If you haven't ever heard it, you really should listen to it. Here it is:
It's wonderful. Brilliant. Horribly fucked up, but that's kind of the point of it. ICP relies on shock factor to make an impression. There's nothing wrong with that, and from it, they've developed a legion of followers: Juggalos. Every rational person would say Juggalos are insane and weird and fucked up (and I don't disagree), but here's something you may not have known. The United States Government classified Juggalos as criminal organization, no different than the KKK, or the mafia, or the Latin Kings (is that a gang or a band? I think it might be both). From The Guardian:
The gang designation had its roots, the NYT reported, in a 2011 report from the FBI's National Gang Intelligence Center, which described the Juggalos as a “loosely organised hybrid gang”, and cited two incidents in which “suspected Juggalo associates” or members were involved in violent crime.
I personally would not want to walk down the street and see a group of Juggalos, but that doesn't make me think they were about to commit a crime. I just don't want to see them because I think people's faces, when painted white and black, are aesthetically displeasing. Now, though, the ICP is fighting back.
In a suit filed on Wednesday, the Michigan rap duo claimed the decision to classify the Juggalos as a gang was “unwarranted and unlawful” and had led to fans being harrassed. Four fans – from Nevada, California, North Carolina and Iowa – have joined ICP founders Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler and the Michigan branch of the American Civil Liberties Union in the suit.
Their lawsuit, however, may contain some factually inaccuracies.
In the lawsuit, ICP say their music is actually laden with “hopeful, life-affirming themes about the wonders of life and the support that Juggalos give to one another”.
Let's listen to Bugz On My Nutz
Freedom of speech. It's a thorny issue.
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[Insane Clown Posse image via Featureflash / Shutterstock.com]
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