With a look and sound nearly too outrageous to believe, Insane Clown Posse was often made a punchline when the act emerged in the MTV-centric music landscape of the late ’90s. The duo’s full story, though, ran much deeper than their notorious clown makeup. Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope sounded like no one else when they grew to become grassroots stars in their hometown of Detroit in the early ’90s. Their unsettling lo-fi production and cartoonishly violent rhymes made them first-wave innovators of the horrorcore genre. The ICP discography is full of infectious chant-along choruses and complex webs of invented slang and symbols—and unexpectedly inspirational moments. See statement-of-purpose songs like “Hokus Pokus” and “What Is a Juggalo?”, deranged narrative diversions (“Halls of Illusions”), and tracks that deepen the elaborate ICP mythology (“The Neden Game”) to get a sense of the duo’s range.