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Icp: Labeled As Death Rap And Underground Rock?
There are plenty of strange sub-genres throughout hip hop’s history, but did the art form’s founding fathers (Sugar Hill Gang, Jam Master J, etc.) really think there would ever be a sub genre called Death rap down the road? Remember, hip hop’s history is full of light hearted rhymes in the early days, and only progressed to being grim years down the road. Death rap is defined today as a style of rap that’s lyrics are even more intense than the gore and violence found in Gangsta rap. The artist most associated with Death rap is Necro, and this is one of his verses: "Brutal, death rap, cuttin’ flesh, severed limbs, murder you, massacre, the master of malevolence, destiny to kill, fill your body up with holes, bullets from a shottie…” He goes on from there, but I think you get the point. If this is the purest example of Death rap throughout all of hip hop history, then labeling Detroit horror rappers ICP as Death rap is unfair. Yes, sometimes they do write some pretty gory verses, but the guys have gone on record time and time again throughout hip hop history to confirm they treat those verses as jokes, and do not take them seriously. Besides, hip hop history as it pertains to Insane Clown Posse shows us that most of the time these guys rap on topics that are less literal and more abstract, like the after life, judgment day, retribution, etc. Horror rap and Death rap are considered the same thing by some people, but if we’re splitting hairs than it’s fair to say that both are separate, and each will play its own role in hip hop history. In fact, ICP has more of a leg in underground rock than death rap. You’re probably saying, “What? How can anyone label these two obvious rappers as rock musicians?” Well, it starts with the sound. Underground rock and rock music in general of course use different sounds than those found throughout hip hop history. Not many bands were inventive enough to sample underground rock sounds, more specifically metal sounds, in to their raps. The result is a combination of underground rap (though not necessarily death rap) and underground rock like death metal / hardcore. But ICP draws a larger comparison to underground rock for more reasons than just the sound. Just as underground rock is opposite from the mainstream in so many ways, ICP’s brand of music is the same. They represent a culture, and aren’t in it just for the money. Never in hip hop’s history has their been a group as divisive as Insane Clown Posse, and with as much of a subculture following as ICP. When people look back on hip hop’s history and stumble across ICP, they will see a band that created an empire from scratch by combining two under the-radar-art forms (underground rock and rap) and conquered the world with the resulting sound. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Insane Clown Posse has had a lot of genre labels thrown their way, some accurate and some not so much. This article looks at suggestions that ICP is death rap and / or underground rock. To learn more about ICP’s hip hop history, please visit insaneclownposse.com. |
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