Its been up and down.

BPB was handful of tracks I liked

TMDP I enjoyed damn near all of it including the bonus albums

TMML I only liked a handful of tracks from lost found and the outtakes/ phantom.

I never force myself if I dont like it thats a wrap those CDs just get archived into the collection and I make a Spotify playlist of the songs I liked from them. Bc despite them being not solid front to back albums the songs that are good are REALLY good

There have always been tracks I love and hate on each album. A lot of old school Juggalos don’t like the light ICP is rapping about and its been that way since the 6th. I personally am so down with the positive raining diamonds type tracks because in life don’t we all want to be happy. Granted emotional songs about stabbing the fuck out of someone is always nice but we don’t aim to be depressed all of the time. Twiztid to me has always had maybe one or two songs per album that I can dig. There too emo for me now a days. Boondox on has a very select few songs out of his whole catalog I can dig and so on. The point is each artist is going to have something that appeals to everyone on each album and something that wont. As far as the new deck and albums there are a lot of bangers on them I bump frequently. More so then not. I will be honest I didn’t like LOST at all. The clownz aren’t mad anymore so when they fake the funk to make Juggalos happy I can tell. They need to keep making the diamond rain music because its what they are good at and what they are feeling. When something pisses them off drop a single for us like 3:24?

X1LOKI1X said
So I’m curious, I’ve been a juggalo since Melinko/lateRiddlebox days and I was wondering how many of you try to actually force yourself to like ICP’s newer stuff but really can’t? I’ve been struggling with that, I mostly listen to Juggalo related artists now or the other people on their label. The Missing link was definitely a step in the right direction, I liked both albums. But with TMDP and Bang Pow Boom, ughhh just not my thing at all. Does anyone else actually feel the same? As much as I respect ICP I feel like I’m just too old for the whole, face paint, whoop whoop/family stuff. I’ll always be a juggalo in my heart, but I think as time goes on, I lose interest in the music.   

I don’t think of myself as a juggalo, but I have been a casual fan of ICP from the Milenko/late riddle Box days as well. I’m not the type to force myself to like anything. I stopped following ICP for a while after Jeckel brothers. I didn’t like ICP enough to want to spend the money on a two CDs (Bizaar/Bizzar) when I was a broke kid, so that double release is kind of where I checked out.

I got back into ICP because my friend was wrestling for ICP a lot and would always bring back ICP swag. He was in one of their movies too. He randomly gave me a copy of Bang Pow Boom when it came out and I loved it. Been following ICP again ever since. I really didn’t like TMDP too much to be honest, but I thought the Missing Link albums were awesome. The Missing Link albums are probably my favorite ICP albums other than Milenko.

pondo said

Noah Fence said
I am on record as thinking that the mighty death pop is one of icps best albums ever

… why? I’m asking because this opinion is so uncommon.

Not entirely I just stated that its front to back good including the bonus discs….so I’d say it’s there best since Hell’s pit

MSL said

I got back into ICP because my friend was wrestling for ICP a lot and would always bring back ICP swag. He was in one of their movies too. He randomly gave me a copy of Bang Pow Boom when it came out and I loved it. Been following ICP again ever since. I really didn’t like TMDP too much to be honest, but I thought the Missing Link albums were awesome.

My up and down was opposite yours on the new deck. BPB (handful of dope tracks), TMDP (dope all round) TMML (only handful tracks per disc), I only noticed this bc its not uncommon we all have various sects of opinions I could only imagine us all debating at GOTJ and finding kinship with the like minded los(or “casual fan” in your case) and agreeing to disagree and enjoy the festivities.

pondo said

Noah Fence said
I am on record as thinking that the mighty death pop is one of icps best albums ever

… why? I’m asking because this opinion is so uncommon.

 

To me it’s been an up and down as well. The main difference between the “new” stuff and the old shit is that I love almost every album of the First Six as a whole, whereas the newer albums (BPB – MDP – MML) contain various tracks I love and like very much AND many tracks that dont hit me at all. So there are steadily songs coming I consider as good as classic ones (think of.. Hate Her To Death, I Found A Body, The Carousel, Lost In The Music, Falling Apart, …), but not in that frequency like back then.  

 I think, conceptually, mighty death pop is their most thoughtful and complex album, hands down. The idea that negative emotions snowball into something that you can’t take back is some real shit. I’ve had homies die of drug overdose and suicide. The first night of my first gathering, as I lay in my tent I heard a security guard talk about finding an overdose over the radio. That shit hurts my soul.

So they got that idea and they make it mythological as they are wont to do. It becomes a spirit that is addicted to driving people to their deaths by pushing them right over the edge. 

So you got songs about losing control like that. And the skits. 

And then you got three very public case studies. 

Chris Benoit, Chris Brown, and Dog the Bounty Hunter.

Chris Benoit being the most tragic. Someone they knew. Completely flipped. We all know the story. They don’t tell us his story but rather use him as a metaphor for what it feels like. 

Could you imagine the horror of feeling like a demon had dug himself into your brain and pushed you to murder your whole family and then kill yourself. You can’t stop it but you’re aware of what’s going on? 

And then you get a song about killing Chris Brown who def deserves it. This track is a warning though. If you or I live like this, there’s consequences. But the story is a bit deeper than that. It’s about change. Whatever was really driving Chris Benoit, we can’t say but we know that he didn’t see a way that things will change. Chris Brown on the other hand? Things changed for him. I dunno if he is still a wife beating POS or not but he is back on top. It’s saying yeah you can fuck up and recover. But if you fuck up and recover too many times eventually there ain’t no path to getting right and you become Chris Benoit. 

Same with going after racist ass dog the Bounty Hunter. The audio clip they sample has him saying if someone heard him saying nigger his career would be over. By the time the album came out though he was already back on TV. Things change. You will get a second chance… Until you don’t.

Which is what the album is really about. Not the death pop but avoiding the death pop because things will change. Don’t give in because things will change.

You got Daisies, a post apocalyptic story that specifically emphasises the human desire to carry on no matter what. The desert that he is walking in used to be a forest. But now nothing. Things change. But look, a daisy. Things change again.

Basically every song on the album, minus kickin kickin (which, also ugh) talks about this idea in so many different ways that you really get a much more nuanced and thoughtful jokers card. Which is, I imagine, why the missing link is so straight forward. They needed to not be so nuanced.

And then the arrangements and energy just really feel like them at their prime (with exception to kickin kickin again). Night of the chainsaw is a great example.

And using such pop sounding beats really makes the most sense because they have been trying to rebrand their music. In the 90s they got lumped in with rap rock which doesn’t really exist anymore. Now they ARE death pop. J is always talking about icp as pop music. As horror and death themed pop music. 

Or all just worked so fucking well. 

And the bonus disks are dope as fuck. Everything just works so well. 

Back in the day, if someone wanted to get into icp, I would recommend Milenko. Now I recommend Milenko and Death pop.

I love them. Found is my least favorite but that’s not saying much bc I still like it. It was a little God heavy but I got the message they’re sending. I liked the outages for tmml more than found tho it’s great. 

The only release I didn’t like was the Calm, but that was more of who I was as a person at that time, because I love that shit now.

I am probably one of the few, but I can bump that Purple Gang over and over again, I love that shit. I know that isn’t ICP, but yeah

The new deck, I love all of it, I skip Pineapple Pizza, and a few other tracks here and there, but Bang! Pow! Boom! is THE best closing track they have done, and when that shit hits at the live show, it’s over.

I feel what a lot of you are saying, that you don’t feel the new shit, but let me ask you this, would you rather them keep doing the same records over and over again? or branch out and try new stuff, such as a more positive approach, or a more subtle type of Wicked, to me the most wicked song they have is TIME. sounds soft, but that’s the realest, and scariest shit that exists in our world. when you start thinking about what they spit in that song, it can change you.

I’m a fan for life, call me a sheep, call me whatever you want

Jason Caffey said
The only release I didn’t like was the Calm, but that was more of who I was as a person at that time, because I love that shit now.

I am probably one of the few, but I can bump that Purple Gang over and over again, I love that shit. I know that isn’t ICP, but yeah

 

The new deck, I love all of it, I skip Pineapple Pizza, and a few other tracks here and there, but Bang! Pow! Boom! is THE best closing track they have done, and when that shit hits at the live show, it’s over.

 

I feel what a lot of you are saying, that you don’t feel the new shit, but let me ask you this, would you rather them keep doing the same records over and over again? or branch out and try new stuff, such as a more positive approach, or a more subtle type of Wicked, to me the most wicked song they have is TIME. sounds soft, but that’s the realest, and scariest shit that exists in our world. when you start thinking about what they spit in that song, it can change you.

 

I’m a fan for life, call me a sheep, call me whatever you want  

I agree.  You can only rap about chopping people up with various axe like objects for so long. I want ICP to test their musical abilities and grow as artist. It’s thosr low IQ “DIS ain NO Wikid shidd icp is traesh know.” juggalos who don’t get it. They have to evolve as a people and artists to survive in this new industry.