Review Summary: “The Ghettos of America Are Breeding Grounds For The Criminal Minded, As For Years They Have Killed Each Other Off, And America Has Enjoyed Its Creation. But Now These Ghetto Minded Criminals Have Crossed The Line Into Your Neighborhood, And Will Soon G
The IDEA of ‘Insane Clown Posse’ is very promising. A rap group whose music centers on dark themes, mass murder, and a demented carnival sounds like it could really work. Consider my expectations high. This particular album focuses on the ‘carnival of carnage’, a traveling carnival that’s a metaphor for the scenario of a ‘ghetto uprising’; the propaganda that encourages the ‘ghetto minded criminals’ in the slums of the US to stop killing each other, and instead kill the rich, upper class suburban folk who have thrust them into these conditions. Also, a very promising idea for a concept album. Consider my expectations raised.
So, does the album live up to these expectations? Well…no. That’s not to say the album doesn’t have its moments; I honestly enjoy some songs, and the theme’s potentials are somewhat realized. After a vocal introduction to the ‘carnival of carnage’, the album dives into a track with same name. This track is actually an oddity on the album, a 2 ½ minute song with no rapping at all, instead the beat and disc scratches hold the song while a voice repeats ‘carnival of carnage’ again and again. I thought this was a really odd way to start off the album, with a song that sounds nothing like any other on the album. Besides this, the track just isn’t all that good; it’s basically just a twenty second loop repeated until its song length. ‘The Juggla’ gives you your first real taste of Insane Clown Posse, and this song works mostly because of some relatively good rapping and periodic changes to a carnival sound setting. This really works with the concept. So can the rest of the album hold up as well? Unfortunately, no. Let’s look at some reasons why.
Insane Clown Posse are not gentlemen. And that’s fine, to an extent. But there are parts of this album that I can’t think of any better word to describe these sections as then ‘disgusting’. ICP takes misogyny to a whole new level. Two of my favorite artists are Eminem and Hollywood Undead; both of them take heat for this same criticism. But it always seems like they’re joking, or it’s at least there’s emotion behind their lyrics. But here, it just seems wrong and immature. Here are two of the hooks from this album; “Bitchy Bitchy Hoe. You ***ing Freaky Hoe.” “Bitch, You’s a Hoe. And Hoe You’s A Bitch. Everybody Knows That You’s A Funky Bitch.” The latter is from a song called ‘Red Neck Hoe’. This song (as well as track ‘Your Rebel Flag’) are entire tracks dedicated to patronizing and insulting southerners. Supposedly, these tracks were made because of the group’s ‘anti-bigotry’ philosophy; rapper Violent J witnessed firsthand the racism that occurs on the lower half of the country, and found it revolting. This philosophy is obviously a good one, but used here, it’s laughable. Insane Clown Posse fails to realize bigotry is a prejudicial hatred towards any group of people, and as mentioned before, their hatred towards woman is a running theme throughout the album. In fact, this very song is equally about bashing this girl cause of her ‘red neck’, and slinging names at her, like ‘nasty slut’. There’s also a line targeting gays: “Just Found out Your Son Is a Faggot. Dick Sucking, Butt ***ing, Homo Man.” What was that, ICP? Anti-bigotry philosophy?
There are a few other problems with this album as well. Insane Clown Posse gets s**t because people say they suck as rappers; and I have to admit, it’s kind of true. Their rhymes are simple, their lyrics are uninspired and frequently immature, and they usually have little flow. In some cases, rapping skill doesn’t matter that much; Hollywood Undead aren’t the best rappers, but it doesn’t really matter cause their music’s so good. But here, a lot of the time it’s just painfully obvious. They also drive their themes into the ground; I didn’t count, but I’m pretty sure the phrase ‘take your life’ is used upwards of twenty times. I’m all for songs about mass murder, but at the very least be creative. ‘Carnival of Carnage’ becomes very redundant as it goes along. There are numerous ‘skits’ throughout the album, but almost all of them boil down to 2 Dope being calm and normal, than exploding with shouts and obscenities. It seems like a really low attempt at being funny.
At this point the album probably sounds terrible. But it’s not terrible; some of the tracks are actually really good. The song ‘Wizard of the Hood’ is a twisted take on the classic movie, where Oz is replaced with the ghetto. This song has a great, original sounding beat, and a chorus that, even though it’s just heavy bass with a few lines, is actually really catchy. Plus, this song is genuinely funny (the part where they shoot up Dorothy is just overkill, however). Night of the Axe follows one man as he goes on a killing spree, hacking up everything from a Mexican restaurant to a family of five. The song is fun, and the rapping is pretty good for ICP. ‘Night of the Axe’ is followed by ‘Psychopathic’, hands down my favorite on the album. The beat is just f*cking awesome, and the rapping is actually GOOD. I think this is the only song on the album that I would point to as an actually good RAP song, by any standard.
I have very mixed emotions about Insane Clown Posse’s debut album. It can be fun to listen to, and the theme the album is names for works rather well when they use it (maybe four or five songs). But ICP’s immaturity and sloppy rapping style hold the album back from reaching the potential it could have.
