Insane Clown Posse: Covert Christian Evangelists?

Insane Clown Posse

Before I go any further, let me just say that I’m as surprised as anyone that I’m writing something — anything — about Insane Clown Posse. Their music is about as far removed as you can get from the music that I tend to write about, so the group has been way off my radar. That being said, I find the recent — to me, anyway — revelation that Insane Clown Posse claim to follow God, and that their music was always intended to get their fans to believe in God, to be pretty fascinating.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, last month The Guardian ran an interview with the duo of Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope in which the two talk about their religious beliefs, the backlash against their song “Miracles,” and their personal struggles.

ICP have been going for 20 years, always wearing clown make-up, which looks slightly lumpy because it’s painted over their goatees. They’ve been banned from performing in various cities where juggalos have been implicated in murders and gang violence. ICP have a fearsome reputation, fostered by news reports showing teenagers in juggalo T-shirts arrested for stabbing strangers and lyrics like “Barrels in your mouth/bullets to your head/The back of your neck’s all over the shed/Boomshacka boom chop chop bang.“
All of which made Violent J’s announcement a few years ago really quite astonishing: Insane Clown Posse have this entire time secretly been evangelical Christians. They’ve only been pretending to be brutal and sadistic to trick their fans into believing in God. They released a song, Thy Unveiling, that spelt out the revelation beyond all doubt:
Fuck it, we got to tell.
All secrets will now be told
No more hidden messages
…Truth is we follow GOD!!!
We’ve always been behind him
The carnival is GOD
And may all juggalos find him
We’re not sorry if we tricked you.
The news shook the juggalo community to its core. While some fans claimed they’d actually had an inkling, having deciphered some of the hidden messages in several songs, others said they felt deeply betrayed and outraged: they’d been innocently enjoying all those songs about chopping people up and shooting women, and it was Christian rock?

One is tempted to take any such pronouncements with a certain level of skepticism, given the band’s reputation for ridiculous antics, not to mention their obscene lyrics that celebrate all manner of vile and offensive deeds. It’s difficult to square away a career full of lyrics that seem to revel in murder and misogyny with the Gospel of Christ. Indeed, I wish the article had delved more deeply into that disparity, and had asked the band to give more specifics about their exact beliefs (GetReligion has more such analysis).

But ultimately, what emerges from the Guardian’s article is not an image of two hypocritical Christians who have made a career out of deception. It’s pretty apparent that the duo has some significant misunderstandings of Christian theology, and there’s no use in denying their music’s offensive nature. I’ll admit that when I first came across the article, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to pile on the insults and snark. However, when I got to the final portion of the article, where the duo talks about their struggles with depression and their impoverished past, I could feel only pity for them — and I don’t say that condescendingly.

I suddenly wonder, halfway through our interview, if I am looking at two men in clown make-up who are suffering from depression. I cautiously ask them this and Violent J immediately replies. “I’m medicated,” he says. “I have a lot of medicine that I take. For depression. Panic attacks are really a serious part of my life.” He points at Shaggy. “He’s gone through some things as well.”
“You do a show in front of how many hundreds or thousands of people.” Shaggy nods. “You’re giving your full being, your soul, to every person in that crowd, every pore in your body is sweating, you’re fighting consciousness, just to get it out of you, and after the show all your fans are partying, Yeah! Rock and roll!’ And you’re just here.” He glances around the dressing room. “You’re just fucking sitting here.“
Violent J turns to him and says, softly, “If we moved furniture for a living we’d have a bad back or bad knees. We think for a living. We try to create. We try to constantly think of cool ideas. And every once in a while there’s a breakdown in the engine… I guess that’s the price you pay.“
Shaggy nods quietly. “I get anxiety and shit a lot,” he says. “And reading that stuff people write about us… It hurts.”

If those above statements are sincere, then what we truly have here are a couple of guys who are clearly struggling with a host of issues — e.g., depression, theological ignorance — and it’s taking a toll on them. As such, they don’t need ridicule, regardless of my thoughts on their music. Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope are looking for grace — as we all are — and I hope Christians will see this as an opportunity, not to further mock or be offended by them, but to evangelize them in the truest sense of the word (i.e., “bring good news”) and share with them the grace they so desperately need.

Enjoy reading Opus? Want to support my writing? Become a subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year.
Subscribe Today
Return to the Opus homepage