Album creators deserve pie
in face
 By
Colin Comer
Staff Writer
Gimmick rap has reached a new low.
The Insane Clown Posse, also known as Violent J
and Shaggy 2 Dope, has built its career on shock value and hype. The
metal/rap group’s latest offering is comprised of "Bizzar" and
"Bizaar" — note the clever use of different spellings to distinguish
the two separate albums.
"Bizzar" has an overly dramatic introduction that
attempts to come off as apocalyptic and frightening. And things don't
improve after that. The album, 65 minutes of sounds and not quite music,
is juvenile and insulting. It is not clever, but instead is the musical
equivalent of bathroom humor.
A good rap album combines nicely flowing lyrical
rhymes with razor sharp beats and production work; this album lacks
both. The singles on the album are largely forgettable. Two songs show
potential. The title track serves up immature and somewhat disturbing
lyrics, but the song flows and has a nice rhythm.
The other, "Let’s Go All The Way,"
a remake of the 1986 pop song by Sly Fox, gets into your head and marks
a slight musical departure from the rest of the album. It’s a shame
Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope couldn't come up with this song on their
own.
Unfortunately, as the album progresses, it degenerates
into poor jokes and gross-out humor. On "Let A Killa" Shaggy
and Violent J describe their attempts to coax women into bed. This boastful
and misogynistic song is boring. Again, the Posse attempts to use shock
value as a substitute for musical talent.
Earlier releases such as "The Great Milenko" were
mildly amusing; however, the initial shock of the group's lyrics has
been replaced with indifference.
This album repetitively proclaims that Insane Clown
Posse is keeping it real. There are some problems with this. Insane
Clown Posse was formed, originally as a pseudo-street gang, when a group
of young white men from the suburbs of Detroit began pretending to be
from the inner city.
They called themselves the Inner City Posse and
began rapping and trying to make a name for themselves. Established
gangs in southwest Detroit beat up group members repeatedly. Finally
all of the members except for Shaggy and Violent J decided to call it
quits.
Violent J and Shaggy changed the group's name to
Insane Clown Posse and moved to less confrontational gimmick rap. The
group's demographic appears to be uneducated, misogynistic 14-year-olds
with personality disorders (although I would hope that demographic is
relatively small).
If you find yourself a part of that target market,
then "Bizzar" is definitely the album for you; however, if you are part
of the overwhelming majority which is not included there, save your
money.
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