studying the icp canon, song by song

[juggalostudies]

Track 16: I’m Coming Home.

I straight-up love the production on this one. After some research, I see that it’s based on a sample of a Hot Chocolate song, which shows good-ass taste on someone’s part (J? Mike E. Clark?).

There haven’t been many tracks in the ICP catalog so far that I’ve actively wanted to revisit, but this is a definite addition to that list. An excellent way to get me back into things at the end of a long (and honestly pretty exhausting) album.

·

This wraps up Riddle Box, at long last. Up next: The Tunnel of Love EP.

[juggalostudies]

Track 15: The Killing Fields.

This song reminds me of Wang’s descriptions of the many different Hells the Chinese have in Big Trouble in Little China. Anything that reminds me of that movie is gonna score at least a couple points with me.

[juggalostudies]

Track 14: 12.

Another mostly-forgettable Wicked Shit song, in which a condemned man’s ghosts tracks down and kills all the jurors that put him to death.

As far as I can tell this is meant to be an anti-death-penalty song, but it goes on for a bit too long in a “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” way, slowly draining most of the potency of its intended moral.

[juggalostudies]

Track 13: Ol’ Evil Eye.

Wearing its influences on its sleeve, this song starts off with a reading from The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, which I can’t say I dislike.

The song itself kinda falls flat though, hoping to lay out a more detailed or gory version of the original story but mostly coming off as overwrought and lame. I’d forgive it if the production were a bit better, but the songs feels mostly forgettable to me.

[juggalostudies]

Track 12: Lil’ Somthin’ Somthin’.

The vibe of this song seems to foreshadow “Juggalo Island” quite a bit--a sing-songy chorus evoking a laid-back kinda feeling. 

Something about this song weirds me out though--maybe I’m just not used to Violent J singing..? It feels like a bit like a horny, desperate dude begging someone for sex or a creepy okcupid message being sent knowingly to a completely uninterested woman for kicks.

Once again attempting to shrug off all the casual misogyny and objectification, I like Shaggy’s bars way more than J’s. Something about his tone always seems to win me over / sell the comedic angle more so than the sinister.

[juggalostudies]

Track 11: Dead Body Man.

The same thing as what’s on the Terror Wheel EP, but with a little intro skit tacked on. 

[juggalostudies]

Track 10: The Joker's Wild.

A game show where people get punished for their wicked ways--namely: a policeman, a judge, and a hillbilly.

This song kinda foreshadows the concept of Bang! Pow! Boom! in its "hey come on down and win a prize JUST KIDDING the prize is you're dead" idea.

I find the jaunty intro music really fun, but the actual backing track for the verses is way less interesting. I also really dig the goofy Faygo jingle during the "commercial break."

[juggalostudies]

Track 9: Headless Boogie.

This song makes me think of the weird-ass anthology horror movie The Monster Club.

I really like the chorus on this one; it's fun in an old-school party rap kinda way. The Kurt Cobain reference is timely but tasteless, and altogether unsurprising.

The synthesizer in the chorus also gives me a Residents vibe.

[juggalostudies]

Track 8: 3 Rings.

The carnival barker is back, this time to welcome you to a freak show! And then shame you horribly for laughing, because these are real people with feelings and you're a monster.

Shaggy proves once more to be my favorite of the two, with his "never had a nutsack" verse making me chuckle more than anything else on this record has so far.

Mostly this song just makes me want to revisit Freaks or Geek Love.

[juggalostudies]

Track 7: Cemetery Girl.

I really enjoy the "f'koof!" skits that sandwich this track. In fact I like them way more than I like the song itself, sadly. It's basically just an unimpressive slow-jam with a pretty stilted meter (again: is this what Juggalos have sex to?).

Oh and it's about necrophilia, and how non-necrophiliacs just don't understand, man. This could be a funny premise, but mostly it comes off as legitimately creepy and less-than-entertaining. Perhaps that's the point; I never know just how much we're meant to relate to the characters in these songs.

One other thing: 1985? That must be one verrrrry well preserved (more than just a) corpse.

[juggalostudies]

Track 6: Toy Box.

J creates toys that kill and unleashes them on classmates, but in the end they turn on him. Definitely a pre-Columbine kinda song.

This track seems like one of their "moral tales wrapped up in amusingly-violent imagery" that they came to discuss in 'Thy Unveiling' years later. It isn't the most creative thing in the world, but kinda comes off like a story in an old EC Comic, which is cool enough I suppose. I hate the guy in the little skit at the beginning though, he creeps me out. Which I guess is the point.

The beat goes on for way too long at the end; I hope that's something they eventually stop doing.

[juggalostudies]

Track 5: Interview.

Another skit. A goofy-sounding talk show host asks the guys really boring/obvious questions and receives vulgar noises in return.

I'm someone who's glad as hell that skits have (for the most part) disappeared from hiphop, so stuff like this gets on my nerves usually instead of entertaining me. This one's okay though, if only because I like the voice they give the interviewer.

[juggalostudies]

Track 4: Chicken Huntin' (Slaughter House Mix).

One of the better songs from Ringmaster, but this time with a new skit for the intro and an inferior, "omg GUITARS" backing track. I liked the original enough to say that it's the one I'll listen to if I ever wanna revisit this song.

Why is this on an album proper instead of just being a B-side somewhere? More filler as far as I'm concerned. Show me some protein, guys.

[juggalostudies]

Track 3: The Show Must Go On.

I like how on this record so far the songs seem to all flow into one another seamlessly.

There's foreshadowing about how some shit's gonna go down after three more Joker's Cards drop, a fun/goofy "I can make my ballsack bob like a yo-yo" line from Shaggy, and some of J's most boring bars ever during the whole gang/wang/bang part. 

This track just feels like filler to me.

[juggalostudies]

Track 2: Riddle Box.

It's Judgement Day once again, Dark Carnival style. It's time to step up, turn the crank and find out your fate, sinner.

It doesn't seem so much as Heaven-or-Hell question though, since J implies in the song that you need to fuck your life up pretty badly to even encounter this box and its crank--the Ringmaster has already made that call, if I'm following correctly. It's time to find out just how you'll suffer (expanding on the whole concept of the Terror Wheel EP).

The backing track is basically just "It's Coming" minus the backmasked profanity. Still listenable enough, and seems to stand in place of the past two albums' mostly-instrumental titular tracks.

[juggalostudies]

Track 1: Intro.

A quick introductory skit. People die in a car crash, and are met by another carnival barker type character, insisting they wind up a jack-in-the-box that will decide their fate. The explosion sound effect as the last note of "Pop Goes the Weasel" lets us know that there'll be something sinister indeed in store for them.

Brief, clean, effective. Nothing thrilling, but as useful a story-framing intro track as any.

[juggalostudies]

If you look on jayyoudoublegeeaelleoh for juggalo studies tag, I posted the riddlebox booklet text a while ago. Also, I wanted to ask if you plan on watching shockumentary, jcw, or the big money movies?

Nice! I will definitely look for it before I start writing about the LP. Also, I've seen Rustlas but not Hustlas, as well as A Family Underground, but nothing else just yet. Where should I start with JCW stuff?