Trying to convince the public that two white men who’ve sold millions of records and run their own music festival are at the bottom of the totem pole is a challenge, but Steve Miller—author of Detroit Rock City and the new Juggalo—is up for it.
ICP have a few things going for them—not least that they’re both straight white men, which confers all sorts of advantages—but in fairness, they’ve had to overcome some big hurdles. Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope grew up poor in the Detroit area, and ICP’s fans tend to be less affluent themselves—Miller litters his book with references to the classism ICP and juggalos face from outsiders. One chapter begins with a quote from author and Dangerous Minds coeditor Richard Metzger on the Gathering of the Juggalos: “Think of it as a white-trash version of Burning Man.”
Miller’s apparent willingness to create a special category just for ICP might say more about their strengths as a band than about his weaknesses as a writer. ICP have created an entire universe of their own out of black-and-white face paint and a multialbum narrative inspired by role-playing games, and they’ve spawned a legion of followers who stick with the language and costume like a protocol. What ICP does isn’t outside the realm of hip-hop—no matter how many people might wish it were. It’s helped keep them interesting and distinctive for all these years, but that doesn’t mean their rapping doesn’t count as rapping.
