Search - Icp :: Calm

I've NEVER been motivated to review a music album till now..

Hiro Tsukasa | KY USA | 06/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

".....and the entire reason I'm deciding to review this is because of the ironic reviews I've already seen. I'll be straight up with whoever is reading this right now, I don't consider nor would I call myself a Juggalo. However, I first heard ICP around the time The Great Milenko was coming out and fell in love with the cd and proceeded to track down anything they had at the time. I went on to get ahold of the Amazing Jeckel Brothers as well in the future (Riddle Box was always my favorite). Time passed however and by some grace of fate, every ICP cd I had left my possession by some means (A good number I gave to a friend who loved ICP far greater than anyone else I've known). ICP just sort of slipped to the back of mind as they marched on with their career.



Not a month ago, a memory of Riddle Box came to my mind. Needing to quell the song stuck in my head, I marched to the local music store to buy a copy of Riddle Box. To my suprise they had every major ICP album EXCEPT Riddle Box. I settled on The Great Milenko, since it was always one of my personal favorites. From there, I began to wonder how their final Joker's Card turned out and moved to pick up The Wraith and Hell's Pit. This eventually led to me picking up The Calm the week of its release.



Now, this has been a long story but I'm getting to the point right now. I'm not a Juggalo, I've never been to a Gathering of The Juggalo's, I've never seen any Psychopathic Records band live, I don't much care for the taste of Faygo (ICP has made Faygo a interesting thing though), but I am an avid music fan and I follow what ICP is trying to do. I guess that's what you Juggalo's would call down with the clown. This album is different from what you'd expect if you listened to AJB or TGM, but it is a very solid album and shows good hope for release of The Tempest next year. Every track comes up as at least decent in the end (with Rollin' Over and Rosemary as the two shining tracks IMO).



And in closing of this review I'll explain the point for my rather lengthy side story that pertains no connection to the quality of this cd. Juggalo's are susposed to always be down with the clown and they're also susposed to not give a d*** about what anybody else says...I believe at one of those Seminars Violent J said referring to the release of The Wraith, "Once this album comes out and you listen to it...you're either with us or get out."



And to my suprise when reading over the reviews of The Calm (And for that matter some reviews in both The Wraith and Hell's Pit), what do I see? A bunch of reviews from people who talk about being Juggalo's and "I've been down with ICP since X years" all saying that oh it's not as good as their old s***, I hope they go back to the old s***.



As I've stated, I'm not a Juggalo...but I can understand the fact that a Juggalo shouldn't give a crap about what anyone says, they shouldn't twist and rack their lives to fit some standard and make someone happy....yet this is what you're doing to ICP in turn. "They need to go back to that wicked s***"...in simpler terms, "Don't do or write what you want to write, go back to writing the old stuff that I liked"........"Bring back such a such Producer cause they can't produce themselves"...in simpler terms, "Don't try doing what you want for a change, just do what I already know and enjoy cause I didn't quite enjoy the way you did it."



That's really sad. One of the brightest things I always saw about ICP was how, although smaller than a large label act, they had a very tightnit and close fan base. A fanbase that stood behind them unwavering on everything they did....only now, to start criticizing them and wishing them away from doing what they want to do.



For Juggalo's: If you're truly one, why haven't you bought it yet?



For "Juggalo's": It's not like Milenko, It's not like Jeckel Brothers, It's definatly not like Riddle Box. You won't find any super Wicked S*** like the "old good stuff" on this album so just buy it to confirm to your friends you're a Juggalo and then go bash it on some forum or write it up a mediocre review here on Amazon.



For Music Fans (Like myself): A bit short (But what do you expect from an EP?), but if you like music with a good beat and thought provoking/comedic/and all around entertaining lyrics, it's worth a look. (And at a usual price of about five bucks, it's a nice sample)"

I'm a Juggalo and this CD is.... Crap!

TMRMPJ | Chicago | 03/03/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I love ICP, they created our thing, developed our thing, and work harder then any other music group in this industry... And maybe that's the problem.



This CD is flipping terrible, not one thing I want to listen to on it (Luckly it only cost me 5 bucks). It's beats and lyrics were crap. This is definately ICP's worst CD.



Now I'm not saying ICP is gonna disappear like all these Armagedon types and I don't have a beef with them switching from Mike Clark to Mike P and Moving back to Mike Clark again (Both of those guys know how to make good beats for em). I'm just saying this was ICP's worst album and that's bad since they are not about talent but are about a combination of gimmik, message (Yeah there is a message so FU), and insanity.



ICP is a special group, yeah maybe in the paint chip eating way but they are still special. Their big problem is, they are going to burn themselves out! They have been out for 13 years and have 19 CD's out! That's just ICP CD's not including Psycopathic family stuff which is another 7 CD's! So these guys have done 2 CD's a year in their entire career. Name one person in the Industry that is prolific as that! You can't!



What I'm saying is relax guys, ---- you made your point. You created something all on your own, something that others wish they could do.



Take a year off, hell take two you made 26 god dammed CD's. Enjoy yourselves, sign more talent to your label. Oh and fix those dammed contracts, they piss people off. ABK should not have left Psychopathic it is a mistake for both him and Psychopathic. If anything him and Blaze should have done more stuff together, they just make a good team.



-PS on E-Sham he works better alone, I don't know why it's just the way it is with him. He should stick with solo albums and N.A.T.A.S. Psychopathic is just not a fit for him.



That's all I really have to say, keep Strugglin my brothers."

Get at me doe

J. Doe | Pennsylvania | 05/07/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"i don't think i'd consider myself a juggalo, necessarily. i love icp, i love twiztid, and the whole psychopathic records, and all the stuff the label has put out has kept me in a pretty good mood throughout the garbage i've had to go through...so...maybe i am, i don't know. that's not the point. i was reading through some of these older album reviews and i was pretty upset by what some people have said about icp, their fans, and this record. hip hop heads have this tendency to be unbelievably elitist, and that's what i was reading, about how "our hip hop is better than your hip hop" and all this garbage. hip hop was started as a counterculture and because the mainstream cats just don't understand what we're all about...because it's different. so who are you to say what's too counterculture or not cool because you don't like it? grow up, man. if kids want to express themselves by painting their faces and spraying rootbeer, it's no weirder than you wanting to get a slab of cardboard and breakdance on a corner with your boys, or anything like that. i hate people who think they can tell everyone their music is great and everyone else is dumb because they don't like a million artists with goofy names who nobody but you and your boys have heard of because the dude probably recorded his mixtape in the backseat of your baby momma's car last week and now you're upset because he was throwing copies at people and nobody wanted it. nobody dissed you for that, so leave icp and their fans alone. as far as the record is concerned, it's not as good as some of their other albums, but i think in terms of ICP themselves, i like Violent J more with every release, and Shaggy's doing less rapping and more hyping, which is good and bad, he's as good of a hype man as he is an MC, if not better. the beats are a little more of a throwback to some of their older stuff, and they're a lot more on the up and "happy" side, compared to Hell's Pit, which was one of the darkest records on Psychopathic since the first Dark Lotus cd. the lyrics are pretty funny most of the time, especially Violent J, who I'm starting to think while he might not be the greatest MC ever, is one of the wittiest MCs I've ever heard, the rhyme schemes might not be jaw dropping, but he's a very funny guy. I'm interested to see what these guys do now that the Joker's Saga is over and a lot of their supergroups are on hold (two of the seven members of Psychopathic Rydas, the sixth member of Dark Lotus, and two of the three MCs in Soopa Villainz are all no longer on the label). It ought to be an interesting next few years, sportsfans. stay tuned. and everyone who doesn't like icp doesn't have to listen to them. it shouldn't be hard...they're not on BET's Freestyle Filez or MTV's TRL or on your radio unless you live in the D...and i'm not even sure they're on the radio there either. thanks for listening to me ramble."