Daily Pulse

Juggalos’ Rap A Mixed Bag

Fans of Detroit’s rap-metal act Insane Clown Posse, who wear clown makeup and call themselves Juggalos, didn’t live up to their rowdy rep during the Gathering of the Juggalos in Ohio July 13-16.

The four-day festival, hosted by Psychopathic Records, attracted about 5,000 to the Frontier Ranch Music Center outside of Columbus, despite heavy rain and swamp-like conditions, to see non-stop concerts featuring ICP, Twiztid, Digital Underground, Drowning Pool, and Blaze, to name a few.

Wrestling competitions, games, autograph and Q&A sessions with the label’s artists rounded out the event’s carnival-like atmosphere.

The Licking County Sheriff’s Department reported no arrests or incidents, nor did area residents who were initially worried about the massive crowd of tattooed and pierced fans descending on the city, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Festivalgoers said reports of violence – such as the arrest of five men claiming to be Juggalos in Washington last month for allegedly beating and robbing several people at Fort Steilacoom Park – isn’t typical of the group, which has sometimes been labeled outcasts in mainstream society.

“This is a family,” festival attendee Sarah Washington told the Press. “We’re just the scary hippies of the new century. We’re not out to hurt anybody. The music may be crazy – we may be talking about killing people and hiding their bodies – but we’re not going to go out and do that. We’re not stupid.”

That’s not to say the Juggalos never get rowdy, though.

About 40 people were detained by police at a 2004 Insane Clown Posse concert at New Mexico’s Albuquerque Convention Center when fans reportedly got impatient to get inside and started pulling on doors and hurling soft drink cans at the windows.

When police intervened, one attendee tossed a plastic soda bottle at a police car and a handful of Juggalos started chanting obscenities toward police officers.

Members of a SWAT team reportedly had to use mace and stun guns to control the crowd, which settled down once the concert started.

At the time, venue officials decided they wouldn’t book ICP at the facility again.

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