Insane Clown Posse's Incomprehensible 'Miracles' Video, Explained
Wondering why Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, the clown-faced gentlemen who comprise "The Insane Clown Posse" are rapping about "miracles" like the Niagara falls, pyramids, and "fuckin' magnets" in their odd, internet-famous new video? Wonder no more!
If you aren't from the Midwest, Insane Clown Posse and its fans—"Juggalos"—probably seem like some kind of hilarious practical joke Michigan is playing on itself. If you are from the Midwest, ICP fandom is what a third of your graduating class decided to do after high school. Either way, unless you are "down with the clown" (a fan of the Insane Clown Posse), their most recent single, "Miracles," may have seemed a little, uh, out of character:
From the group that brought you "I Stab People" and its follow-up, the creatively-titled "Still Stabbing" comes a track about... long-necked giraffes? Actually, "Miracles" makes perfect sense in the context of ICP's decades-long conceptual art project "The Dark Carnival." Yes, conceptual art project, you philistines.
See, almost all of ICP's albums revolve around this thing called The Dark Carnival, a limbo-like zone where dead souls are sent to await judgment (the concept came to Joseph Bruce—aka Violent J—in a dream). There are six aspects of the Dark Carnival, called Joker's Cards, that are successively revealed via ICP concept albums, and the final Joker's Card reveals the "true nature" of the Dark Carnival.
Well, ICP turned over the last Joker's Card ("The Wraith") in 2004. And it turned out that, uh, the Dark Carnival... is God:
It ain't about Violent J or Shaggy, the Butterfly or 17. When we speak of 'Shangri-La', what you think we mean? Truth is we follow GOD, and have always been behind him. The Carnival is GOD and may all Juggalos find him!"
So where do you go from there? Well, once you've revealed to your fans that the creepy gothic mythology you've spent 12 years developing is just, you know, Christianity with clown makeup and faygo, basically all you're left with is praise songs. Hence:
Water, fire, air and dirt
Fucking magnets, how do they work?
And I don't wanna talk to a scientist
Y'all motherfuckers lying, and getting me pissed.
Preach on, Shaggy 2 Dope! By the way, magnets work like this.