Summer will soon be upon us. This is of course welcome news for most anyone—better weather, a more relaxed environment, and some even get the summer off if they’re still in school. But for Juggalos the summer has an entirely different meaning; The Gathering of the Juggalos (GOTJ) is almost here!

GOTJ was started by ICP and Psychopathic Records founders Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope back in the year 2000 after many years of deliberation. Yes there were problems and hitches during the first couple years of GOTJ, but since it has become more refined most events run smoothly. This improved production quality is just one of the many reasons Juggalos have been coming to GOTJ in droves every year since its inception.

But there has to be more to GOTJ than just the horror rap music, right? Why yes, that would be correct. GOTJ is primarily known for the horror rap artists that grace its stages, but this giant ICP carnival offers many bonuses for attending outside of just the music.

Let’s consider the music to be a backdrop for a moment. Yes, the music is what brings people together, but the rest of GOTJ is so alluring it can almost be referred to as an ICP carnival. No, I’m not talking about the ICP carnival woven through their albums’ mythology; I’m talking about a legitimate carnival with rides, clowns, games and more.

GOTJ, really a massive ICP carnival, can be counted as such because it features attractions including everything from helicopter rides to Ferris wheel rides. In the past, there have been side shows featuring everything from ICP carnival mainstays like wrestlers to unexpected performing guests, like Tila Tequila or Bobby Brown.

The most obvious similarity between this ICP carnival and a standard carnival would be the clowns. There might not be colorful clowns walking around on stilts asking for you to knock them over, but with every Juggalo in the crowd dressed with their ICP carnival face paint on and resembling an evil clown, or Insane clown if you will.

While these comparisons of the GOTJ ICP carnival to your every day carnival are good and well, there are many things that any ICP carnival, regardless of the year, will always have over a traditional carnival, the most important of which is Juggalo love.

While GOTJ is famous for a lot of things like the ICP carnival-esque offerings mentioned above, it is most known among Juggalos for being a place where, one time a year, all Juggalos can reunite and enjoy each other. Juggalos treat and respect each other as family, because most of them have a similar outlook on life and have walked similar paths on their way to membership in the Juggalo clan.

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GOTJ, the annual ICP carnival for Juggalos to enjoy horror rap music, games, and each other, is nearing. To see merchandise that will help you blend in better with the Juggalo crowd at GOTJ events, please visit http://hatchetgear.com. 

You can’t consider yourself a real Juggalo if you haven’t heard by now that Insane Clown Posse will be releasing their 12th studio album, The Mighty Death Pop!, on August 14th, 2012. Of course, with the release of The Mighty Death Pop!, will come a new Joker’s card for all Juggalos and Juggalettes to explore.

The most noteworthy fact about the Mighty Death Pop! Joker’s card so far is that it will be the second card in the second deck of Joker’s cards. However, that being said, it would appear so far that the second deck of Joker’s cards will not be that different than the first deck of cards, because card #1 in deck #2 of Joker’s cards dealt with the same themes known to Juggalos in the first deck of Joker’s cards.

The Dark Carnival (mythology surrounding ICP albums and Joker’s cards) is without a doubt one of a kind. You’d be hard pressed to name five other artists that have designed their own mythology to attract new fans and keep them interested, as ICP has done with Juggalos.

All cards to date, and presumably the Mighty Death Pop! Joker’s card, deal with themes of justice and repercussion for individual actions. ICP’s Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope express these messages in these forms because they know that medium is one which today’s fans will understand.

Music fans of 2012, especially Juggalos, are in no mood to listen to preaching in music or otherwise. However, this clever approach gets Juggalos interested in the band’s message in an obsessive manner. They hope to continue this trend with The Mighty Death Pop!’s Joker’s card, something most Juggalos are salivating over.

The first unique thing to note about Mighty Death Pop!’s Joker’s card is that there are two of them. Yes, The Mighty Death Pop! will be the first ICP album on which Juggalos can enjoy two separate cards.

While the first Mighty Death Pop! card was nothing too unusual (face of an evil Jester), it looks more fierce than its predecessor in Bang! Boom! Pow!’s Joker’s card, a continuous explosion to clear evil souls out of carnival grounds. The Mighty Death Pop! card is more ornate as well, and if you can take that to mean they spent more time on Mighty Death Pop! than Bang! Boom! Pow!, that would be a positive as far as most Juggalos are concerned.

The second Joker’s card revealed for The Mighty Death Pop! is another evil face on a ticking bomb. The unmistakable symbolism here is that Mighty Death Pop! is going to be more intense than previous albums, and probably blow up when it hits stores in August. This kind of tease from a card always gets Juggalos riled up and excited for the next release. Has it done so for you?

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Joker’s cards are one of the most important staples in Juggalos’ appreciation of ICP. To view merchandise containing ICP’s past and present  Joker’s cards, please visit http://hatchetgear.com/bands/icp.html. 

In the days of yester-decade, there was only a handful of places for Juggalos and Juggalettes to enjoy music. Juggalos could listen to the latest ICP CD in their car or at home, and Juggalettes could hear ICP on the same format through a boombox while tanning poolside.

Alternatively, if Juggalos and Juggalettes were in the right place at the right time, they could catch an ICP tune on the radio during their commute or just while out on the town. Finally, Juggalos and Juggalettes could enjoy each other’s company at a live ICP concert, and probably count on getting their fair share of Faygo showers together there!

All of those music enjoyment avenues are still viable, even though a few have fallen by the wayside (radio, CDs). In the year 2012, there are a million different ways to experience the music of Insane Clown Posse, the most inventive of which is through Insane Clown Posse’s YouTube channel. But more on that later.

I mentioned earlier that CDs and Radio are no longer the foremost avenues of music discovery. That’s because they’ve been taken over by other mediums that are more convenient to Juggalos and Juggalettes alike.

All Juggalos and Juggalettes with an internet connected device (computer, iphone, etc.) can now enjoy Insane Clown Posse’s music through channels like music streaming services (Spotify, Rdio, Grooveshark, Pandora), through the band’s website (insaneclownposse.com), or even purchase the band’s songs through the iTunes store. But none of those are as appealing as the Insane Clown Posse YouTube channel.

A website, Insane Clown Posse’s YouTube channel is always accessible to Juggalos and Juggalettes as long as they are connected to the Internet. That’s standard at this day in age. What Insane Clown Posse’s YouTube channel does better than the rest of the above mentioned avenues is incorporate video and audio into one central hub. Insane Clown Posse’s YouTube channel is not just meant for music videos, but audio tracks as well.

Once Juggalettes and Juggalos become adept at using Insane Clown Posse’s YouTube channel, they can create playlists of their favorite Insane Clown Posse YouTube material and have is stream continuously through their device of their choice.

Considering how much rare Insane Clown Posse YouTube material there is, that could be a pretty epic playlist! Just in case Juggalettes and Juggalos don’t have the time to create their own Insane Clown Posse YouTube playlist, the ICP channel that exists right now has a few of their own up for Juggalo / Juggalette listening pleasure. They include: Music Videos, Spots for Psychopathic Records, ICP / Psychopathic Records, Psychopathic Radio Archive, and JCW Wrestling.

So if you think about it, Juggalettes and Juggalos, if using the Insane Clown Posse YouTube channel correctly, could have their playlist spliced in with some JCW Wrestling footage as well!

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Insane Clown Posse’s YouTube presence grows more important with each new day. This article discusses past ICP listening environments and compares them to Insane Clown Posse’s YouTube presence today. To learn more about visual ICP footage appreciated by Juggalos and Juggalettes, please visit http://hatchetgear.com/bands/icp/.