I’m actually knowing more about the Juggalo phenomena that has been popular in American small towns for more than a decade.  A musician friend recently turned me onto Insane Clown Posse — very much artists in a class by themselves.  Although as vulgar as rap and hip-hop tends to be, with violent content which is mostly down to ICP’s love of horror cinema more than anything, they actually have a much more uplifting and (dare I say) spiritual message than they get credit for.  Especially at a time when today’s hip-hop, and pop music by and large in general, seem mostly about the materialistic and trivial.

Methinks the FBI are seeing gangs under their bed if they think an unusual group like ICP and their colorful fans are such a threat.

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reuters.com
Andrew Chow, JD

The Insane Clown Posse’s FBI lawsuit threat may make the hip-hop duo “nervious” [sic], but they apparently aren’t clowning around.

The potential lawsuit seeks to stop the FBI from “violat[ing] the rights of Juggalos” — which is what ICP fans are called — “on the mistaken belief that they are ‘gang members,'” according to a statement posted on a new website, JuggalosFightBack.com.

The FBI’s 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment report identifies Juggalos as a “hybrid gang” akin to violent groups like the Crips, Bloods, and MS-13, The Village Voice reports. That recently led to a 20-year-old ICP fan being labeled a “gang member.”

The fan, Mark Carlson of New Mexico, was arrested in July on an outstanding warrant. In announcing the “gang member’s” arrest, the U.S. Marshals Service noted Carlson “is a member of the Insane Clown Posse ‘Juggalo’ gang.”

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