Early this afternoon, we got a SURPRISE edition of the Hatchet Herald, and it’s chock full of crazy amounts of news!  There’s everything from vinyl releases that we should be expecting to Psychopathic signing a new in-house engineer, to Psychopathic’s newest artist!!  Here’s the official rundown.

Subjects that are covered in this edition include:

• A Carnival Christmas EP on Vinyl
• JuggaloMarch.com will go LIVE on January 1st
• New Infomercial will drop on January 1st covering what’s in store for 2017
• The Gathering of the Juggalos to take place on the West Coast
• New Blahzay Roze video for “White Lights” coming soon!
• “If We Were A Gang” Psypher is coming
• Tunnel Of Love EP with both covers available on Vinyl on February 3rd
• Dark Lotus “Tales From The Lotus Pod” will be available at Juggalo Day on Vinyl
• Double Disc of Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope’s Favorite ICP Rarities coming soon
• Str8Jaket is now Psychopathic’s In-House engineer
• Psychopathic has officially signed a NEW ARTIST!

Now, here’s the entire November 17th edition of the Hatchet Herald straight from HatchetHerald.com:

Juggalo brothers and sisters, what the fuck is UUUUUUPPP!!??  Ready for a looooong ass Hatchet Herald???  ‘Cause we got one for that ass!  All unexpected like, too!

This is your pal J-Webb coming at you with this new fresh ass Hatchet Herald a lil’ earlier than usual. We’re supposed to do these every other Friday but the thing is, as any writer can tell you, when the magic of positive inspiration strikes, you grab hold of it and squeeze it until every drop of karma and creative light within you gets splattered on that page.

Like many ninjas around here I’m not a man that follows any particular organized religion, but I remember that Bible verse from when I was a kid that said “My cup runneth over with joy.” That’s how I feel right now because I’m looking ahead at next year—2017 and I’m just fucking glowing about how much flavor awaits the Juggalo family. 2017. Man, this is only year of our lives that will include that sacred Dark Carnival number 17. And I don’t about you, but I can feel the magic and I see those brightly lit storm clouds accumulating in the distance that’s going to bring a sparkling storm, nay, a shimmering HURRICANE, of diamond rain. And together, we are all going to bask in the illuminated glory.

So let me just school you with an update on some of the flavor that’s coming up (just a smidgen of the flavor) as we transition from 2016 to the ultimate Year of the Juggalo…2017.

First and foremost on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), record stores everywhere will be stocking the fresh, ultra collectible 7” vinyl reissue of the old school, original version of ICP’s iconic EP “A Carnival Christmas,” which has never before been released nationwide in any form.This 4-track dope wax includes 4 Yuletide songs that are guaranteed to raise your holiday spirits weather Santa thinks you’ve been good or not. You won’t give a fuck what Santa thinks. When you’re at your aunt’s holiday party this season, spike the eggnog with some Faygo, put on this record and watch her turn into a senior citizen Juggalo party animal! Merry fucking Christmas INDEED! “A Carnival Christmas” comes out the day after Thanksgiving in fine record stores, and is available on Hatchet Gear, and of course you can just scoop your copy from us in person at the Big Ballas Christmas Party on December 17 at Pop’s in Sauget, IL!  And may The Great Creator above us bless us all! Everyone, mother facko!!

As we make the official switch from 2016 to the magical, unbelievable year of 2017, Psychopathic is going to be dropping some New Year’s flavor that will flip yo clowny wig. First of all, the official website of the Juggalo March will be going LIVE on www.juggalomarch.com.It provides all the basic information as to why we are asking the Juggalo Fam to join us at the National Mall by the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, September 16, 2017 (hint: Watch “Forrest Gump” sometime soon and the spot where Forrest and Abbie Hoffman—the dude in the American flag jacket—give speeches on the Vietnam war?That’s where the march kicks off). The Website will also reveal who we’ve asked to perform for free at the two bombastic concerts at The Jiffy Lube Ampitheatre, as well as who has so far accepted!

But also on January 1, Psychopathic is dropping a fresh new infomercial that you ARE NOT expecting. For real. Starring the entire Psychopathic Family roster, we’ve never done an infomercial like the one you are about to see this New Year’s Day. The ENTIRE Hatchet Roster will all be delivering a timely and important message that ALL Juggalos need to hear as we enter this new year/new age of the Juggalo family. In 2017 we intend to inspire Juggalos to change there lives for the better! Juggalos. This is THE YEAR! The year that all of us need to make our lives—and each other’s lives—great. Better than they ever have been. It’s time to do what Michael Jackson advised us to do back in 1987, and take a good look at the Man in the Mirror (or woman), “take a look at yourself and make a change.” I already know what I’m doing to make MY change. This isn’t easy for me to admit—at all—but all change requires bravery. In 2017, I am going to seek the helpful therapy that I need for my Borderline Personality Disorder, which I’ve wrestled with my entire life. This still-misunderstood form of mental illness basically makes you act like Jeckyl and Hyde and go through mood swings that can literally switch in seconds. If I’m going to partake in the magic that 2017 offers, I have to get emotionally right, healthy, and I have to be strong. No one asks to be cursed with a mental illness, or any Illness, or any thing about yourself that causes you unhappiness… but the way I say it, either I can wrestle that bitch to the ground and take control of it, and pound it’s fuckin’ head in, stomp the life out of it, and bury it dead forever…or I just continue to let it control me. Let the shine of 2017 empower us all to make the changes we need to in order to shine hard and be fully happy about ourselves and our lives. You get out of this life what you put into it. And it’s time to start putting in the necessary work to make whatever changes need to be made to find your personal happiness. 2017 is our year, and let the fresh ass results of the changes we make to better ourselves in the year of 2017 last for the rest of our lives.

I’m taking control of my life, Juggalos, and if you’re in the throes of addiction, an unhealthy relationship, an untreated mental or physical illness, a job or career that you hate, whatever is bringing you down, its time to KILL IT DEAD.

Let us unite at the historical first ever West Coast Gathering of the Juggalos which promises to be extremely epic and entirely unpredictable. It will be the ultimate adventure! The Hatchet is fearless! After 17 years, it’s finally the Juggalos on the West Coast’s turn for the Gathering to be held on their side of the country! Let’s all come together and fuckin’ beam out a karmic blast that will out shine the sun itself!!

Also they call us a movement? Well then let’s MOVE! We need to truly do this. We need to tell the country that we’re not a fuckin’ gang, we’re a FAMILY!  If we don’t come together and march to show that we are NOT OK with that lingering fuckin’ gang label that has caused so many bones for so many of us, than we might as well be a stupid ass gang. WE HAVE TO SHOW THEM OUR STRENGTH! If this music has saved your life, if it has helped you through hard times, then stand up for it publicly! Because we need you there! Juggalos, please promise each other that we will enter 2017—the Year the Juggalos—with the goal to Take Back Our Name with the Juggalo March on Washington, DC — with renewed spirits, karma, love for one another, and most of all…unity. This is OUR year. Let’s kick the ass of those demons that we wrestle with and powerbomb those motherfuckers into a pile of thumbtacks that would make Cactus Sac flash his famous toothless smile.

ARE YOU WITH ME!? Good! Now let’s talk about what else we can look forward to as we transition to this new year.

OH! Before I forget! This past weekend, we shot a fucking BOMB ASS video for Blahzay Roze’s song “White Lights,” which deals very explicitly with domestic abuse. I was talking to Jumpsteady this morning about the shoot and he said it was just flat out UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE!! And Violent J told me that he literally felt the presence of God at that video shoot. There was just some kind of higher force hovering over the video shoot this past weekend that ensures that this video is going to reach—and resonate—with a lot of people. As a Juggalo (I will always be a Juggalo first and a Psychopathic employee second), I can’t WAIT to see this shit! So stay tuned because that video should be dropping on our YouTube channel very soon!

And the video content at Psychopathic just keeps fucking COMING! We’re actively making the necessary moves to shoot a fresh ass new year Hatchet Family Psypher with the ENTIRE Psychopathic roster that will drop in the first month of January. The title of the Psypher will be called…”If We Were a Gang.” I can’t think of a better theme for entering 2017 than a song like that. Since 2017 is the year we stop waiting for the goddamn legal system to provide justice for Juggalos. Enough of this court case shit; Judges have thrown out our case three times. Well, fuck that, we will be heard! We’re going to Washington, D.C. to get in the FBI’s face. And a Hatchet Psypher called “If We Were a Gang” sounds like a dope ass anthem for this historic event in not only Juggalo history but also in all of America’s music history.

I touched on this briefly above but I want to talk about my passion project; the thing that gives me unlimited karma—Psychopathic’s vinyl releases! I’m not one of those obsessive vinyl collectors that has dozens of milk crates filled with LPs—that’s Shaggy 2 Dope—but I do collect those albums that have truly touched my life and have come to be like old friends to me. In my wax stack, you’ll find stuff ranging from the Beach Boys “Pet Sounds,” to Skip Spence’s “Oar,” to an original pressing of Schoolly D’s OG classic “Smoke Some Kill.” And now I get to be project manager on the Psychopathic wicked shit that changed my life years ago!

First, on Feb 3, we’re releasing the remastered 180-gram picture disc version of the classic ICP EP “Tunnel of Love”… on VINYL!!!  We chose this title and date because what could be more perfect for Valentine’s Day?! We’re also releasing an ultra limited edition of the notorious XXX-version of “Tunnel of Love”… on VINYL, which will only be available at concerts, Hatchet Gear, and behind the counter at some of our braver independent record stores. This is going to be a LIMITED edition and when we say limited we mean exactly that! Don’t count on this piece of pornographic paradise ever being repressed!

Juggalo collectors of vinyl are probably passing out right now! Only to wake up and pass out again! Who would of ever thought the “Tunnel of Love” EP would ever be out on vinyl? And also the XXX version? Fuck I’m about to pass ou—-

Remember in the last Hatchet Herald when I alluded that there would be a super rare collectable ONLY available at Juggalo Weekend 2017 in February? Well, why the fuck not—I’m going to drop that flavor on you right now….

As you know the headliner for the second night of Juggalo Weekend is Dark Lotus performing their legendary and spooky-as-fuck, debut album “Tales From the Lotus Pod” in it’s entirety for the first and only time ever. For sale at the merch stand that weekend—and LIMITED TO ONLY 500 NUMBERED COPIES—is the first ever vinyl pressing of that Juggalo classic album!!! That’s right “Tales From The Lotus Pod” on vinyl!!! This big ass, bad, motherfucker is a 180-gram, double LP. These 500 special collectors edition versions will come with a commemorative Juggalo Weekend 2017 sticker on the front and each copy will be individually numbered. Again, only 500 will be sold, making this an INSTANT collector’s piece! A little over a month later, towards the end of March, the retail vinyl version of “Tales From the Lotus Pod” will be released in stores nationwide. But if you want that ULTRA-RARE, one time only Juggalo Weekend edition…You’ll have to just be crazy enough to actually be there in Florida in February and scoop that bitch up!

In one more dope ass piece of vinyl related news… speaking of songs you never ever in your wildest dreams thought would be pressed on vinyl, I was talking to Violent J this morning and he told me Psychopathic’s just confirmed plans for a double-disc record album of Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope’s all-time favorite rare tracks, pressed on high quality wax for the first time ever. One disc will have J’s favorite ICP rarities, the other will have Shaggy personal picks – and this special, personally selected collection of songs will ONLY be available on vinyl LP. We’re talking about songs like “Wicked Rappers Delight,” “Pull Your Panties to the Side,” “Fuck My Dad” all the rarest shit that true, hardcore Juggalos LOVE. And don’t ever think we’ve given up on CDs, like most of the world has, we’re just stepping our vinyl game up because NINJAS WANT IT. Ninjas want ICP on vinyl and so Psychopathic will gladly deliver! With more releases coming as well… many more! So if you don’t have a record player, now may be the time to invest in one because we got MAD wax flavor coming out in 2017 and beyond!

And now, Juggalos, allow me the pleasure of introducing Psychopathic’s new studio engineer/beat maker/all-around super sound ninja, the one and only STR8JAKET! You may have seen him performing at one of the Gatherings, or performing with Tech N9ne, or maybe you’ve admired his fresh graphic design skills (Little known fact: It was Str8Jaket who designed the fresh ass logos for Gathering 16 and Gathering 17!). His talents come in many forms as this ninja is extremely gifted. Therefore we are psyched as FUCK to welcome this crazy skilled ninja to our squad of Hatchet soldiers and you’re going to fuckin’ lose your shit when you realize just how talented and fresh this ninja actually is. So everyone, please say hello to the one and only Str8jaket!

Welcome to the Hatchet, Str8jaket! Your reputation certainly precedes you. You’ve done production work with Big Hoodoo, ABK, Twiztid, Smokehouse Junkiez, and many other big names in Detroit hip-hop. And you’re also a very accomplished musician in your own right, opening for Tech N9ne, Prozak, Bone Thugs, and, of course, you have played at several Gatherings. How does it feel to now officially be a part of the Hatchet?

It’s amazing, man. A dream come true. It came from out of the blue. Violent J called me up one day and invited me down to the Lotus Pod for an interview and also to see what I could do on the console.

How long we’re you in that interview for?

Oh, a few hours. A lot of talking about the future of Psychopathic, the music industry in general and how it’s changed so much in just the last five years. Getting to sit down with Violent J and get all this knowledge from him firsthand about the past, present, and future of Psychopathic and hip hop in general was just fucking amazing.

What kind of things were you doing at the console during that initial meeting?

First I was getting just used to the console itself. I’m used to recording and producing out of my home studio which is a lot way from Lotus Pod. But it was amazing sitting there in that chair in front of that board. They had me do some recording, I worked on a beat with DJ Clay for Shaggy’s solo album, which was the shit. The whole meeting was mostly just me soaking it all in and absorbing as much information as I possibly could. I realized this is a once-in-a lifetime possibility and realizing, sitting there, that my whole fucking life is about to change. And it’s just fucking great and an honor.

So it’s basically your first week on the job. What are you working on now?

Well, I’m working closely with Kuma, who is training me and showing some secrets and shortcuts to working in the Lotus Pod and also at the Cabin In the Woods studio. Right now, it’s just training and preparation to ensure I’m confident and comfortable enough with the consoles and everything so I can hit the ground running when it’s time to really record and make beats. My first big assignment will be working with Psychopathic’s newly signed artist but I don’t want to elaborate on that.

In closing, any message for the Juggalos?

Get ready for some freshness in 2017, fam! I’m ready to ride hard for the Hatchet and rep Psychopathic in the best light possible. We are going to be releasing a fucking avalanche of flavor in 2017 and it’s a fucking honor to be able to be a part of it.

Well, ninjas, there you have it. The Hatchet Family is literally growing both in size and strength and we stand on the edge of a new era in the Psychopathic’s history. We have a roster of musicians who are creating some of the finest Juggalo entertainment to every come out of Psychopathic Records. We are preparing to bring the infamous Gathering of the Juggalos to our nation’s WEST SIDE!!! And of course 2017 is the year of the once in our life time event. Together, in front of the eyes of the media and at our nation’s capital we will flex the mightiness of our Juggalo family and we will MARCH and the PARTY!!!! We stand ready to enter 2017—the sacred Year of the Juggalo—with our eyes forward and totally focused in concentration, ready to take on any foe or meet any challenge. The underground belongs to the Hatchet!

Brace yourself, Juggalo brothers and sisters, for the hurricane of diamonds is about to sweep the Juggalo nation up into a tornado of karma! Beaming out light in every direction! We are only a few short weeks away from entering our very own life changing year – 2017—OUR year—prepare yourself ninjas for it’s arrival. It’s time to work. Stretch out your limbs and take a deep breath because change is coming. Change for the better so get your ass ready. Stand strong. Please believe we are chosen, and blessed to have each other. We don’t exactly know why, or how but we do know it’s fuckin’ real because we’ve felt it for years. 17 is definitely our number and 2017 is our time. The Dark Carnival spirits stand behind us, ready to provide us with the extra karma we need to ensure that 2017 is a year of epic proportions not only for the Juggalo World, but for each and every one of our own personal lives.

Ninjas, we love you. We exist to entertain you. Thank you for allowing us to contribute our label’s music to the soundtrack of this incredible subculture that you amazing Juggalo Ninjas have become. Thank you

There will never be another year like 2017, but you need not worry about that. Because the positive results 2017 will have on our Juggalo lives will indeed last forever

The hurricane of shimmering diamond rain is approaching. Its thunder sounds like 1000 wind chimes blowing in the cool breeze. Can you hear it, feel it? We sure as fuck can. And it’s absolutely fuckin’, straight up dope as fuck!

J-Webb

Websites:

• HatchetHerald.com