"miracles" -- A Viral Hit And A Radical Departure For A Top Horrorcore Rap Group

For much of its career, the Detroit horrorcore rap duo Insane Clown Posse focused its albums on a narrative arc describing what they dubbed "the Dark Carnival." Over the course of six albums, the group used a highly metaphorical style of horrorcore rap to tell the tale of a mysterious netherworld where evil souls were waiting to be judged.

The series finally concluded in 2004, with the album Hell's Pit, and a big surprise. Despite their horrorcore rap sound, it turned out Insane Clown Posse wanted fans' souls saved.

A call for eternal salvation shocked both fans and critics who had earlier focused only on the horrorcore rap aspects of Insane Clown Posse music. But put in context by Insane Clown Posse itself, it made sense -- Violent J explained that the shock and humor of horrorcore rap were used to get people to pay attention.

But with that story and the earlier horrorcore rap elements more or less concluded, what would Insane Clown Posse do on its next albums? The following disc, 2007's The Tempest, took an entirely different tack, skipping most of the old horrorcore rap sound in favor of some more lighthearted tracks.

But 2009's Bang! Pow! Boom! would surprise even more. Insane Clown Posse announced it was taking up the Dark Carnival themes again, this time with each album corresponding to a "new deck" of joker's cards.

A lot of this album featured some old horrocore rap style songs, with titles like "I Found a Body" and "Imma Kill U." Still, the biggest shocker on the record was "Miracles" by Insane Clown Posse for departing completely from those themes. "Miracles" by Insane Clown Posse was no piece of horrorcore rap. Instead, it was an ode to the small wonders of everyday life.

The video for "Miracles" by Insane Clown Posse, with its computer-animated special effects, quickly went viral. This was helped along by the fact that many took the lyrics for "Miracles" by Insane Clown Posse out of context. Especially quoted often was Shaggy 2 Dope's line, "F***ing magnets, how do they work?"

To focus on only that would be to ignore the real message of "Miracles" by Insane Clown Posse. The magnets line was only one example, Violent J explained in several interviews.

The point of "Miracles" by Insane Clown Posse wasn't that certain phenomena didn't have explanations, it was that all of life is a miracle, and you should appreciate the small things every day. It's a sentiment that's been expressed often in music, but "Miracles" by Insane Clown Posse deserves credit for getting the message out in a way that got millions of people talking.

By: Harmony Singer

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You can get your own copy of "Miracles" by Insane Clown Posse, and of course the entire Bang! Pow! Boom! album, on the Insane Clown Posse web site at www.insaneclownposse.com. But for the best context, stock up on earlier albums there, too, to get the full story of the Dark Carnival and hear the group's early horrorcore rap sound.