The Calm, as in the calm before the storm.
Shaggy 2 Dope's spoken introduction to
Insane Clown Posse's 2005 EP refreshes the group's ongoing self-mythology. "After this short calm, a vicious storm will arrive," intones
Shaggy, "We call this storm the tempest" -- and a haunted house organ creaks as he describes towering winds peeling away forests to reveal spooky crop circle messages. Hey, is that Carnivàle's Brother Justin behind all that wicked clown makeup? Whatever
Shaggy and
Violent J have planned for the future,
ICP's lyrical and musical tenets are mostly unchanged.
J and
Shaggy continue to follow the gangsta method of amplifying street-level grit into a violent hyper-reality, and their production is often just a serviceable frame for whatever social bile they want to spit. The
Cypress Hill-ian "Rollin' Over" boasts equally about bodies in trunks and bodacious bedroom prowess, "Rosemary" is a dark murder fantasy with a twist at the end, and the
Esham-guesting "Deadbeat Moms" hybridizes blaring apathy, gutter humor, and unscrupulous sexual politics.
The Calm even satisfies the hardest-core Juggalos with screams about hatchet chops to the dome. In other words, it's a pretty typical
Insane Clown Posse release, catering to a thriving niche and caring little for the rest.
Shaggy 2 Dope and
Violent J are stridently self-promotional and unfailingly proud -- "Like It Like That" says as much over a cut-up
Jimmy Walker yelling "Dynamite!" -- and "Crop Circles" sketches their intriguing-enough new storyline with talk of mysticism, star charts, and chariots of the gods. ~ Johnny Loftus