The Luckiest Clowns on Earth

Violent J of the rap duo Insane Clown Posse couldn’t believe his quick turn of fortune this week after Disney-owned Hollywood Records pulled the Detroit group’s obscenity-laced new album from stores on Tuesday because of “inappropriate” lyrics.

The “funeral-like” depression from Tuesday’s action was turned into elation by Friday as Violent J and partner Shaggy 2 Dope were at the center of a media firestorm as they flew west to meet with Interscope Records, the controversial Westwood company that is the hottest label in the record business.

“It’s unbelievable,” Violent J said early Friday before boarding a morning flight from Detroit. “Insane Clown Posse, when this is all said and done, will be a household name. . . . The fact is, if you look at a newspaper in a few years and see that Insane Clown Posse is playing at the Roxy, you’re going to want to see us. . . . All this press is like a dream come true.”

Indeed, before Hollywood’s virtually unprecedented action vaulted the cartoonish group into the national spotlight, Insane Clown Posse was all but unknown outside the Midwest, where its frenetic live shows--in which the rappers wear clown makeup and spray the crowd with dozens of bottles of Detroit-brewed Faygo soda pop--have earned the duo a fanatical following.

“Insanely fanatical,” said the group’s manager, Alex Abbiss, who has said he believes Disney is acting in response to a recent boycott of the company and its products announced by the Southern Baptists, whose congregations represent 15 million members. “I would say that one in every four ICP fans has a tattoo of the band on his arm or leg. And tattoos are for life, so there you go.”

Appealing mainly to young white males, the young white rappers--Violent J is 25, Shaggy 2 Dope is 23--have sold a combined 250,000 copies of their first three albums, two of which they released independently. The third is on Jive-affiliated Battery Records.

Despite the group’s status as a cult favorite in the Midwest--the Detroit Free Press called it “the hottest thing happening on the Detroit-area music scene” and described its shows as “just possibly the wildest to come out of the Motor City since Iggy Pop contorted himself and frolicked in busted glass two decades ago”--there was no indication that Insane Clown Posse was going to break through on a national level with its new album, “The Great Milenko.”

Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, high school dropouts whose real names are Joe Bruce and Joey Ulster, had been trying without success to build a national audience since they formed six years ago, filling their “horror rap” albums with sexually explicit, often offensive lyrics, carnival sounds, demented clown voices and demonic laughter.

And Hollywood Records, which was launched in 1989, has yet to release an album, other than soundtracks and reissues, that has sold well enough to be certified gold.

But now the Insane Clown Posse, which has been described as a cross between the Beastie Boys and KISS, is meeting with Interscope, which has turned out a string of hits by such acts as No Doubt, the Wallflowers and the late Tupac Shakur.

The label, which was dropped by Time Warner two years ago because of a flap over rap lyrics, is no stranger to notoriety as the home of controversial rock acts Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails.

“We would be at home with Interscope,” said Violent J. “They’ve seen it all before and been through it all before, so I’m hoping something will go down with them.”

In a statement released earlier this week, Hollywood Records said the record contained lyrics that were “inappropriate for a product released under any label of our company,” but Violent J said the label was misinterpreting the duo’s music.

“Listen to the record,” said the rapper. “You’ll find that everybody who dies is a bigot or a racist or a selfish rich person. It’s my anger and my feelings--it’s all real--but it’s magnified and colored up so it’s entertaining. We’re straight out of a comic book. We’re superheroes.”

The rapper said the group also has been approached by Geffen Records and Jive Records. (Only Interscope would officially confirm that it was meeting with the group.)

As of midday Friday, however, Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope were still tied to Hollywood as attorneys for both sides met to decide their fate. A three-week tour next month, which was to have included a July 21 show at the Troubadour, has been canceled.