My sister, who loves this program (ever wonder why they're called programs?) just showed me this:
I find it disturbing how they continue performing-In Yo Face, at that-after stating "he's dead"...and it's annoying how the narrarator keeps calling them Infernal Clown Posse
Twiztid, consisting of Jamie Madrox (named after the character from X-Men, also known as The Multiple Man) and
Monoxide, refer to themselves as the Demented Duo. I spoke a bit about them in
my Insane Clown Posse (ICP) post. Madrox and Monoxide bicker over which one gets to be
Batman. Madrox also goes by Mr.Bones on occassion.
They’re also prone to mis-spelling everything, presumably on purpose,
possibly to further dumb-down the fan base, or because they’re from the streets
and want to “keep it real.” Regardless of the reasons for their mis-spellings,
they also like to merge and sometimes letters in place of words, like “bussyoheadopen”
and “yuwannahoe”
Earlier this week, I was listening to their music
while getting ready for the day, and noticed some of their questionable lyrics
I had mentioned.
Mostasteless has a track featuring ICP called Spin the Bottle. In the song, Violent J refers
to himself as “the wizard of the streets”
Another track off Mostasteless is Blink:
“Show me
what lies just beyond my eyes/won’t you take me to the world where my spirit
lies/is it really fact or a pack of lies/why don’t you”
“you can ask Nosferatu/he knows me”
“When I close my eyes/I can see how everybody
dies”
“When I close my eyes/the devil-man appears/and
tells me he’s been hiding in my closet for years/My eyes stay closed/then he
rambles on/and hands me the lyrics to a Dark Lotus song”
Dark Lotus is a group
featuring Psychopathic artists ICP, Twiztid, Blaze, and once-upon-a-time
Marz. Marz didn’t stick with Psychopathic for long, he left them and
supposedly talked a lot of shit. Soon after, Psychopathic signed ABK (Anybody Killa),
he was brought into Dark Lotus to take Marz’s place. He also recorded over
Marz’s lyrics on the first Lotus album, which was then re-released. Vocally,
Marz fit Dark Lotus better than ABK (who has a very spitty voice on account
of his lisp), however ABK has stuck with Psychopathic and his part in Juggalo
Family contains more heart than Marz’s did.
Their album,
Freek Show, appears to be biographical. The music video for We Don’t Die is
very cryptic.
It features Madrox and Monoxide riding on a Ouji board, as well as burying their selves without the
face paint; Jamie Spaniolo and Paul Methric, with the help of other Psychopathic
artists. This clearly marks the re-birth of the self-professed Demented Duo. They
have a habit of saying Samhain the way that it’s spelled, rather than "Saw-when" the way it’s supposed to be pronounced. Personally, I prefer the way Twiztid
say it. I’ve never been a fan of words that are spelled completely differently
from how they’re pronounced…I may come across as childish or naïve with this,
but honestly when we learn to read we're all told to “sound it out”, so
what’s with these silent letters and sneaky spellings?
The lyrics for Mutant X could describe how they
came to be Twiztid.
"Watch as they change and mutate/into a freak show/twiztid serial killing juggalo"
"We put the world into submission/We told y'all to listen/Twiztid/mo' mystic superstition"
"I'm a warlock/walk on water with wicked spells/banished to purgatory/borderline of Heaven and Hell/see me for all that I am and all that I do/the Multiple Man comes in multiples of two/Evolution of the soul took place in a cocoon/and we appear from the shadows by the light of the moon/we the nightbreed/walkin' amongst the dead/and nobody can figure out what's going on inside of our head"
In Fall Apart, they frequently repeat “I keep
falling apart/I never wanted to die” especially toward the end of the song.
“I need something/someone/to help me with my
brain/cuz it’s falling apart”
“I’m falling into pieces and I don’t know why/it’s
all because we’re all afraid to die/and if you think about it/it’ll eat
you/from the inside out til you don’t know what to do”
What Da Dead Like features Big E and ICP: throught the song, you hear in the background “dun-dun-dun….don’t follow me/don’t
follow/dun-dun-dun…don’t follow me/don’t follow” sung as a chant while Violent J speaks about life and death. What he's actually saying is hard to catch behind the chant.
Mirror/Mirror
is an album whose title alone indicates Alice conditioning. On the cover,
Monoxide looks zoned out and evil while Madrox makes a face that perhaps is
supposed to look freaky, or maybe like he’s just playing. I don’t know. All I
notice is his spider hair and tongue sticking out, maybe because I have a bit
of a crush on “fat” Madrox (not so much when he’s skinny.) The minimal artwork
around their picture is the same above as below, except below is upside down.
What’s That?! - “Twiztid/That’s what it’s like/and
I don’t want nobody to know/nobody”
4 Thoze of U ft Blaze – “I hate everyone/I hate
everyone”
“For those of you that don’t know…/’fraid to go
where I go/and you call yourself a juggalo” Where is it that they go that we’re
afraid to go?
Two songs off of The Green Book say everything with their titles alone: The World is
Hell, and Everybody Diez.
Independants
Day
features a song called Monsters Ball, which again features ICP (there’s a lot
of Twiztid tracks that do). In this, Violent J claims that he “sold [his] soul”
to get into said ball.
W.I.C.K.E.D
Again, the title of the album says a lot. There’s a track on there called When
I Get to Hell, as if it’s inevitable that is where they’re going. In it, they
plan on partying with dead celebrities and appear to be inviting us to join
them. It’s a song that I often try to skip, as I don’t want it in my head nor
do I want to find myself singing along. I do not wish to spend an eternity in
Hell. Instead, I think more along Violent J’s line in an ICP track: “This is
our Hell now/We’re living in it/but this bullshit’ll be over in a minute”
Regardless of it’s dark tones, Twiztid prove that they know how to construct a
song, building it with skill. Not to say
that their previous works were crap, because they've always made catchy and
sometimes scary songs, but this album truly displays just how far they’ve come
from their earlier efforts.
Other songs off Wicked:
Buckets of Blood:
HA Ha HA Ha HA Ha:
My Enemies:
Bella Morte: This song, imo, has a very epic feel
and sound. I think it’s Twiztid’s greatest work of art.
Heartbroken
and Homicidal
It Don’t Matta: “It don’t matta no more/they gon’
do what they gon’ do/even if I try to go/they gon’ try to go there”
I’m Stuck: “I wanna get up/but they won’t let
me/so I feel like I’m stuck/Hoping that one day/I’ll get set free/cuz I’m so
ready/can someone help me?”
Heard Enough: ‘The televisions nothing but a
straight-up racist”
“waiting for someone to stand up”
‘When it’s all over/wishing you never knew me
now/from the first intro/until it all falls down”
“You get hooked/
“Look how we terrorize/tell you all to kill/and
you thinking that it’s real”
Set By Example: “It’s not our intention/to leave
you infected/it’s the way we feel inside/and it cannot be corrected” Much like
Fall Apart off Freek Show, this is chanted repeatedly at the end of the song.
Cryptic
Collection 4
Gimme More: “Plastic/pre-tan/empty/hollow/and you
expect me to follow?/Hell no!/Gimme more/Gimme more/Gimme more/Psychopathic
style” This one actually like they’re not part of any agenda…or maybe that’s
just what they want us to think. After all, the-powers-that-be do like to make
us think that we’re being individuals, with our own tastes in
music…Psychopathic is a rebel label...the label designed for rebels? I dunno
man.
Speculationz: “They say I’m sired by a wizard of
sorts”
If They Don’t Come for Me: “If they don’t come for
me/it’s all over”
Just a small selection of some of their lyrics from just some of their albums. I didn't mention Frankenstein on this post, as I mentioned it on my first ICP post.
Violent J has been diagnosed with severe skin cancer, and it's looking grim. There have been rumours of Shaggy 2 Dope having lupus, however the closest I could find on that was some gamer chat where a users name was Lupus and another users was Shaggy 2 Dope. There was also a mention of Big Baby Lupus in a Big Money prequel or sequel, but at this point, that's just talk.
Either way, the entire Psychopathic kingdom needs a miracle right now. Especially their king, J. I hope they get it. If not, well...on the upside, J will get to apologize to his butterfly.
Tried seeing if anyone else has covered this topic or not, and the closest I could find was this. So apparently nobody has noticed, or if they have perhaps they're too nervous to broach the subject. I know I am. I'm a 'lettie, I love Psychopathic Records and many of their artists, most notably ICP and Twiztid. They inspired the name of my blog plus my dream of one day making the Dark Carnival a reality. Despite all this, I can't help but feel at times they're a bit brainwashy, and that Joe Bruce (Violent J) and Joey Utsler (Shaggy 2 Dope) contradict their God-loving messages by having Satanic-sounding Madrox and Monoxide (who have songs such as When I Get to Hell) on their label. Again, I love the music that Twiztid creates...but I notice things. Or perhaps I think too deeply into this shit.
It took me years to even call myself a "Juggalette". The title sounds silly and to call oneself a certain name just because you're into a certain bands music, to me, is equally silly (Beliebers, anyone?) Apparently it was the fans who gave themselves the titles, on account of the song The Juggla from the album Carnival of Carnage. The frequent talk of Juggalo's and Juggalette's and varying "follow us" mantras seemed quite brainwashy to me.Yet their humour, funny noises (I have a weakness for funny noises in songs), carnival theme, oddball way of thinking, and underlaying positive messages in many songs (for those not familiar with the band, look up Rebel Flag, Pass Me By, Take Me Home, Hellalujah, Halls of Illusion, Let's Go All the Way, anything off The Wraith: Shangri-La, Miracles...just to name a small few) pulled me in. I like that most of their violent lyrics were directed toward people who cause suffering for others....their Joker Cards and Dark Carnival represent justice in the afterlife. I wasn't one of the many J's disappointed when Thy Unveiling revealed that they were down with the G-O-D (to quote the movie Saved)...my reaction was "Really??? That's the big secret? I figured that out when I first got into them!!" while Juggalo's across the world cried about having been deceived and threatened to turn their backs on J and Shagg's. Those were probably the Juggalo's who give the rest of us a bad reputation, those who nearly killed Tila Tequila despite J's pleas for the crowd to be on their best behaviour before she even hit the stage, who are quick to riot and act like...well, fucking idiots.
True, ICP has some songs that are purely entertainment and don't seem to hold any message other than, well, as one title states quite clearly: Fuck the World. Another being I Don't Care. Which are probably songs that Juggalos like the one above identify with all too easily.
At this present moment in time, surrounded by distractions (a very demanding and annoying pregnant cat, and a sister watching brain-sucking South Park), I can't recall the lyrics or songs that 11 years ago I felt were washing brains, however now educated on conspirational behaviours I notice other things I previously thought nothing of.
On their first Jokers Card; the Carnival of Carnage, they recorded a song called Wizard of the Hood. The story of the song is exactly as it indicates. Years later, Violent J (Joe Bruce) released his first solo album bearing the same name. Each track of the album portrays another "chapter" (for lack of a better word) of his trip through Oz. It's a brilliant written and imaginative cd, featuring Monoxide as The Scarecrow, Jamie Madrox as the Tin Man, Blaze as the Lion, ABK, and Shaggy 2 Dope as The Wiz. There are two bonus tracks, one of them entitled Multiple Myselves where J and his various personalities pour their heart(s?) out.
ICP has constant mentions of the number 17. They explain that when their first album dropped, 17 people bought it the day it was released. On every album, J has a dedication to The Butterfly. In his autobiography Behind the Paint, as well as in the booklet for The Wraith: Shangri-La, Violent J explains. Long story short, when Joe Bruce was seven years old, he and his older brother Rob (Jumpsteady) caught a giant, beautiful butterfly and put it in a jar with holes poked in the lid. It was a hot night, so they pointed a fan into the holes to keep the butterfly comfortable. They had intended to let their new friend go in the morning, but wanted it to spend just one night with them. It broke their hearts when in the morning they discovered their buddy was dead. They were devastated and felt awful for having accidentally killed it. They made a vow to each other that when they made it to Heaven that they would apologize to the butterfly face to face. In the meantime, until he makes it there, J dedicates every album he drops to his butterfly.
I hate that my mind is generally suspicious, because over-all I believe that Violent J is actually an angel born into human form so therefore doesn't realize it. I believe that he has a good heart and is a good man. Perhaps you think I'm stupid, how can a man who portrays himself as a self-described wicked clown and goes by the stage name Violent J be an angel? I can't explain such logistics in a way that make sense to others. If you aren't familiar with his work, how he routinely pours out his heart to his beloved Juggalos, as well as into his work, its unlikely that you'd understand. Although one small example I can give is when he started making awesome money, he bought (or built, I'm not 100% on that detail) an apartment building...for low income people in his hometown of Detroit. Not your typical rap-star move. But J's not your typical rapper.
Perhaps the Oz thing, the butterfly and 17, the black and white face paint, and him and Shags being a duo is just coincidence. They were doing all this before they were briefly signed to Disney-owned Hollywood Records. Plus Insane Clown Posse started as a much larger group, originally called Inner City Posse. Him and Shags were the only two who stuck it out and changed their groups name.
Perhaps its pure coincidence that they later signed on Jamie and Paul (Jamie Madrox and Monoxide Child) who were having issues with their own group, the House of Krazees. Jamie and Paul became Twiztid. Some referred to them as clones of ICP. Twiztid addressed such comments in their song Frankenstein "I'm not a clone, I'm a Frankenstein. Created through the visions of a mastermind. This song, this face, this rhyme is mine, but y'all don't notice."
As J and Shags signed more artists to their Psychopathic Records label and their fanbase grew, their own Juggalo world began to form. Now they have more artists and albums than I can keep up with, as well as their annual Gathering of the Juggalos (which I sadly have yet to attend and it doesn't appear I'll be able to anytime soon)...an epic days-long party with all their artists putting on concerts, as well as other artists performances, autograph signings, dating games, mud wrestling, and other various events such as backyard wrestling. Oh yeah, and they have their own wrestling league, too: Juggalo Championshit (not ship) Wrestling. Brutal, brutal matches. Not for the weak of heart.
Twiztid and ICP are the two biggest, most notable groups off Psychopathic. The contrasts yet similarities between the two duos remind me of the mantra As Above, So Below. ICP rap about Heaven and trying to get there. Twiztid rap about their inevitable trip to Hell and how we should be afraid of them, how we shouldn't want to be like them. Jamie's soul-baring lyrics indicate a deeply depressed individual who feels that his fans don't truly hear what he's trying to tell us...though he is much appreciative of all that he has. Some lyrics from various songs imply that maybe there is more going on behind the scenes than the typical Juggalo would believe...some from Afraid of Me seem, to me, quite telling:
"[Monoxide Child]
Can you keep a secret? Well I'm afraid of the world because they want me to die, can you believe it? But I'm still alive... and been floating since '95 With my chin held high but I'm so dead inside Let the problems just roll and put them back into a pile Because it's just a bunch of shit that I can't deal with right now And I'm tired of always guessing and messing it up again And the next day it's even deeper and I'm steady sinking in
[Jamie Madrox] I took a look at myself and came to grips with what I found It was a vision of a child, disturbed and broke down No soul, no heart because I gave it away No time for feeling sorry, I'll grieve another day And all those tears are stored in storm clouds That hover above me and cover the ugly Continued to haunt me when I was feeling low That's the same reason I hold on and never let go"
Twinning, the number 17, butterflies, Oz, duality, talk of being wizards into black magic and voodoo, claiming to see shit that most of us never see, is it really just for the entertainment factor? Psychopathic Records claims to be the label that run beneath the streets, yet almost everybody by now has heard of at least ICP and Twiztid. You can find ICP merchandise in almost any store that sells band merchandise. Violent J has a son, they call him JJ, who appears to be in preparation to become the head of Psychopathic and all that his father has created when his dad eventually retires, or dies. He's only 7 or 8 years old, yet he's already participated in many a JCW match and has recorded his own music video, Bad Bad Man, under the name of Violent JJ. JJ also has a little sister named Ruby. Violent J and Michelle "Sugar Slam" Rapp, the mother of his two children, had picked out their daughters name before she was even born. Coincidentally, she was born with hair to match her name.
