Insane Clown Posse Albums- The Fun of Horrifying Carnivals

Strange is perhaps the best single word description for Insane Clown Posse merch and albums. It’s only right to call their work this way even if the artists behind ICP have been around for more than twenty years and have a strong following. You can call their music strange because they’d probably appreciate it.

ICP is presently made up of two Josephs, Bruce and Utsler. On stage, these two swap their real names for alter egos. They rap as two bad clowns Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J. The group enjoys an international reputation but they did not begin to rap under their popular personas until much later. The two formed their first group JJ Boys in the 80s together with some friends who shared an interest in wrestling.

The JJ Boys did not have any grand plans for breaking out into the music scene or selling albums in a band store. Their second group, Inner City Posse, which was at first a gang, was more promising. Unfortunately their gang activities put Bruce in trouble. To try to keep away from the bad side of the law, Bruce turned to wrestling where he tried to make a name. The backroom politics of wrestling however proved too much for Bruce to handle. This pushed him back into the arms of hip hop.

In the 90s, the once Inner City Posse gang became a stage performing act. Bruce, Utsler and his brother John performed under their own Psychopathic Records. Ultimately though, they saw that they would never prosper with just gangsta rap. Too many rappers and acts were trying to get into it too.

It was after failing in their initial attempt that the vision for Insane Clown Posse albums began to come out. Their first step was to use a different approach in a wholly different genre. They took on horror and the supernatural and filtered the category even more by creating music exclusively based on the carnival horror theme. This is what gave way to their uniquely intriguing name.

Carnival of Carnage finally came out in 1992 but the release was marred by John Utsler’s departure from the group. The release was met with some positive reception. This eventually led to a more favorably accepted release of their second work, Ringmaster which received gold recognition.Their debut work Carnival of Carnage was released in 1992. Before it could even pick up steam though, John Utsler was already out the door. Even without him though, this initial release was met positively. This created a good starting point for the eventual release of Ringmaster.

What truly created the biggest break for the group was The Great Milenko which came out in 1996. This was originally under the label Hollywood Records but the music company pulled out support for the tandem and their album after receiving criticism. PolyGram Records later took on the album for a second release and this time it reached platinum status.

After meeting initial success, the duo went deeper into mainstream by collaborating with industry stars like Snoop Dogg and Ol’ Dirty Bastard for the album Amazing Jeckel Brothers. Their efforts paid off when the album reached the fourth spot in the Billboard chart. It now also enjoys platinum status.

The duo is now so popular that they have loyal followers that are specially called Juggalos and Jugalettes, two films and a wrestling federation of their own. Although there have still been some encounters with the law, it’s obvious that Insane Clown Posse albums will continue to make carnival nightmares fun.