Dog Beats

In the early 1990s, Joseph Bruce, Joseph Utsler and Utsler's brother, John, performed at local night clubs, using the stage names Violent J, 2 Dope, and John Kickjazz, under the name of their gang, Inner City Posse. Seeing a need for a manager, Bruce's brother Robert recommended his friend and record store owner Alex Abbiss, who established the Psychopathic Records record label with the group in 1991. Later that year the group released the self-produced EP entitled Dog Beats. Growing popularity in the local music scene turned negative for the group's gang, which became the target of growing violence. After receiving jail sentences, the group members abandoned gang life. Music and lyricism Dog Beats began recording at Miller Midi Productions in Detroit, Michigan with Chuck Miller producing and mastering the album. Joseph Bruce samples several clips from the film The Wizard of Oz in "Wizard of the Hood". The song was originally written by Bruce sometime in the late 1980s. The first recorded version of the song appeared on the Intelligence and Violence EP under the name "Wizard of Delray". Album artwork For the cover, Bruce had his friend, Don, hang from a rope in Delray dressed as a clown. Don would later perform with ICP in their early days as a hype man, but after an embarrassing concert at Ferris State University, and tired of being just a hype man, he decided to quit the group. Joseph Utsler drew a jester marionette holding up the "ICP" logo. Inner City Posse wanted the artwork to have typesetting and presentation that looked professional, so Alex Abbiss hired a graphic designer to process the materials, which included a photograph of the group, into a cover. The designer told them that he had to charge them 50 cents more than the usual fee for every typesetting that was larger than the standard type; the designer attempted to charge them a $10 fee for the explicit lyrics box, which would have featured white letters over a black background. As the designer continued to describe the fees the group would be charged, they realized that they were being ripped off. == Release ==

Dog Beats was Psychopathic Records' first release; Bruce wanted the album to be "available everywhere" because people would not expect a local act to be as widely released. The group members took turns going out with unattractive women who worked at Kinkos in exchange for having their fliers promoting the album printed for free. A snowstorm delayed the group's performance, and because there were no microphones, the performance consisted of Bruce and Utsler "yelling over [their] own cassette". After they finished their two-song set, Bruce stated that the audience "didn't cheer or boo. They just stood there, stunned." Bruce and Utsler later learned that the actual concert had taken place on the other side of the college three hours earlier, but decided that the mishap "wasn't even close to slowing [their careers] down." Abbiss actively sought out local airplay for Inner City Posse, but radio broadcasters were reluctant to play the single "Dog Beats" once they learned that the members were white. While trying to get stations to play the single, Bruce learned that one of the stations he and Abbiss visited would be interviewing local rapper Esham, who Bruce considered to be a "superstar"; Bruce had recently begun to collect Esham's albums, as he had done with other local rappers; by the time he had discovered Esham, the rapper had released two full-length albums and three EPs. Bruce met Esham for the first time at the station and appraised him. Esham wished Bruce well and Bruce gave the rapper a copy of Dog Beats, beginning the two rappers' friendship and professional relationship. In late 1991, the group invested more money into production than was covered by returns. The group decided that its gangsta rap style was the cause of the problem: Most emcees at the time used similar styles, making it difficult for Inner City Posse to distinguish itself stylistically. After the change in musical style, the group decided it needed a new name. Utsler suggested keeping the "I.C.P." initials to inform the community that Inner City Posse was not defunct, an idea to which the group agreed. Several names were considered before Bruce recalled his dream of a clown running around in Delray, which became the inspiration for the group's new name: Insane Clown Posse. The other members agreed, deciding that they would take on this new genre and name, and would all don face paint due to the success of their former clown-painted hype man. Upon returning home that night, Bruce says he had a dream in which "spirits in a traveling carnival appeared to him"—an image that would become the basis for the Dark Carnival mythology detailed in the group's Joker's Cards series, beginning with Carnival of Carnage. == Legacy ==

"Wizard of the Hood" was later re-released, slightly different, on ICP's debut album Carnival of Carnage. The album was reissued on CD at the Gathering of the Juggalos 2000. ==Tracks==

• "Ghetto Zone" – 5:58 • "Wizard of the Hood" – 5:18 • "Life at Risk" – 4:04 • "Dog Beats" – 4:51 • "Ask You Somethin'" (2021 re-release bonus track) – 2:45 ==References==