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Local Juggalos anticipate the arrival of the Insane Clown Posse on Nov. 22. + Enlarge

LITTLE ROCK — Will Doe exclaims: "It's gonna be insane!"

It's a weekday night in late October when Doe effuses this opinion about the still month-away visit of Detroit hip-hop duo Insane Clown Posse to The Village, but Doe's excitement is irrepressible.

"I was at the Gathering of the Juggalos this year, but this is in my home state where I was born, and this is my first time to see them in Arkansas," the Jacksonville resident said. "It's gonna be the best; like our own little gathering. And it's here in Arkansas!"

Such is the passion the Faygo-loving, face-paint sporting duo of Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope evoke in their legion of fans, affectionately known as Juggalos. While Beatlemania made teenage girls squeal with excitement, and the Grateful Dead’s legion of Deadheads created a culture of tie-dye, grass and cheap cheese burritos, Juggalos are simply a different breed.

It's hard to exactly describe a Juggalo, a term originating from the Insane Clown Posse tune "The Juggla" from the duo's 1992 debut album Carnival of Carnage. Certainly it starts with an appreciation for the duo's mixture of hip-hop and rock with fantasy-based, menacing lyrics, creating a genre of music known as horrorcore. But there's no rule stating you have to savor the cheap, sugary high of Faygo soft drinks, layer your face in paint like the duo or even sport a running hatchetman tattoo. If the music touches your soul and the words offer a positive experience, you're in; you're down with the clown as a Juggalo.

"When you meet a real-down Juggalo you know it," said Doe, as he is known to his Juggalo brothers and Juggalette sisters. "They're not looking for a fight. They're not trying to cause trouble. Everyone's a little crazy, and we all are. But there's no judgment in the Juggalo family. We'll go out of our way to help you out. We're out here to have fun, make peace and listen to some good music."

Being a Juggalo is more than a love of a particular band's music though. It's a lifestyle, a dependence on others who don't neatly fit into well-defined social cliques. If it's music or personalities marginalized by society, rebellious or underground, it belongs under the Juggalo umbrella.

"You can listen to Johnny Cash and be a Juggalo," said Ouija Voss, an Insane Clown Posse fan from Conway.

Doe and Voss are two members of the Arkansas Juggalo Family, a 95-person strong, online-based family consisting of individuals ranging in age from their late teens to their 30s with names such as The Psychotic Gangsta, Faygo Queen and Syko Sid from central Arkansas communities and small towns such as Malvern, Paragould and Greenbrier who are down with the clown.

"You take on a whole family when you become a Juggalo," Doe said. "You're taken care of. It's like a gigantic family."

The Jacksonville couple of Kimki B. Juggalo and Neon S. Juggalo oversee the Arkansas Juggalo Family's Web site. It's their devotion to the scary blend of rock and hip-hop that led them to create the Insane Clown Posse-centric site, but the site now embraces all artists associated with Insane Clown Posse's Psychopathic Records and similar Arkansas acts.

While artists release concept albums, Insane Clown Posse has constructed a concept career around the fictional mythology of their Dark Carnival series of albums. Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope first started making music in the late '80s before releasing a series of albums through their own Psychopathic Records, creating a fusion of rock- and hip-hop powered tunes with violent lyrics meant to be interpreted as pure, carnival-based fantasy entertainment.

"I was drawn in by the crazy lyrics and their antics on stage," said family member Payaso, who noted "Mr. Johnson's Head" from 1994's Ringmaster was the first Insane Clown Posse tune that captured his adolescent attention. "The lyrics are all supposed to be fantasy. They pretend to be wicked. Every song is a mini-horror movie in your mind."

A handful of albums by the duo sold well in the late '90s thanks to tunes such as "Another Love Song" and "Terrible," and the controversy surrounding the duo's 1997 album The Great Milenko being pulled from stores by the Disney-owned record label Hollywood Records, But mainly the duo is now a mainstream head-scratcher dearly beloved by their Juggalos. Which is why in the Arkansas Juggalo Family's corner of the Internet, the enthusiasm over Sunday's show is electric. While the majority might sit on the sidelines with puzzled faces, the Juggalos will be celebrating the arrival of their heroes.

"They make the kind of music that they want to make and do not care about the rest of it," Doe said. "They've created their own mainstream in the underground. I was a Juggalo before I knew about them. I've been a Juggalo my whole life.

"Give them a try. That's all I ask for. It's all I hope. You might actually like it. We all love the music so much that we turned it into a lifestyle. But to each his own."

Sidebar:

Insane Clown Posse visits The Village on Sunday as part of their Bang Pow Boom! Tour with general admission tickets available for $22 for the all-ages show. The doors open at 6 p.m. with the music starting at 7 p.m. The opening bands are North Little Rock punk cabaret act Flameing Daeth Fearies, Michigan hardcore rap group The Dayton Family and California-based hardcore rock band (hed) p.e.