Boogie Woogie Wu Imma Kill U Hokus Pokus Insane Clown Posse

Boogie Woogie Wu Album: The Great Milenko (1997)
Imma Kill U Album: Bang! Pow! Boom! Red (2009)
Hokus Pokus Album: The Great Milenko (1997)
by Insane Clown Posse

The Great Milenko is the fourth studio album released on June 24, 1997, by Hollywood Records in association with Psychopathic Records. As the fourth Joker's Card in the group's Dark Carnival mythology, the album's lyrics focus on the titular Great Milenko, who is a necromancer.

The album was recorded and initially released by the Disney-owned record label Hollywood Records. The album was taken off shelves by Hollywood hours after its release, in response to criticism from the Southern Baptist Church of decisions that the church believed did not reflect Disney's family-friendly image, although Disney claimed that the album was released due to an oversight by its review board. After Hollywood terminated the group's contract, Insane Clown Posse signed a new contract with Island Records (whose parent at the time, PolyGram, distributed Hollywood releases in North America), which agreed to release the album as it was originally intended. Island then re-released the album on August 12, 1997.

The music of The Great Milenko features a rap metal sound and features guest appearances by popular rock stars Alice Cooper, Steve Jones and Slash. Although the album was poorly received by critics, it debuted at number 63 on the Billboard charts, and was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Following the 1994 release of the album Ringmaster, Insane Clown Posse started to attract a strong local following in Detroit, Michigan. The group began selling out large clubs such as St. Andrew's Hall and the State Theatre, and drew the attention of major record label Jive Records. The following year, Insane Clown Posse signed with the label Battery Records, a subsidiary of Jive Records. Battery/Jive released the duo's third studio album, Riddle Box (1995), but showed little interest in promoting the album. The group's manager Alex Abbiss negotiated a contract with Disney's Hollywood Records label, which reportedly paid $1 million to purchase the Insane Clown Posse contract from Battery/Jive Records.

The expansion of the Juggalo fanbase into its own culture inspired Insane Clown Posse to write the songs "What Is a Juggalo?" and "Down with the Clown" for this album.

The group started recording The Great Milenko in 1996, and Violent J began thinking of a title for the album shortly after. Bruce later came up with the title The Great Milenko. Bruce also admitted that he had always liked the ring name of professional wrestler Dean Simon ("Dean Malenko"), because he felt that the name Malenko had a "carnival" sound to it. Believing that he had created the name himself, Bruce later realized that he had unwittingly used the nickname of Dean's father, Boris "The Great" Malenko.

The band wanted to include famous rock stars on the album. Julian Raymond, the artists and repertoire representative for Hollywood Records, contacted Slash, Steve Jones, and Alice Cooper. Slash, who was a self-professed fan of the band's music, reportedly only asked for Wild Irish Rose as payment for his contributions. Bruce, who knew very little about the Sex Pistols or Steve Jones, declined to show up at the studio when Jones played his guitar part for "Piggy Pie". Although not knowing much about Alice Cooper either, Bruce decided to fly to Arizona and coach Cooper on his parts. Bruce and Clark also met George Clinton, who was staying in the same hotel, and recorded his voice in his room, but it did not fit anywhere on the album.

After the recording sessions were finished, executives at Hollywood Records—and the label's parent company, Disney—expressed dissatisfaction with several tracks. Disney requested that the tracks "The Neden Game", "Under the Moon", and "Boogie Woogie Wu" be removed because of lyrics referencing abuse of women, rape and murder, and the slaughter of children, respectively. Disney also asked that the lyrics of "Piggy Pie" be changed, due to lyrics about murdering police officers. Disney threatened not to release the album if their requests were not met. Begrudgingly, Bruce and Utsler complied with Disney's requests. The uncensored version of "Piggy Pie" was later released on Forgotten Freshness Volumes 1 & 2. After recording was finalized, the duo planned to go on a national tour with House of Krazees and Myzery as its opening acts. Several songs were recorded with the intention of releasing them on The Great Milenko. One such song, "House of Wonders", was recorded but was later released on Mutilation Mix (1997) and Forgotten Freshness Volumes 1 & 2 (1998).

The Great Milenko is the fourth Joker's Card in Insane Clown Posse's Dark Carnival concept album series. The Dark Carnival is a concept of the afterlife in which souls are sent to a form of limbo while waiting to be sent to heaven or hell based on their individual actions. These concepts are related by Insane Clown Posse in a series of albums called the six Joker's Cards. Each of the six Joker's Cards relate to a specific character—an entity of the Dark Carnival—that tries to "save the human soul" by showing the wickedness inside of one's self.

This Joker's Card is a necromancer and illusionist who tries to trick individuals into acts of greed, envy, and lust. The Card ultimately issues a warning against such acts of sin, and enlightens listeners that The Great Milenko is a part of every individual, and that they have the power to fall under his illusions or cast his hoaxes aside.

According to the group's mythology, The Great Milenko is a necromancer and illusionist who tries to trick individuals into greed and other such sins. He takes out the worst in an individual and creates powerful illusions in an attempt to cause them to become hedonistic and greedy. An honorable individual must fight his magic in order to make it to Shangri-La (as revealed in the track "Pass Me By").

The album's themes mostly revolve around those of death, morality, and everyday decisions. For instance, "How Many Times?" talks about annoying traffic jams and other everyday-life inconveniences. "Piggy Pie" references the Three Little Pigs and tells Violent J's story of murdering three kinds of people: an incest-prone redneck, a judge who unjustly sentences people based on their looks, and a stuck-up wealthy person. "Under the Moon" tells the tale of a man convicted after killing a man who tried to rape his girlfriend. "Boogie Woogie Wu" is told from the perspective of the boogie man and talks about the slaughter of children. The "Neden Game" takes the form of a Dating Game-esque show, albeit with added misogynistic banter for humor. Finally, the lyrics to "Hellalujah" target money-hungry preachers.

Two singles were released from the album: "Halls of Illusions" and "Hokus Pokus". "Halls of Illusions" was the first single released in 1997. The single peaked at number 56 on the UK Singles Chart, and its accompanying music video peaked at number one on The Box video request channel. The album's second single, "Hokus Pokus", was released in June 1997. In 1998, it peaked at number 54 on the UK Singles Chart.

Initially, Hollywood Records shipped 100,000 copies of The Great Milenko to various record stores. During a music-store autograph signing, Insane Clown Posse was notified that Hollywood Records had deleted the album within hours of its release, despite having sold 18,000 copies and reaching number 63 on the Billboard 200. The group was also informed that its in-store signings and 25-city nationwide tour had been canceled, commercials for the album and the music video for "Halls of Illusions" (which had reached number one on The Box video request channel) were pulled from television, and that the group was dropped from the label. It was later revealed that Disney was being criticized by the Southern Baptist Church at the time because of Disney's promotion of Gay Days at Disneyland, in addition to producing and distributing the gay-themed television sitcom Ellen. The church claimed Disney was turning its back on family values. Although Abbiss told the press that Disney had stopped production of The Great Milenko to avoid further controversy, Disney claimed instead that the release of the album was an oversight by their review board, and that the album "did not fit the Disney image" because of its "inappropriate" lyrics, which they claimed were offensive to women.[29] Although Hollywood Records had ordered record stores to return shipments of the now-deleted album, many record stores refused, including the Michigan-based Harmony House where 1,700 CDs were sold in 36 stores after the termination order.

After the termination of the Hollywood Records contract, labels such as Interscope and Geffen Records wanted to sign the group, but Island Records' Chris Blackwell came to the group's rescue and agreed to release The Great Milenko as it was originally intended. As part of the deal, Island also agreed to rerelease the group's first two Joker's Card albums. Milenko was released in four colors: red, green, purple, and gold. Each color had a different secret message that would help reveal the title of the fifth Joker's Card, The Amazing Jeckel Brothers. Music videos were filmed for "Halls of Illusions", "How Many Times?", and "Piggy Pie". An unofficial music video for "Down with the Clown" was featured on the home-video release Juggalo Championshxt Wrestling Volume 1. A music video for the Headhuntaz Remix of "Hokus Pokus" was produced after the release of the album. The video featured appearances by Twiztid and Myzery. Blackwell left Island Records shortly after the group released Forgotten Freshness Volumes 1 & 2, and the merger of PolyGram into Universal Music Group (which owned Interscope and Geffen) affected the way the label handled its next Joker's Card release. Despite the rough start, The Great Milenko has sold well over the years. On May 5, 1998, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). A year later, on April 21, 1999, the album was certified platinum for shipments of over one million copies. As of 2007, the album has sold over 1.7 million copies in the United States.

Bang! Pow! Boom! is the eleventh studio album released on September 1, 2009, by Psychopathic Records, it was the group's second album with producer Mike E. Clark since his return to Psychopathic Records, and the first album to focus on the Dark Carnival since the conclusion of the group's original "Joker's Cards" series. The character is the first of a set of six new Joker's Cards.

The album's title refers to a character within the Dark Carnival described as a large, continuing explosion that clears evil souls from the carnival grounds. Bang! Pow! Boom! peaked at number four in the Billboard Top 200. Critics praised Clark's production and the return to the Dark Carnival concept. In 2010, Psychopathic Records released a "Nuclear Edition" of the album, which featured previously unreleased material. The music video for the song "Miracles", produced for the reissue became popular and was the subject of a Saturday Night Live parody which was praised by the group. It is the group's 26th overall release.

Mike E. Clark produced much of Insane Clown Posse's discography until the group's sixth and seventh albums, Bizzar and Bizaar. After Clark nearly died from a collapsed lung, he became less active in the music industry, his studio not being used for much of the early decade, and the group worked with Mike Puwal on their eighth and ninth albums, The Wraith: Shangri-La and Hell's Pit. In 2006, Clark returned to Psychopathic Records and produced the group's tenth studio album, The Tempest in 2007, but did not work with the group directly. Bang! Pow! Boom! was the first album which Clark worked on directly with Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler since Bizaar. Bang! Pow! Boom! was recorded between September 2008 and July 2009 at Clark's Fun House Studio. Bruce listened to music by the progressive rock band Gong for inspiration. In order to ensure the quality of their vocal recordings, Bruce and Utsler drank tea before every take and didn't smoke cannabis while recording. Much material was recorded for the album; some songs left off the initial release appeared on the "Nuclear Edition" reissue, while another song intended for Bang! Pow! Boom!, "If I Ate Your Brains", was released as part of a single for the 2009 Hallowicked concert.

According to Bruce, the goal was to produce an album that was "very much a part of the Dark Carnival, without it being the seventh Joker's Card". Bang! Pow! Boom! was the first album to focus on this concept since Hell's Pit. The album was later revealed to be the first Joker's Card of a "second deck." Bang! Pow! Boom! is a character within the Dark Carnival which Bruce describes as a "continuous explosion that stomps his way through the crowd blowing [...] evil souls [...] to Hell". The album features a series of skits in which rednecks, pedophiles, and husbands who abuse their wives receive phone calls inviting them to the Dark Carnival, where they are promised US$100,000 for arriving.

According to Bruce, "In Yo Face" was originally titled "Pie in Yo Face", but it was decided that the final title sounded better. "The Bone" features surf rock-influenced guitars. According to Bruce, "Mike's beat for this was so fuckin' crazy sounding I had no idea what the fuck to do with it." "To Catch a Predator" was written during the mixing process, when the group realized that the album needed a song "that attacks an evil". Inspired by the television series To Catch a Predator, the song's lyrics describe Violent J luring pedophiles into his house to violently murder them. According to Bruce, "I could easily see myself killing pedophiles in real life and having no guilt. The only reason I don’t do it is because I'd probably get caught. So its nice to live it out through my music." "Boing Boing", a comedic sex-oriented rap, samples audio from a pornographic film which had previously been sampled by the group on their Tunnel of Love EP. Bruce says that the song was intended as a joke. Some fans interpreted the song as Bruce and Utsler calling themselves ugly, while others believed that they were bragging about how many women they have sex with. Bruce commented "We're not sex symbols, especially not me. If there are girls, they’re there to see Shaggy."

"I Found a Body" features lyrics similar to the plot of Weekend at Bernie's, and incorporates Bruce's singing, concluding with a "Pearl Jam style yell". "Fonz Pond" was inspired by a series of bicycle trails and paths leading to what had once been a pond, but had dried out, and was filled with garbage and rusted junk. Rumors spread about kids that died trying to pass the curve surrounding the area. Clark created a beat which sounded unlike what Bruce had initially expected, leading him to write a song about a haunted pond hidden in the woods. Bruce describes the production of "Imma Kill U" as similar to that of early albums by Ice Cube and Public Enemy. Bruce states that Utsler initially hated "Juggalo Island" when they began recording it, and said that it was "too soft" for Insane Clown Posse. Bruce maintained his confidence in the song, but promised Utsler that if he still felt the same way after the song was completed, it would be left off the album. As the recording continued, Utsler began to like the track more, and later praised the song in a phone conversation.

The lyrics of "Miracles" focus on the extraordinary events humans experience in life which often go unacknowledged, and encourages listeners to take time to look at the world and reevaluate their life. The song's music is built around an ascending synthesizer melody, and climaxes with an electric guitar solo performed by Mike E. Clark, and beatboxing by Joseph Utsler. "Chop Chop Slide" was inspired by the "Cha Cha Slide".

The album's title was first announced in the liner notes of Bruce's solo album The Shining. Bang! Pow! Boom! was initially announced as having an April release. Bruce and Utsler participated in a three-day photo shoot for the album's promotional images. The album's release was preceded with a nationwide in-store tour beginning in August, and followed by a 64-day tour, including the group's annual Halloween performance in Detroit. The album was released in three different color variations of the cover: red, blue, and green. Each version features its own unique introduction and hidden track. A sampler for the album was released, featuring a decoder piece for finding hidden messages in the album's artwork.

A special edition of the album, dubbed the "Nuclear Edition", was released on April 6, 2010. It features a gold cover and bonus material from each version of the album, three previously unreleased tracks, the sampler, two music videos and the documentary A Family Underground. The first music video from the album, "In Yo Face", was released on December 18, 2009. The second music video from the album, "Miracles", premiered as part of the "Nuclear Edition" reissue. A third music video from the album, "Juggalo Island", was filmed at the 2008 Gathering of the Juggalos. A fourth music video from the album, "Fonz Pond", has also been released. A fifth music video, "It's All Over" was released in December 2011.

Track 11 on their 11th Studio Album..."Imma Kill U"