In defense of Juggalos
You may or may not have heard that the FBI has listed “juggalos” as a gang on lines of “excessive violence and drug dealing” and allies tied to, but not necessarily limited to the Bloods, the Crips, Latin Kings, and the Aryan Nation. Yes, the juggalos are on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s crime watch. I find it interesting that this gang associates with neo-Nazis and inner city black gangs simultaneously, so why don’t we explore juggalos more?
Those of you unfamiliar with the term “juggalo,” it is used to describe the diehard fanbase of the horrorcore hip-hop duo, Insane Clown Posse. Similar to Deadheads, the group of people who are avid fans of the Grateful Dead, Juggalos are a collective group of music fans with the same common interest. Every August in the town of Thornville, Ohio, thousands upon thousands of Juggalos congregate in this town of 991 to watch their favorite group, as well as many other musicians of similar style, and to partake in other festivities that include hatchet throwing contests, mud wrestling, wet T-Shirt contests, carnival rides, and the usual drinking of beers.
So, who is Insane Clown Posse, and why are they so nefarious?
The group, based out of Detroit, was formed in 1989 by teenagers Joseph Bruce (aka Violent J) and Joseph Ustler (Shaggy 2 Dope). The two men don evil cloud makeup (think Tim Curry in It) for their album artwork and elaborate live performances, and perform a style of hip-hop known as “horrorcore.” Horrorcore is exactly what it sounds like — hip-hop based on gore and horror films. From there, Bruce and Ustler formed the independent record label, Psychopathic Records, signing other Detroit-based musicians with a similar music style including Twizted, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, and Jumpsteady. Also noted is that many of these Psychopathic Records artists, including ICP themselves, are professional wrestlers, and have been spotlighted on ECW, WCW, even making a rare appearances on WWE.
Although ICP and related artists will probably never receive airplay on mainstream radio station or crack the Billboard top 40, they do have a loyal cult following. Their fans, known as “juggalos,” have a fairly recognizable subculture, which includes:
- Drinking and Spraying the cheap, Midwest-based soda, Faygo.
- Wearing facepaint, or corpse paint.
- Wearing clothing with “Hatchetman:” the logo for Psychopathic Records
- Shouting “whoop-whoop” at each other.
Have to admit, it does sound very frightening, and on the surface, it may seem like the FBI is right that this is a notorious barrage of criminals. But are they really that bad? Yes, Insane Clown Posse concerts are known to get wild and fights often break out, leading to arrests. Yes, drugs are sometimes distributed amongst concert-goers. I’m not an Insane Clown Posse fan, in fact I find their music too ridiculous for words to describe. However, I have been to well over twenty concerts and music festivals within my lifetime, and I have seen fights break out and I have seen people use drugs. I once went to a George Clinton concert and saw two guys throw fists at each other after inhaling a joint.
This must mean that music fans in general are a gang, that is if juggalo subculture is what the FBI considers gang activity. According to the National Gang Intelligence Center, somewhere between 85 to 90% of juggalos are peaceful, non-violent music fans, so yes there is a minority, specifically 10 to 15%, who are affiliated with gang activities that include extortion, burglary, and drug trafficking. At this rate, the FBI might as well consider Deadheads a gang, because you know that a lot of marijuana has been sold at Grateful Dead concerts within the last fifty years.
The Wu-Tang Clan is very popular amongst inner city African-American gangs. I’m a white boy from the suburbs who listens to the Wu-Tang Clan, does that make me part of the Bloods gang? Rammstein is very popular amongst neo-Nazi gangs in Europe. I’m a bleeding heart liberal from American who listens to Rammstein, does that make me a part of the Aryan Nation? Okay, some fans of Insane Clown Posse are involved with gang activity, yes, they just happen to be gang member that listen to Insane Clown Posse.
Bruce and Ustler have both stated in interviews that they came from severe poverty and broken homes in inner-city Detroit. Statistically, there are a good number of fans of Insane Clown Posse who also came from such broken homes. I don’t think too many prep school students have downloaded a copy of The Great Milenko on their iPhone 6s’. I knew a few juggalos when I was in high school, and they lived in single and/or absent parent homes on government assistance, and came off as angry. One juggalo I knew back then, I remember he had to move to Indiana at the end of tenth grade, because his father was serving jail time at a Maximum Security Prison and the family wanted to be closer to visitation rights. Sociologists would say that their anger is stemmed from living in such conditions, and that’s the demographic Psychopathic Records caters to, because those musicians know far too well what it’s like when few do.
There’s only one Insane Clown Posse song I really like a lot called “The Hall of Illusions.” The lyrics are inflammatory remarks towards an abusive alcoholic father, and how his negative behavior has completely destroyed his children’s future. The subsequent music video is set in an old haunted funhouse attraction, where a deadbeat dad is shown the reality of his children’s lifestyles (drug addicted, molested, broke, etc.) as opposed to what it would be like if he wasn’t such a horrible parent.
Albeit, if Insane Clown Posse had more songs like this, I may be tempted to buy their records, because I love this kind of allegory in music, but when you examine the turbulent childhoods ICP’s fanbase have had to suffer, this is a great testament.
I subscribe to a YouTube channel, “The Documentary Network.” They uploaded a thirty minute video called “American Juggalo,” which documents that Gathering of the Juggalos festival held in August. Throughout this documentary, a key word struck out — family. Every juggalo interview used that word excessively. Bruce and Ustler make great use out of “family.” From what I gathered, the Gathering of the Juggalos is a great, big family of individuals who loves horrorcore music. Family is how they describe each other. By the testament of many juggalos interviewed, this family is kinder and more loving than their own biological families.
The inner city gang recruitment process involves targeting young people who come from broken homes. Gangs start out in the poorest neighborhoods in the world. Gang leaders seduce young recruits into their lifestyle by pretending to be that father figure they never had. Gang lifestyle often promises that the gang member will be able to get out of such poverty, and it’s the only way how. Insane Clown Posse fans often grow up in this lifestyle, so I guess I can somewhat see why juggalos are monitored by the FBI, but they’re mostly just music fans who do not wrong — just appear very weird to mainstream society.
If there is one thing that you can say positively about Insane Clown Posse, it’s that they know how well to treat their fans. In January 2015, they put on a concert in their hometown of Detroit. The cost of admission? At least one canned food item. This was meant to be a benefit concert to support the many impoverished families living in the same horrible neighborhods where Bruce and Ustler were raised. I don’t see too many “gang musicians” taking no money for their fans, accepting only canned foods to distribute charitably.
Your typical juggalo may be a complete social misfit, but gang members they are not. There is an exceptional few who do participate in criminal activity, but I have a gut feeling your typical run-of-the-mill juggalo would never consider those few “family.” ICP also put on a charity tour this fall, with all proceeds to benefit childhood cancer research. Will their music and fanbase terrify average Americans? Probably yes, but I don’t know too many average Americans doing this much to benefit those living in poverty.
I’m not a juggalo by any standard of the definition, but I find that fan base to be nothing more than horribly misunderstood. I may not like Psychopathic Records music, but I can’t fault anyone for liking it.