makes their shows more
like "The Amityville Horror" and "The
Funhouse" than like Popmart or the Clash
of the Titans tours. With each
having its own enormous, elaborate set, past tour
themes include The Prom
Night Massacre, The Omen, The Resurrection, The
Joker's Gallery, and the very
messy Pie-In-Your-Fucking-Face tour. These sets
included insane asylums,
haunted houses, people popping out of coffins, dunk
tanks on stage, fire
coming up from the floor, blood on the walls, axes, knives,
chains, and
whatever else fits the theme, as well as numerous extra characters
on stage
like zombies, freaks, and the infamous ape boy. The Dark Carnival's
spirit is
so powerful at these shows that kids will line up for hours wearing
clown
make-up and dressing according to the night's theme.
In support
of ICP's vision, a host of renowned guest appear on THE GREAT
MILENKO, like
Alice Cooper (doing a spoken word into), Steve Jones of the
Sex Pistols
(playing guitar on "Piggy Pie"), and Slash of Guns 'n' Roses
(playing guitar
on "Halls of Illusions"). Each of these artists were touched
by the very same
Carnival Spirit that has made ICP such remarkable prophets
of the coming age.
Nothing has stopped ICP yet, even the live show mayhem
that has cost its
members numerous black eyes, cracked fingers, broken bones,
concussions,
dreadlocks pulled out of their head, and in 2 DOPE's case, being
hung by the
neck from a barricade by over-zealous fans. "It doesn't matter
because we're
doing the work of the Dark Carnival," says VIOLENT J. "Yeah,
we go through
some crazy shit, and its getting worse. But you just gotta love it!".