Joseph Frank "Joe" Bruce (born April 28, 1972) is an American rapper, record producer, professional wrestler and actor. Bruce is most commonly known as Violent J of the Insane Clown Posse (ICP).
He is the co-founder of the record label Psychopathic Records, with fellow ICP rapper Joseph Utsler (a.k.a Shaggy 2 Dope) and their former manager, Alex Abbiss. Also along with Utsler, Bruce is the co-founder of the professional wrestling promotion Juggalo Championship Wrestling, where he currently acts as commissioner.
In 1990, Bruce recorded his first solo release, Enter the Ghetto Zone, using two cassette players. One played the beat, while the other recorded, and Bruce stuck his head between the two and rapped. In 2003, Bruce released his second solo release Wizard of the Hood, which was an extended reference to the Wizard of the Hood songs which he recorded on Inner City Posse's Intelligence and Violence and Dog Beats, and Insane Clown Posse's Carnival of Carnage. In 2009, Bruce released the LP The Shining, which was initially given away for free at the 2008 Gathering of the Juggalos before being nationally released.
In late 1991, Inner City Posse changed their style, look, and name. Bruce recalled a dream of a clown running around in Delray, which became the inspiration for the group's new name: Insane Clown Posse. Upon returning home that night, Bruce 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. These stories each offer a specific lesson designed to change the "evil ways" of listeners before "the end consumes us all." Insane Clown Posse has a dedicated following, often referred to by the group as Juggalos and Juggalettes.
John Utsler left the group about a month before the release of Carnival of Carnage and Insane Clown Posse has since been composed of Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler, who perform under the respective personas of the murderous, wicked clowns Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. The duo perform a style of hardcore hip hop known as horrorcore, and is known for its dark, violent lyrics and elaborate live performances. Insane Clown Posse has earned two platinum and four gold albums. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the entire catalog of the group has sold 6.5 million units in the United States and Canada as of April 2007.
Golden Goldies was a comical group whose lyrics focused solely on gold. The group consisted of Psychopathic Record's employees and friends; Joseph Bruce (Golden Jelly), Joseph Utsler (Gold D), Robert Bruce (Golden Gram), Billy Bill (Gold Double B), Alex Abbiss (Gold Rocks), Mike E. Clark (Gold Digger), Rich Murrell (Golden Warrior), Frank G (Golden Frank), Keith (Gold Teeth), Josh (Rold Gold), Kelly Eubanks (Gold Spud), Fink the East Side G (Golden Toby), and Matt Mackalantie (Gold Spakalantie).
Their only LP, Gimme Them Fuckin' Nuggets Bitch, Or I'll Punch Your Fuckin' Face, was recorded in 1995 in a span of one week, and was not publicly released.Golden Goldies was a project put together by Insane Clown Posse for entertainment purposes only. To add more humor to the album, each artist was given only five minutes to write their verses, and had only one take to record them, which resulted in some artists messing up their lines, and lyrics containing "some very strange things." The group held only one live performance, which occurred at the record release party for Insane Clown Posse's Riddle Box.
Formed in 1999, Dark Lotus consists of Bruce and Utsler of Insane Clown Posse, Jamie Spaniolo and Paul Methric of Twiztid, and Chris Rouleau. Each member is said to "act as a 'petal' of the lotus," and it was announced that there would be six members. After switching between three different "sixth members," Marz, Vampiro and Anybody Killa, Dark Lotus decided to keep the group to only five.
Psychopathic Rydas formed in 1999, and consists of Psychopathic Records-associated rappers performing under alternate stage names in the style of mainstream gangsta rap. The group's current lineup consists of Bruce (Bullet), Utsler (Full Clip), Methric (Foe Foe), Spaniolo (Lil' Shank), Rouleau (Cell Block) and David Hutto (Yung Dirt).
Psychopathic Rydas reuses the beats of popular rappers within the genre without paying to license the original songs or requesting permission from copyright owners to use the music, effectively making their albums bootlegs and resulting in the releases becoming difficult to find in some markets.
Formed in 2002, Soopa Villainz consisted of Detroit rappers L.A.V.E.L. (Mr. Heart), Bruce (Mr. Diamond), Esham (Mr. Spade) and Utsler (Mr. Club). The group made appearances on Insane Clown Posse's The Wraith: Shangri-La and Esham's Acid Rain and Repentance before releasing their debut album, Furious, in 2005.
Following Esham and Lavel's departure from Psychopathic Records in October 2005, the group disbanded.Bruce has cited the artists Esham, N.W.A, Ice Cube, Awesome Dre, Geto Boys, Gong, Pearl Jam, and Michael Jackson as influences on his music. Allmusic reviewer James Monger has referred to Bruce's style as an "onslaught of Midwest Dirty Rap."Bruce began wrestling alongside his friends Joseph and John Utsler. The three got involved in backyard wrestling, and created two backyard wrestling rings for their made up promotion Tag Team Wrestling, later renamed National All-Star Wrestling.
The trio staged National All-Star Wrestling's first show, NAW Wrestling Extravaganza, in front of friends and family. Among others, the show featured Bruce wrestling under the moniker Darryl "Dropkick" Daniels, and Joey Utsler wrestling as both Rhino, and the masked NAW World Champion White Tiger. Bruce stopped wrestling after becoming involved in gang life and forming Inner City Posse.
Bruce starred in the Psychopathic Records crime comedy Big Money Hustlas, as Big Baby Sweets, in 2000. A sequel, Big Money Rustlas followed in 2010, in which Bruce portrayed Big Baby Sweets' ancestor, Big Baby Chips. In 2001, Bruce was offered a role in the musical Prison Song, in which he was asked to play a bigoted prison guard.
The producers offered Bruce the role on the basis of his appearances on The Howard Stern Show, and told him that they wanted "a big white dude with urban slang to his voice", and on the basis of his radio appearances, thought that Bruce was perfect for the role. While Bruce had interest in acting outside of Psychopathic Records projects, as well as being willing to act without face paint, he did not want to play a racist, and turned the role down.
In preparation for Big Money Rustlas, Bruce starred in the film Death Racers in 2008. According to Bruce, "We just did it for fun. We knew it was gonna be basically garbage."
