Twenty years ago, Tuesday, July 22nd, 2003, Violent J and Psychopathic Records lyrically took Juggalos on an unforgettable  fantasy underground hip-hop adventure through the Yellow Brick Alleyway, within the ghetto version of Oz  via the influential “Wizard of the Hood” EP! Monoxide portrayed the Scarecrow, Blaze Ya Dead Homie portrayed the Lion, Jamie Madrox Portrayed the Tinman, Anybody Killa portrayed the Palace Guard and Shaggy 2 Dope portrayed the Wizard. While Violent J portrayed himself as the lost civilian wandering Oz to find the magic blunt to get back home to Detroit. “Wizard of the Hood” peaked at #3 on the Top Independent Albums chart, #31 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and #89 on the Billboard 200. Forever a Juggalo favorite with fresh production from Zug Izland’s Mike Puwal, “Wizard of the Hood” continues to thrive after two decades amongst the history of underground rap, due to its unique story-telling flavor that left ninjas musically captivated for years! To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Violent J’s “Wizard of the Hood” here is an in-depth editorial “Wizard of the Hood” flashback written by Scottie D personally!

From Scottie D:

So over twenty years ago, after leaving the Dallas, Texas  “The Wraith: Shangri-La” After Party, I got that phone call from Patrick, (who if you didn’t read the vintage concert review, got my number from me earlier), and he told me what hotel they were staying at. So at this point, it was me and Kara (my Milwaukee Juggalette) and we followed Damon out to the highway (because I have a sense of Direction like Gilligan). Anyway, we pull up to the hotel, and see a big black tour bus there. There was no marking on it, and nobody told me what to do, so we just kind of waited there until we got the balls to go and knock on the door. We would have went right up….but there were some other bands/groups playing that night in Deep Ellum as well (50 Cent, Master P, Ghoultown, etc)…so we didn’t want to piss anyone off…or get shot. *Laughs* Anyway, thank God Patrick answered the door.

We went inside, ABK was there rollin’ a blunt, and Patrick said they’d be right up. A few other Juggalettes, including the one on stage from the show were there too. So after reminiscing about the Backyard Wrestling Convention for a bit, J walked up and greeted the both of us and took us to the back of the tour bus. Shaggy shook both of our hands on the way back, then we took a seat in this bomb ass sealed room. It had a sony flatscreen TV, a leather couch, Bose speakers at each corner, and a sub hidden somewhere…because you could definitely hear it when the music was playing. Anyway, It was just me, Kara, J, Patrick, ABK, and those 2 Juggalettes in that room that was probably no more than 40 square feet. It was pretty jam packed. So then, their food got there. J and Patrick went up front to eat and put in an Ice Cube CD for us to keep us entertained while he stuffed down his food real quick.

Patrick came back not too much later and said:

“Joe told me to come back here and tell you some jokes or something. Well, I don’t know any jokes, so instead I’m gonna let you stab me in the head with these plastic forks.”

I was seriously like “Maybe if you were Rudy, I wouldn’t have a problem with it”, but he assured me that they did shit like that all the time. So I was volunteered by everyone else to go first, and I did it, and it snapped. So everybody had a good laugh…then Kara got the ultra strong, clear plastic fork and it was her turn. She swung away, and it shattered and flew everywhere in the room! It was too funny. The juggalette from the stage did it as well, and that was the end of Patrick’s performance.

Soon thereafter, Joe came back, handed us all some drinks (Pepsi, tang, capri sun, etc), and opened up with a track that we didn’t know about yet. It is called “The Tour Bus” and features ICP and the 2 Live Crew with production by PARIS! It features the 2 Live Crew, so you know the song was about fuckin’! The song sounded pretty fresh…and was definitely a rap track…no singing, no rock guitars, just straight up rap. The track will be available in J’s next edition of the Weekly Freekly! While listening to this track, J sparked a blunt and started passin’ it around. I was straight, so he passed it to Kara, who took a hit, and then proceeded to have a coughing attack for about the next 3 minutes. The funny part is, ABK just sat there and laughed and was like “That’s some good shit isn’t it?”…and she continued coughing and passing it along to Patrick. *Laughs*

J then started to tell us the “rules” of listening to the “Wizard of the Hood”. There was to be dead silence. No talking, laughing, props to parts in the song, singing along, or questions until the track was over. So he put it in and we started to listen.

It started off with a simple beat, and lead up to Violent J (who plays himself in the song) in his home town of Detroit. He was chillin in his house, when all of a sudden, the house got whisked away by a huge tornado! He got to Oz, and first met up with the Scarecrow (Monoxide). When he met the Scarecrow, the beat changed, and the CD went to the next track. He ended up just wanting some Homies to smoke with…so they continued down the Yellow Brick Alleyway.

Next up, they crossed the Tinman (Jamie Madrox), who was pissed as hell for them even being in his territory. So he was talkin all tough, but only wanted to be the hardest in the land…so J suggested that he come with them to see the Wizard. So off down the Yellow brick alleyway they went.

As they continued their journey to Oz, they came to the Lion (Blaze). The beat changed again. The lion was mad pissed and wanted to tear into J. J was pretty confident though because he had his boys with him…or so he thought. But when he turned around they were nowhere to be seen. So before the lion tore into him, J asked him what he was so pissed about. All the lion wanted was bitches and Neden. So he joined them all in their journey To Oz.

The beat changed again, to some trippy feelin’ beat. This was because they just entered a field of Purple mushrooms that they decided to eat. lol. I don’t remember much about this part of the song…but then they were finally to the Wiz’s Castle.

ABK was the Door Man, and after some flack from him, they got through the door to see The Wiz (Shaggy). How did this all turn out? What was the Wiz’s response to their wants? Were there any fudgy ass Ruby Red slippers? Well you’ll just have to wait til the Wizard of the Hood is released at the Gathering 2003. It will be released in a collector’s tin, complete with a comic book with all the lyrics written in it, so there are pictures to go along with the story, and also some rolling papers included. lol.

So what did I think of this song? It was seriously the bomb ninjas. Nobody that I know of can rap a story out like Violent J. Where he comes up with some of these ideas, I’ll never know. But to take an old school movie like “The Wizard of Oz” and give it a complete 180, keeping only the elements necessary to stick with the story line takes a lot of creativity.

The Music itself? This is definitely somethin you can bump to with the windows down and the volume set high! Those Bose speakers were bumpin man. The story behind the beat goes like this. J tried to explain the whole idea to Mike P, and let him produce the track. Since it was all in J’s head though, Mike didn’t really grasp the whole concept. So he ended up doing most of the production himself. The beats for every character definitely fit their persona.

I’m tellin you though…this story is amazing, and to sit there and watch J and Anybody killa sit there with their eyes closed, knowing their parts to the songs, and gesturing to them, lip syncing the words….it was an amazing experience. I mean the song in itself is the fuckin atom bomb…but to see how excited J was after it was over, and asking me to really be honest about my review of it was just the shit. I am so pumped to hear it again! I wish there wasn’t a full 5 months between now and the Gathering…but it’ll definitely be something I look forward to adding to my collection.

For The Fat Kids

Now I have something extra and especially for all the Fat Juggalos out there. Before I left the bus, there was something that my fat Juggalo homies out there wanted to know, straight from the mouth of Violent J. The question is:

“How the fuck did you lose all that weight in such a short amount of time?”

So he got a big smile on his face and told us the whole situation! He was sitting there, after completing theHatchet Rizing Tour, eating a bag of potato chips and watching TV. He then went outside, looked around, and decided to walk to the end of his block. By the time he got there, he was all out of breath, breakin a sweat, and just didn’t like the way he was feeling about himself.

So from that point on, he vowed to do something about it. This was at the point where J and Shaggy went into Hiding while recording The Wraith: Shangri La. He would start out by walking around the block once or twice, building some stamina on each and every night, and increasing distances. Finally he came to a point when he decided to start jogging. He said when he started, his fat was floppin around everywhere, and the facial expressions and hand gestures he made while saying this were absolutely priceless!

Gradually, the distances kept getting longer and longer, and now he has a route planned out that he jogs every other night, which is a total of 8 miles long. Now that’s some fuckin dedication.

J said that there are 2 keys to succeed in this weight loss. First off…headphones and a walkman. While recording the Wraith, he had some rough copies of it that he would listen to that carried him through the walk/jog. There is nothing more personal than a set of headphones with music going through them…because they’re right there in your eardrums blasting music into your nugget!

The second key is to NEVER QUIT. Don’t make excuses. If it’s 40 below outside, put 5 layers of clothes on and get your fat ass out there and jog. Get to develop a relationship with the different phases of the moon…get some comfortable running shoes…whatever it takes! He compared his weight loss goal to the completion of all 6 Joker’s cards. ICP set a goal to complete those cards over 10 years ago…and now, look where they’re at! And that’s because through all the record deals, MTV bullshit, no radio play, etc, they had that one goal, and they have completed it after Hell’s Pit is released. So when you’re ready to do something about it…just start it up, and stick with your plan!

Websites:

• Psychopathic Vault