Steve 'Flash' JuonDid Psychopathic Records need a rap rock group? Zug Izland is your answer. Violent J is almost the entire reason they exist. He reportedly wanted to know what “Juggalo Rock” would sound like and recruited a singer named Syn to give life to his vision. The juggalo army was large and diverse enough in the early 2000’s to welcome more members into their fold, and Insane Clown Posse could have literally released an album of themselves farting into microphones and sold a million copies. Thankfully “Cracked Tiles” is a bit more than that.
As someone who has never hated nu metal (which has always been fashionable to do, even at the peak of its popularity) there’s nothing wrong with songs like “Fly” featuring ICP. It’s not as good as anything from the 2003 you’d hear from Korn or Linkin Park, but it’s also not so bad that it couldn’t have been played in a mix next to either one. Given all the members of the band hail from Detroit, you can easily picture mosh pits forming at the same clubs that Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope had sprayed down with Faygo. I’ll even go as far as saying I’m a bit shocked I never heard songs like “Dreams” on rock stations — not even satellite radio ones. There might have been some unfair bias against Psychopathic here.
“Cracked Tiles” is a bit of a mystery though. The songs here were reportedly written and recorded at the same time as ICP’s “The Wraith: Shangri-La,” and (go ahead and prove me wrong) I think that’s where Psychopathic Records was putting all of their focus. That album would eventually go gold and No. 1 on the independent charts, while Zug Izland’s debut peaked at No. 33 on said same. That’s some strong juggalo loyalty to push the album that high in the first place. I can’t find any evidence of any singles from “Cracked Tiles” or any music videos recorded for it. In fact even digging up any live performances of the songs on it is a chore, though I did eventually score one for “Hiroshima” that was uploaded by a fan (and not flagged for a copyright strike by the label or band).
I’m not sure I can make of this dichotomy. Why conceive of Juggalo Rock, go out of your way to write it and record it, distribute it on your own label and do shit all to promote it? Even with Violent J working on an ICP album at the exact same time there has to be more to the story than that. It’s not as if Zug Izland disappeared right away either. They put out a second album on Psychopathic, went away for a few years, released a “greatest hits” album (which is always a bit comical when you’ve only made two albums total) and they’re still around today — albeit with a completely different lineup to when they started. The lead singer Syn is the only one who has been in the band from day one until now, but guitarist Mike P. and drummer 2 Phat come close to equaling his tenure. P only gives up being tied with Syn because he took a five year hiatus from the band in the 2000’s.
At the start I asked “Did Psychopathic Records need a rap rock group?” Let’s ask an even more pertinent question though — does Zug Izland need to exist? I was tempted to say no given their own label’s seeming lack of faith in promoting them, but I found myself enjoying “Cracked Tiles” despite that. It’s not the best of its own genre, but I’d rate it higher than “Hard to Swallow,” an album from a far whiter white boy whose own turn to nu metal was even more surprising. In the end that’s the answer to the questions that have been posed here. If Robert Van Winkle could do it and not completely suck ass at it, then surely the minds behind ICP could do it better. Guess what? They did.