Insane Clown Posse

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.

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.

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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.

Related Topics:
Magazine - Spin - Rolling Stone - Vibe

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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:

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:"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."

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