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Hallowicked Tricks & Treats
Twelve years ago, I carved “ICP Rulez” on my desk in middle school — it was probably the most rebellious thing I had ever done. Fresh out of high school, Real Detroit took me on as their intern, where I inherited the annual Halloween ICP story … and now here I am … five or six interviews deep with the clowns ... and I still have love for ‘em.
You can love them or you can fucking hate them, but you can’t deny that ICP have solidified a place for themselves in the biz without any backing from a major label. Currently, ICP are sitting pretty on the Psychopathic Records Empire, which includes everything from a subsidiary label to a wrestling federation to an annual Hallowicked concert in Detroit that sells out every year. It’s fair to say that ICP have done OK for themselves.
Violent J took some time to talk to me (again) before ICP headed off on a Hallowicked mini-tour.
Now that you and Shaggy 2 Dope have kids and families, how hard is it to tour?
It’s a lot harder now. It’s not harder being in ICP — touring is hard because now you have a reason to stay home. Everything still feels the same as it always has. We’re older, but it’s still just as much of a challenge. Also, when you think you’ve mastered the game, the game changes. When people ask how you go about starting a label, I tell them I don’t have any idea today, it’s a different world today. I have no idea how a young independent artist would make money. It’s a whole different industry.
How is Psychopathic Records handling the shitty economy? Especially being an indie label from Michigan.
We’re not red hot. We’re from Michigan, but we’re not red hot in any one place. We’re spread out across the nation and under the radar. A lot of times we stay the same no matter what’s going on with the economy because we’re not that much a part of it. We’re not the number one thing anywhere, we’re underground and we provide entertainment for people. No matter how bad the economy is, you’ve got to smile and be happy. There’s genuine real magic … whether I’m sitting here as a 36-year-old man or sitting here as a 19-year-old kid, there’s very real magic involved in everything we do.
Was there ever a certain point in your career where you thought, “Hey, ICP really made it?”
Yeah, when we first got our gold record. Some people would say we never made it. A couple months ago I was at the bookstore and I bought these two encyclopedias of rock that list every band there is. They listed every group and we weren’t in either one of those. I was like, “Damn, we got two platinum albums and a bunch of gold and we don’t count?” Whoever wrote those would definitely think we don’t matter.
What do you have planned for this year’s Hallowicked?
We always like to switch it up and do songs we haven’t done in a long time, songs we have to go back and re-learn. The way the show is structured this year, and the ways the guests come out, we'll have to bring twice as much Faygo as we normally do. | RDW
ICP Hallowicked • 10/31 • The Fillmore
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