Is there room for success and history in the Michigan Underground? Part 2 of 2

Continued from Part 1…

So yes, those were just a sample of the amazing music pouring out of Detroit and Flint. The nineties were so thick with releases, a person almost needed an umbrella to keep from getting knocked out. As a fan of the Flint and Detroit scene, it was really exciting to see things take off. Or at least that’s what we thought was going on. It felt like “ok, any minute, Michigan will finally get it’s due and conquer the rest of the country with it’s diverse and unique sounding style”. The wicked shit headed up by Acid Rap founder and pioneer Esham was out of this world. Project Born had signed with Psychopathic Records and released Born Dead in 1995, which featured ICP and Esham. ICP dropped Riddle Box on Jive/Battery. For Juggalos then and now, I think it would be safe to say that those years were some of the best. They were for me anyway.

And still, the cricket machines roared. Where was the big deal signings? Surely they would be around the corner with all the enthusiasm building. It just had to be…..but it seemed like someone or something was sabotaging things from far away. Just not letting the balloon rise any farther, that old invisible ceiling trick that disappoints and frustrates everyone. And then it finally happened, ICP was picked up from Jive/Battery by Hollywood Records for a rather large sum of money, or so the story goes. I wasn’t in the room so I can’t say I seen it, but that’s what I’ve read. I guess only the artists know the truth or the exact sequences of any of this and I put my trust in that.

Success finally lands for Michigan Underground Artists?

Well, sort of I guess. It started out well and good with Hollywood Records. Can victory be declared by someone signed by Disney, who only two years earlier was dropping an underground banger like “Ringmaster”? Can a couple of rag tag guys really live the dream, ride that wave, and go from making Dog Beats in 1991 to working for Mickey Mouse? (for fact checkers, I know Mickey Mouse isn’t a real person, just a cartoon) The whole story is really inspiring for a kid from the burbs or anywhere for that matter. Shit I’m fucking impressed even now.

The coolest jobs I ever worked was in the City of Detroit at the Detroit Medical Center on John R and Mack and the wonderful college campus of Wayne County Community College on Outer Drive, between 6 and 7 mile.

Sadly for me, I drank too much in my personal life and eventually drifted on. It’s a shame too because I loved the larger than life feel of Detroit. So much history was imbedded all over the city. The biggest thrill I ever had was working on Fort Street, downtown at the WCCCD campus. Detroit is truly a special place and for those brief years, I was happy to have been there. Among all the towering buildings, that magnificent skyline, and that beautiful Ambassador Bridge. I guess the lesson is don’t drink too much and shoot for the stars.

Back in 1997, I was 17 years old (long before my own troubles with substance abuse had got going) and was rooting for the Michigan Underground. It seemed that one of our own was doing the impossible and breaking through the walls of control and busting the ceilings of invisible barriers set forth by a music industry that for so long, wanted nothing to do with the Mitten. Then it happened, “The Great Milenko” dropped. It really was a great day for the Juggalos and we rushed out to buy those copies. Some of us may have even left school to do so. There was looming consequences of this release and within hours the worst case scenario bubbled up from the mud.

So there it was. That success was temporarily yanked from the Michigan scene and I don’t think anyone could really believe it. ICP was on MTV at that point more than their entire career combined which seemed hilarious. Was it all over? It seemed like no one really knew what to expect. I assume the industry was laughing behind closed doors somewhere about the whole event. But within a very short period of time, ICP was about to make a shit load of money from the publicity of the entire event.

The release of ICP from Hollywood Records and the transfer of “The Great Milenko” to Island Records may have been a bumpy ride, but “The Great Milenko” eventually went Platinum. Things seemed to have gone big time for the Insane Clown Posse but when the dust settled, it still seemed kind of strange and not really the fitting party it could have been. Nevertheless, the show must go on and it did. The next Joker’s card was “The Amazing Jeckel Brothers” and it was going to have some very big names on it. Some of rap’s most well known and loved artists would be making appearances including Snoop Dog and Ol Dirty Bastard. Even Ice T, who helped me get excited about rap music, from the very beginning did some recording with ICP for the project, but it didn’t land on the final cut and would be released on “Psychopathics from Outer Space” where the song apparently had a better fit. “The Amazing Jeckel Brothers” peaked at number 4 on the Billboard 200

Mission accomplished, now what…..

This is the part that is truly the most interesting, at least I feel like it is. Something happened with those two huge releases, something I had never planned for (even if we always hoped for it), my favorite underground rap group from Michigan had become commercially successful. Stop the record, or maybe the skips, who knows…but let me repeat that one more time because it feels good. A Michigan underground rap group, overcame enormous odds and hit a homerun times two. The Insane Clown Posse were successful, commercially verifiable. It was incredible at first but then wait a second…if an underground group becomes a hit, even if they didn’t change, doesn’t that violate the air space in the underground? Could a commercially successful group from the underground still be considered underground? I don’t think anyone knew.

No one could say that ICP had sold out because they did it all their way. But like I said, the fans were in this whole new arena. The fans started coming and they didn’t stop, from all over the world ICP’s name would be known from that point on. It was no longer two hundred kids standing in line at Wyatt Earp Records, it was thousands of new and old Juggalos flocking to the concerts.

The movement burned and churned for so long that there would be long lasting consequences for the group and for the Michigan underground as a whole. What happens when a group of nobodies performing for years, for a bunch of nobodies (both groups having been discredited by the mainstream and society) finally becomes the trend? Creating its own subculture within the music world. The early indications were unclear because time has to pass before anything can be truly judged properly. I don’t really like the word judged because again, how many people really have the right to judge others, especially when that group isn’t bothering anyone else.

The years would roll, like waves in Lake Michigan. The intense heat slowly burned off, and even if things would continue to be good, the years between 1997 and 2000 were definitely a high water mark that all of the Michigan underground should be proud of. The culture of the Juggalos grew during this time, with old fans passing the musical tastes to their own kids eventually. Words can not describe the pride I felt as the Juggalo Universe continued to get larger and larger. The scrubs had finally taken over and it was great.

In my own life, I would walk many roads and take different journeys in life, but I always kept an eye out for ICP, because after all, I owned a tiny little piece of that from years as a fan. No one owed me anything and I wasn’t looking for anything either. I didn’t need much. I struggled, was happy, was sad, and everything in between. Life is a ride and I took a really interesting drive.

So what’s the problem?

I’m not sure there ever really was one, it was more or less a question of how the underground deals with success. I mean, didn’t the reason the whole thing came together, the need for the underground start because of the “big shut out” by the mainstream? Those systems of controls that try to dictate who can hear what music, which prevented Michigan artists from being signed in the first place. The forces of the unknown that prevented Flint and Detroit artists from getting on the air. ICP had beat them and made it. Even more, they started a generational movement that is still going strong today.

When I started writing for ROX-TV I was pretty happy about it. I had been a drift for over eight years. I had joined the medical marijuana program in 2013 and officially started growing weed in 2014. I kicked a few ounces around Flint and the corn fields, but never really made anything from my efforts. The weed market can be tough and where I once thought I might be a long term farmer, the dream slowly died like everything else I had ever been a part of. For some reason, in this life I was just meant to be a traveler I suppose. I help people along the way, do good by people when I can, and try to be the best version of myself. It’s not always easy, but after writing a bit, I landed at ROX-TV.

My job? Working on music, the underground, going to shows, taking pictures, whatever is needed really. The pay is kind of tough, wait a second…do I get paid? No. I do this job to help give new up and coming artists a platform to speak to the world. One of the oddest and neatest things about the job was getting to speak with people. And this is where it gets interesting. The artists and fans, some of whom are twenty years younger than me, are for the most part Juggalos and supporters of the underground in Michigan.

I’m speechless. I interviewed California’s HEXXX at Cruisin The Barrio’s studios, and during the interview, he told me about his love for the Clownz and how they had inspired him with his music career. HEXXX is a great guy and he’s from California, and he’s telling me about a movement that I had been part of twenty some years ago. It turns out that the Juggalo show just kept rolling and getting bigger. It wasn’t the only time an artist I interviewed paid homage to ICP, it happened a lot.

And then I realized, my god, my underground scene wasn’t really underground anymore, at least not the one I had been involved with. My guy’s had made it big time. There was success and the scrubs and outcasts didn’t even have to look over their shoulder anymore. Our thing was an accepted practice and that felt so good. I almost felt kind of silly, because my frames of reference had always been ICP, Esham, Project Born, Natas, House of Krazees, and as it turns out, they aren’t the little guys anymore. They are the top shelf and all the cats I’m running into are fans of them.

I suddenly felt like maybe, I was out of place. Could I still walk around thinking I was underground, even if all my heroes had gone big time in one form or another? I didn’t know. ROX-TV has opened me up to whole new generations of Michigan Underground groups, but it isn’t just in Michigan. I’m interviewing people from Florida, Vermont, and California….this musical movement has really become nationwide.

So then I asked myself “why does anyone have to settle for that underground moniker anyway? I know it describes a certain feel and style, but shit…if ICP and Esham can do it, why can’t more of the underground cats do it?  At that point it became more clear to me I guess, that possibly….and my boss Bob will kill me for saying it, but could the underground continue to evolve to a point where they are literally the mainstream at some point? And I’m not talking about a few artists, I’m talking about the whole system changing or bending if you will to the needs of the underground. Is it possible?

I’m not advocating for anyone to stop being “underground” but I don’t think that word should prevent people and artists in Michigan and around the country from wanting real success. And if anyone does hit with success, be above the mindset of hating yourself for that success. The goal isn’t to play small clubs and venues for the rest of your life, the goal is to evolve and grow, always pushing forward. Will anyone get rich or successful from trying? I don’t know. But I do know this, if we limit our thinking and let others tell you what is and is not achievable, than we’ve lost already.

In Conclusion…

The underground started because people who enjoyed this music were locked out of the conversation. There was no president of the underground or governing body and there never will be. No one speaks for anyone but themselves and no one should try and limit anyone else’s success. The scrubs didn’t elect a president, either did the outcasts. Success shouldn’t be the enemy here, and if anyone gets it, they shouldn’t cast judgement on those trying to make it. No one is bigger than music and I don’t think anyone trying to be a singular force, dictating what is and isn’t will ultimately be successful.

We also have a body of history that we have all participated in, in one form or another. We should as a group, protect and preserve that history for future rap artists and anyone else that is curious enough to listen. Thirty plus years is a decent run of history in America and should be celebrated. I tip my hat to the originators of the Michigan Rap Underground tonight. Well done…..

 

Signing Off,

Mike Shepard

ROX-TV Head Writer

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