It’s hard to believe that for over three decades, the crowd-surfing, stage-diving, face-painted horrorcore hip-hop duo known as Insane Clown Posse is still spraying Faygo on crowds — and proving they’re still relevant. And nothing represents their staying power and unique place in hip-hop culture like their annual “Hallowicked Clown Show,” which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
The show started as nothing more than a Halloween concert because, well, an ICP Halloween concert only made sense.
“It was when we just came out, we were popping and we wanted to make it special by giving out a Halloweeen song on a cassette,” says Joseph Bruce, aka Violent J. “We played at Majestic, sold that bitch out, and gave out 100 cassettes of a song called ‘Dead Pumpkins.’”
“We thought, ‘Let’s do another one, then a third one,’” adds Joseph Utsler, aka Shaggy 2 Dope. “But I don’t think any of us saw 30 years in the future of doing an annual show. Now it’s special to us. It’s one of our annual get-togethers.”
That “Dead Pumpkins” cassette now has an asking price of $300 on eBay. Since then, ICP has grown the Hallowicked Clown Show to include auxiliary events such as wrestling matches and afterparties, and fans — known as juggalos — travel from as far as California, New York, and Florida to attend the festivities. Utsler hesitates in calling it a festival, but admits it has definitely evolved into more than just a concert.
“It was a Detroit show — everybody was from Detroit and the surrounding area,” says Utsler. “Now it’s crazy, because here we are three decades later and if we’re like, ‘What up Detroit?’ from the stage, it’s silent. When people come from out of state like that you just can’t put on a show, you want to put on a full day.”
“It’s a controlled chaos now,” adds Bruce. “Like, back in the day, when we first started doing our shows, nobody knew what the fuck was going on with the Faygo and the madness. Fast forward 30 years and it’s still chaotic, but it’s controlled chaos. The element of danger isn’t really there.”
This year’s show features a cool mix of new and notable mainstay acts. Along with ICP, acts like Merkules, Esham, Ouija Macc, Corey Feldman, Lardi B, and Darby O’Trill are all slated to perform.
“You got people who are just dope like Darby O’Trill, he’s on [Chapter 17 Records] with Ouija,” says Utsler. “He’s a dope ass rapper and we just want to help give him some shine.”
“Also there is a lot of nostalgia for this show, you got guys like Esham who’s nostalgia and is also the shit,” adds Bruce.
After 30 years, there’s bound to be some memorable moments that stick out more than others. Bruce remembers a 1995 show that featured rapper Mystikal, and another show in which the duo made their entrance sporting freshly shaved heads. “It was pretty shocking,” Bruce says.
Utsler also recalls a pair of back-to-back shows the pair had on Halloweeen at Toledo’s Asylum in the late ’90s that caused them to miss Hallowicked. The first show was oversold by 1,000 tickets, which created an auditorium of wall-to-wall fans — perfect for Bruce’s plunges into the crowd. But the fire marshal showed up at the second show to make sure the venue closed the doors once it reached capacity.
“J had went to the top of the speaker and did a moonsault, only this time the crowd parted and he landed on his shoulder and his head,” Utsler says. “He snapped his collarbone, so he got took out of there. That was the night the saying ‘The wicked clowns would never die’ was born, because he was knocked the fuck out unconscious on the floor. … I had seen him from the stage, I had jumped down there to see if he was alright, and I believe I yelled that from the floor on the mic.”
ICP has released 16 albums and have contributed to another two dozen compilation albums and EPs on their Psychopathic Records imprint. They persevered being bashed by critics, through the transition of physical sales to streams, and the pandemic, which completely halted touring. Both Bruce and Utsler credit the affection of the juggalos as to what’s kept them going.
“People still look down on juggalos so fucking hard, and that just breaks my heart,” says Utsler. In a 2011 report, the U.S. Department of Justice classified juggalos as a “loosely-organized hybrid gang,” a charge ICP vehemently denies. In 2014, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of ICP, arguing the DOJ designation was drawn from a few isolated criminal incidents. But in 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the designation couldn’t be challenged in court.
“A lot of juggalos are from bad areas, broken homes, and shitty lives and whatnot,” Utsler adds. “But that don’t make them any less a person than anyone else.”
“The passion of the fans, it means so much,” says Bruce. “Juggalos are very very passionate and that has a lot to do with our longevity.”
Another layer to the group’s longevity has been the recent surge in interest in hip-hop acts from yesteryear. The various celebratory events related to hip-hop’s 50th anniversary has generated large amounts of attention into the contributions of legacy hip-hop artists. Both Bruce and Utsler have both settled into elder statesman roles, but hope the interest will continue so hip-hop acts can tour into their 70s like their rock ’n’ roll counterparts Mick Jagger and Steven Tyler.
“You got these old-school motherfuckers selling out stadiums,” Utsler says. “And it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life because not that long ago if you were from the ’90s or the early ’80s, you were considered washed up and old and thrown to the side and struggling.”
This past August, the group found themselves a topic of pop culture when rap megastar Drake posted a selfie on his Instagram story wearing an ICP jersey with artwork from their second album, 1994’s Ringmaster. Drake never commented on the jersey, reached out to ICP, or even tagged them in the story. It was simply a cool social media moment that the duo was delighted to be a part of.
“I thought that was cool, I know he’s not young young, but a younger generation artist showing love like that, I thought it was pretty cool, man,” Utsler says. “He probably just thought the jersey was cool, took a picture, and everybody ran wild with it.”
ICP has no plans on slowing down. Utsler has embraced more content creation via his “Shaggy Show” videos on YouTube and Twitch. Both promise the release of more music, and the “Hallowicked Clown Show” will keep going as long as they’re physically able to facilitate it.
“We gotta finish our legacy, we got six more albums to do and then we’ll be done,” Bruce says confidently. “We’re going to keep doing this as long as we can.”
“We’re going to get older and crustier,” Utsler adds through a laugh. “We’ll probably be on our third clone, robotic spines, hooked up to IVs, but we’ll still be up there doing it! We’ll be on the speaker rack in a wheelchair and walking sticks still trying to jump off them hoes!”
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