Horrorcore royalty and all-around wicked clowns Insane Clown Posse (ICP) delved into their history as nu metal contemporaries and occasional admirers in an interview with Loudwire.
Shaggy 2 Dope addressed the nu metal label that has sometimes been applied to ICP.
“We consider ourselves rappers, but not everybody considers us rappers because we're too rock-influenced for rap and too rap-influenced for rock so we’re always caught in the middle,” Shaggy said. “Our music is very heavily rock-influenced, there's no question.”
Violent J added ICP tended to stick out from the crowd during nu metal’s first heyday.
“For a long time, neither genre wanted to claim us … nu metal was cool but we don't have a band so other nu metal bands were like ‘Ah, fuck them,’” J said. “But today, in 2025, people are a lot more open-minded.”
While expressing admiration for the classic grunge records of Pearl Jam and Nirvana, J said he is a fan of post-grunge pariahs Puddle of Mudd.
“I think Wes [Scantlin] is kind of crazy, but I definitely am a fan,” J said. “No genius is not crazy.”
The clowns also recalled the experience of seeing a young Rage Against The Machine playing to about 300 people when the two were working at St. Andrew’s Hall in their home city of Detroit.
“There's steps up to the dressing room and I was sitting on the steps and when they're coming down the steps, I'm like, ‘I ain't going to say anything, I'm too cool to say anything. We got albums out in this city … I ain't saying nothing to these guys,’” J said. “So they walk by and they go up there and the show they put on literally fucking mesmerized me, blew me away. I mean, I'll never forget it if I live to be 190.”
Shaggy shared his experience seeing Rage open for House of Pain and said the nascent rap-rockers outdid the very group they were opening for.
“He [Zack de la Rocha] didn't stop the whole like 40 minutes,” Shaggy said. “Crystal clear, he sounded exactly like he did on the record … I was sprung like a bitch after that.”
“Who was going to follow Rage?” J added. “It’s impossible.”
ICP also shouted out Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, throwing back to the guest appearance he did on ICP’s “Bitch Betta Have My Money” and speaking about the new wave of Bizkit love.
“I like Fred Durst and I think it's so great to see Limp Bizkit smashing it right now,” J said. “When you're the biggest band in the world, which Limp Bizkit was in like ‘97 … people were tired of him, but now it's part of people's nostalgia, so they love him again.”
Shaggy gave props to the genre’s MCs, both old and new, and shouted out City Morgue, Kim Dracula and Nathan James.
“You've got motherfuckers in nu metal that, during the parts where they do rap, they spit insanely fucking good,” Shaggy said.
Shaggy and J agreed that the nu metal of today is better than the nu metal of the past, particularly with regard to new artists’ familiarity with rap as an artform.
“I know a lot of them [newer artists] came up listening to rap too, so they know how to do it,” Shaggy said.
The two also agreed on a shared love of nu metal founding fathers Korn.
“Korn was the hardest shit I ever heard when that came out,” Shaggy said. “That 'Blind' song, that shit was mind-bending. I was such a hip-hop head at the time, but I bumped that record insanely.”
“Korn came busting through the wall like Kool-Aid Man,” J added. “It just left a hole for everybody else to follow. They're innovators. They changed music forever.”
