Part 2: Opening day at the Gathering of the Juggalos 21, digging the scene, and much more

Welcome back to the ROX-TV website. This article is part the follow up to part one, so if you haven’t read that one yet, please check it out if sequence matters to you. If not, please keep reading. By this point, a long intro is not needed, especially if you’ve been following along so we will just jump right back into line…..

Wednesday Night

I was the first one to arrive on scene, so I unloaded the car and took in my surroundings. The place was located about twelve miles or so from the actually Gathering site at Legend Valley. I tried to book something a little closer, but the day I was looking, the rentals were getting snatched up faster than a crank head on red p. Every time I found something that looked reasonable, before I could get past the pictures of the place, it was no longer available. The GOTJ21 had been announced and Juggalos with no appetite for tenting it, were fierce that day.

By the fourth rental, I said fuck it and booked on the spot. If I had waited any longer I would have been at the damn border. Luck was on my side though because the place was pretty dope, set up on a hill, overlooking some forest. It was out of the way and perfect for getting some work done or at least that was the plan. (I was at the Gathering for almost the entire time, so the place was used for nothing but sleep and cooking)

I fired up the kitchen and got serious about the ribs and chicken. I may have been a long way from home, but I was still going to eat good. I talked to Polk D of Project Born and he told me that they were a ways out, so I had a few hours to chill. My mind was on the Gathering, the performers, and what my best way of covering the event would be.

I had brought a couple boxes of “Forever in the Jects” to sell at the merch table and eventually started flipping through a copy while the food cooked on the slow burn. If anyone has not picked up a copy, do so today. This is not a book to sleep on. So there I was flipping through the pages of the book I wrote about Project Born’s legacy, when I hit page 168.

It is a part in the book that I’m talking about meeting Frank Nitty of Project Born at the First Gathering of the Juggalos back in 2000 (Novi, Michigan). I studied the page for a while and thought back to that very first GOTJ. I was twenty years old and at the Gathering alone. Sometimes you have to go through different phases or events in your life alone, even if it isn’t always clear why.

I went to to Novi for a couple days during that hot summer and celebrated what I thought was a crowning achievement for the Insane Clown Posse and the Juggalo culture. I had no idea that twenty some years later, I would be returning back to the Gathering as a writer, covering the event for ROX-TV and good friends with Project Born. There would have been no way to know two decades ago that a chance encounter and photograph with Frank Nitty was not all the universe had instore for him and I.

If you would have asked me in 2000 what I thought about the GOTJ, I know I would have said “this shit will never die” and low and behold, it not only didn’t die, but only grew larger and more crazier every year. At this point, the GOTJ and the Insane Clown Posse had achieved LEGEND STATUS in the underground world of rap in America. I would go further to say that they thrived in the underground for so long and well, that eventually the world was forced to finally accept them on ICP’s terms, even if radio and other outlets had refused to do so for years.

No one wanted to give them their rightful due, so they said fuck it and kept doing things their way. I remember when the scene was just getting going and people would talk mad shit on the Dark Carnival and  would sing about the demise of ICP, but eventually they either ran out of breath, died, or surrendered to the fact that the Clowns outlasted whatever wack ass shit they wanted to succeed instead. Karma is a bitch my friends and if you don’t live right, eventually the universe will see to it that you pay for your bullshit. Treat everyone with respect because its the right thing to do. If you’re not living right, the Karma Gods will get you. Just passing on the information my friend.

So yeah, a couple of decades after the chance encounter with my homie Frank Nitty, I found myself returning with him and Polk D. Life is full of neat surprises and ironies. Who would have guessed all those years ago, but there we were in O-H-I-O with a new book “Forever in the Jects” to promote, a bigtime set from Project Born on the way, and a little surprise for the Juggalos on Sunday. Life is good.

The boys from Morningside rolled into town about 9pm and we had a dope meal and spent the rest of the night going over strategy for the coming days. I was among friends and in good company. I clicked on YouTube and let “Graveyard” play a few times for old times sake. Juggalos know the tune that maybe the greatest Insane Clown Posse and Project Born track together of all time. I would take that bet, because it is.

 

Thursday Morning

The day I had been waiting for finally showed up and it was time to get busy. We chowed on some serious eggs and bacon, before getting ready for opening day at the GOTJ. I stepped outside to have a smoke and it was already warm out. “Damn it” I thought, there was no way to escape the heat and it was going to be hot. Once we loaded up the cars with merch and other shit we needed, we crept out onto that crazy slim country road. To me it looked more like a sidewalk, but whatever, all roads led to the Gathering and we were on our way.

 

After taking a few twists and turns, we arrived at the artist entrance on the backside of the property. We were instructed to park and wait for Blahzay Roze to pick us up. We spent a few minutes shooting the breeze and gazing into the GOTJ21. There was lots to see, but the view did it no justice. The place was so big that only after you worked your way back in, would you realize how little you could see from where I was standing, but more on that in a bit.

Blahzay Roze showed up a short time later and took Project Born to get checked in. There was not enough room in the cart for us all, so I decided to hang back with our other homie from Flint, Gary aka Gartose on IG. A few minutes later Ouija Macc’s DJ pulled up and parked as well. Although I had written some pieces on Ouija and DJ Chunk for the “Death by Denver” show at the ROXY (Five Points Neighborhood and LSP turf) I had yet to get properly introduced.

DJ Chunk got out of his car and also had to wait for another cart, so we started chopping it. We talked about the Juggalo culture, the old days, and a few this and thats. I grabbed a picture with him before his golf cart army ride came and he vanished into the scene. Gary and I waited for a few more minutes before we got picked up.

 

We had to check into the front for our show credentials and wrist bands. So we made our way over to where we needed to be. I took some footage as the golf cart thundered along the path littered with hundreds of Juggalos and Juggalettes, either walking to somewhere else or just chilling. I was really taken aback by the depth of the place, especially when I thought back to those very first days of the Novi GOTJ. The Juggalo culture had come a long way.

After the formalities were taken care of, we took a spin around the grounds before we eventually parted ways. There was so much to do and see, that it almost shut down the senses. There was tits everywhere….hell….more like a field of Juggalette boobies and fish net.

The place definitely had its charms, but we had business to attend to. We needed to figure out where the merch would be set up and a few other formalities. Working a Gathering is fun, but there were jobs to do and items to be figured out. Eventually we found a nice spot with a little help from the homie Skitzo.

Skitzo and his merch guy helped us secure a little space to operate and it was on and popping. We were a few yards away from the Clown Drip Stage, so it turned out to be a good location. The full spectrum of the Gathering was starting to reveal itself. When I looked around in every direction and saw nothing but tent cities, Juggalos, Juggalettes, and everything in between I have to admit, it took a minute to adjust.

I obviously wasn’t around for the Grateful Dead shows or the original Woodstock, but there seemed to be a lot of those similar type elements present that I had either read about or heard about (but with a Juggalo stamp on it). There were people cooking out, selling drugs, taking drugs, drinking like fish, passed out, side hustles, double side hustles, naked men and women, and some far out individuals. I can’t stress enough how unique the atmosphere was.

 

4:40pm

My homie Skitzo hit the Clown Drip Stage and the place started jumping. Juggalos and Juggalettes filled the area to hear the mad man from Kalamazoo drop his rhymes. I walked over and took in the set. It was hot out, but Skitzo was coming with a fierce performance that made me forget everything but the music.

The Juggalos were digging the scene and everyone was having a good time. This was what it was all about. Live music my friends, gathering with good people, no trouble, just a good old fashioned party and boy, did I sure miss those over the last year or so. The GOTJ was like a dope concert, picnic, party, and vacation all rolled into one, with Carnie food slathered on top. I was where I needed to be.

To be continued……

Signing Off,

Mike Shepard

ROX-TV Head Writer

kidvicious810 on IG