Riddle Box
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| Riddle Box | ||||||||||||||
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| Studio album by Insane Clown Posse | ||||||||||||||
| Released | October 10, 1995 | |||||||||||||
| Recorded | 1994 – 1995 | |||||||||||||
| Genre | Horrorcore, Midwest hip hop | |||||||||||||
| Length | 70:40 | |||||||||||||
| Label | Battery/Psychopathic | |||||||||||||
| Producer | Mike E. Clark ICP |
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| Insane Clown Posse chronology | ||||||||||||||
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Riddle Box is the third studio album by American hip hop group Insane Clown Posse, released on October 10, 1995 by Battery Records. It is the third Joker's Card entry in the group's Dark Carnival saga. The eponymous Riddle Box is a jack-in-the-box that decides whether your soul is sent to Shangri-La or Hell's Pit in the afterlife. The album's themes mostly revolve around those of death; in "12", Insane Clown Posse rapper Violent J takes revenge and kills 12 juror members who were involved in sentencing him to death. There are four different versions of the album: the standard pressing, a version containing a bonus track of snippets from four Hed PE songs, a version with reversed colors on the disc and a remastered version. Riddle Box was the second Insane Clown Posse album to be certified Gold. The album spawned one single, "The Joker's Wild".
The album contains 16 studio tracks. "Chicken Huntin'", which was remixed for Riddle Box, was previously released on Insane Clown Posse's 1994 album The Ringmaster. "Dead Body Man" was also previously released in 1994, on the group's second EP The Terror Wheel, in a slightly lower key.
The album makes several references to American popular culture. "The Joker's Wild" is based on the quiz show of the same name, though Insane Clown Posse's rendition is set in Hell and is used as a means to punish the wicked rather than reward people. "Ol' Evil Eye" is loosely based around Edgar Allan Poe's famous short story The Tell-Tale Heart, and features excerpts from the story being read.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
| # | Title | Time | Writer(s) | Producer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Intro" | 1:23 | ||
| 2 | "Riddle Box" | 2:51 | Mike E. Clark ICP |
Mike E. Clark ICP |
| 3 | "The Show Must Go On" | 5:07 | Mike E. Clark ICP |
Mike E. Clark ICP |
| 4 | "Chicken Huntin'" (Slaughter House Mix) | 3:42 | Mike E. Clark D. Greenburg H. Dodd M. Niles ICP |
Mike E. Clark D. Greenburg H. Dodd M. Niles ICP |
| 5 | "Interview" | 0:47 | ||
| 6 | "Toy Box" | 5:24 | Mike E. Clark ICP |
Mike E. Clark ICP |
| 7 | "Cemetery Girl" | 5:08 | Mike E. Clark ICP |
Mike E. Clark ICP |
| 8 | "3 Rings" | 4:50 | Mike E. Clark ICP |
Mike E. Clark ICP |
| 9 | "Headless Boogie" | 4:22 | Mike E. Clark ICP |
Mike E. Clark ICP |
| 10 | "The Joker's Wild" | 4:56 | Mike E. Clark ICP |
Mike E. Clark ICP |
| 11 | "Dead Body Man" | 4:20 | Mike E. Clark ICP |
Mike E. Clark ICP |
| 12 | "Lil' Somthin' Somthin'" | 5:28 | Mike E. Clark ICP |
Mike E. Clark ICP |
| 13 | "Ol' Evil Eye" | 4:53 | Mike E. Clark ICP Edgar Allan Poe |
Mike E. Clark ICP |
| 14 | "12" | 6:35 | Mike E. Clark ICP |
Mike E. Clark ICP |
| 15 | "The Killing Fields" | 4:55 | Mike E. Clark ICP |
Mike E. Clark ICP |
| 16 | "I'm Coming Home" | 5:52 | Mike E. Clark ICP Errol Brown |
Mike E. Clark ICP |
[edit] Bonus tracks
- "4 Track Sampler" (Hed PE) – 6:06
[edit] Message
Time flows like a dark horde, consuming all in its path. Man lives his life in the blink of an eye. Just as day becomes night, all life fades into death. In death each person will be judged for his deeds performed while alive. There are the few who walk a life of purpose, and there are those who trod the path of greed, their souls host to demons. Time slows near each person's end. Those whose deeds were evil grasp onto life as long as they can because, though they don't know what awaits them in the afterlife, they feel for them it is a horror beyond words. Time stops in this world, as the heart becomes still and the soul leaves the body. In the afterlife time is eternal, and even death is but a new beginning. For you see, when you step into death your soul steps upon the floor of a dark chamber and you look to see it empty, except for a strange looking box on an old wooden table. On the front of the box, you will see a painted question mark faded with time and a twisted crank handle on its side. Turning the handle, a sharp melodic tune will fill the air. For the evil ones this sound will be a deafening noise reverberating off the walls and building into a climatic terror. But the surprise is when the music stops as you slowly turn the handle... and then the top of the box pops. For the few, they will see a vision of God with a golden light warming their souls as they step forth into eternal peace. For most they will see a fog seeping from the box, stripping their sanity, as they witness an image of hell, spawned and formed from their own evil; a hideous reflection of their demented souls. The floor of the room begins falling away as they plummet into a bottomless pit full of shadowy creatures, forever to be lost in a sinister void. What will be in store for you is the mystery, but if you take a look within yourself you will find the answer. For now, you still have time to change the outcome of... the mighty Riddle Box.
[edit] Song notes
The intro and interview tracks are not listed on the back cover.
During the skit in the album intro, a song can be heard playing on the car radio. The song is "Southwest Strangla", a track Shaggy 2 Dope recorded for his first studio album Shaggs the Clown which was ultimately scrapped; this being the only remaining song from the album's sessions. The song was later released on Forgotten Freshness.[2]
In the album's booklet where it shows the Joker's Cards it says, "There will be six faces of the Dead Carnival," instead of "the Dark Carnival."
The song "Cemetery Girl" contains a sample from "Guts on the Ceiling", a song from Insane Clown Posse's debut album, Carnival of Carnage.
The song "Riddle Box" was featured in the 2002 film Solaris.
An alternate intro exists with the name of the album being "The Joker's Gallery" and not The Riddle Box.[3]
A slower version of "The Show Must Go On" with different beats, lyrics and chorus exists. [4]
A alternate unreleased version of "Ol' Evil Eye" exists. [5]
"3 Ring"'s original ending would have connected with "Lil' Something' Somethin'" if "Headless Boogie", ""The Joker's Wild", and "Dead Body Man" were not on this album.[citation needed]
"I'm Coming Home" contains a sample from "Confetti Day" by Hot Chocolate.[6]
[edit] Personnel
- Violent J – vocals
- Shaggy 2 Dope – vocals, turntables
- Mike E. Clark – turntables, production
[edit] References
- ^ (2004) in Brackett, Nathan: The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon and Schuster, 405–6. ISBN 0743201698.
- ^ Insane Clown Posse Discography. Psychopathic Records. Retrieved on 2008-05-28.
- ^ Alternate Intro. Psychopathic Records. Retrieved on 2008-05-28.
- ^ The Show Must go on alternate. Psychopathic Records. Retrieved on 2008-05-28.
- ^ Ol' Evil Eye Alternate Version. Psychopathic Records. Retrieved on 2008-05-28.
- ^ Release information for Riddle Box. Discogs. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
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