Of all the musical fandoms out there, Insane Clown Posse's juggalos are among the most loyal. For decades, the community has rallied around musicians Joe "Violent J" Bruce and Joey "Shaggy 2 Dope" Utsler to form one of the most fascinating and scrutinized musical subcultures of our time.
That makes it all the more noteworthy that juggalos are becoming incensed about their favorite duo's use of generative AI.
In a teaser video for ICP's upcoming album, "The Naught," some eagle-eyed juggalos spotted a chunk of garbled text in a few frames, a telltale sign of AI-generated slop. The video also features what appears to be sand falling down an AI-generated hourglass, along with a grandfather clock full of nonsensical gears, exhibiting the overly-smooth aura of AI that's become unmistakable over the past few years.
While the long-awaited album was met with excitement ahead of the duo's 25th annual Gathering of the Juggalos this summer, the AI video left some ICP faithful with a bad taste in their mouths.
"That AI clock looks dumb as f**k," wrote one fan under ICP's teaser on X-formerly-Twitter. "You have all the money in the world. Hire a real artist."
"WHACK!" concurred Kevin Jones, labeled as a "top fan" of ICP's official Facebook page. "I was REALLY hoping that wasn't the official design... Oh, well. Hopefully it still slaps."
A minor theme among some comments was ICP's increasing reliance on the art of Tom Wood, a long-time fan who's done digital art for the duo for years. While much of Wood's art for ICP dates to before the advent of AI, his social media posts show that he's not afraid to dip his toes into the slop trough.
"I try so hard but just can't connect with Tom Wood's style or this newer approach by ICP by going completely digital with their art," commented one Juggalo under a video about the new album. "It's just off-putting as f**k."
Wood's rise to prominence among the wicked clowns comes as Shaggy 2 Dope has increasingly embraced AI himself. The rapper has previously gone head-to-head against an AI avatar of himself, which has become something of a recurring bit on his podcast, "The Shaggy Show."
The official ICP account on X has likewise previously posted Studio Ghibli-style AI images of Shaggy as part of their Gathering of the Juggalos promotion.
... continue reading