''Freek Show'' is the second studio album by American hip hop duo Twiztid. It was released on October 31, 2000 via Psychopathic Records and

The Island Def Jam Music Group Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) was an American record label group formed on December 31, 1998, by Universal Music Group. Before 2014, IDJMG encompassed labels originally established under the umbrella of Island Records and Def Jam Recording ...

. Production was handled by Systasyrosis Soundsquad and

Shaggy 2 Dope Joseph William Utsler (; born October 14, 1974), known by his stage name Shaggy 2 Dope, is an American rapper, actor, record producer and professional wrestler. He is part of the hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse. He is the co-founder of the rec ...

. It features

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s from

Insane Clown Posse Insane Clown Posse, often abbreviated as ICP, is an American hip hop duo. Formed in Detroit in 1989, ICP's best-known lineup consists of rappers Violent J (Joseph Bruce) and Shaggy 2 Dope (originally 2 Dope; Joseph Utsler). Insan ...

, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, Anybody Killa,

Three 6 Mafia Three 6 Mafia is an American hip-hop group from Memphis, Tennessee, formed in 1991. Emerging as a horror-themed underground hip-hop group, they went on to enjoy mainstream success. The group's 1995 debut album ''Mystic Stylez'' became an influen ...

and Legz Diamond. The album debuted at number 51 on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart in the United States. A

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was directed for the promotional single "We Don't Die". The song was later used in 2003 video game '' Backyard Wrestling: Don't Try This at Home'', while its music video was included in 2007 DVD compilation '' Psychopathic: The Videos''.

Music

''Freek Show'' is a

horrorcore Horrorcore (also called shock rap, horror hip hop, horror rap, death hip hop, death rap, or murder rap) is a subgenre of hip hop music based on horror-themed and often darkly transgressive lyrical content and imagery. Its origins derived from ...

and

rap metal Rap metal is a fusion genre that combines hip hop music, hip hop with heavy metal music, heavy metal. It usually consists of heavy metal guitar riffs, funk metal elements, Rapping, rapped vocals and sometimes turntablism, turntables. History O ...

album which incorporates elements of other genres into its sound, including

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

and pop. " People Are Strange" is a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the 1967 single by

the Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...

from its '' Strange Days'' album.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's Brad Mills wrote that "this kind of music appeals to a small sector of

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

listeners and will probably do well within tsniche market, but the average hip-hop listener will just have to understand that this is a different kind of album". Thomas Quinlan of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' wrote: "''Freek Show'' is not as good as Twiztid's '' Mostasteless'' debut, but their second outing is a good attempt to match it". In 2014, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' writer Nick Murray described "We Don't Die" as "one of turn-of-the-millenium rap-metal's best tunes".

Releases

Originally released on

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

2000, which coincided with

's '' Bizaar'' and '' Bizzar'' albums, ''Freek Show'' marks the only Twiztid's album to be released for

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

. The album was first re-released with a different cover art subtitled '15th Anniversary Edition' for the ''15 Year Freek Show Anniversary Show'' in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 2015. This 1,000 copies pressed version was sold exclusively during the tour and its leftovers were available on the duo's official website. It was reissued as a limited edition double vinyl LP on March 18, 2016 through Twiztid's own independent record label Majik Ninja Entertainment. On September 12, 2017, it was digitally reissued as a

Memory Stick The Memory Stick is a removable flash memory, flash memory card format, originally launched by Sony in late 1998. In addition to the original Memory Stick, this family includes the Memory Stick PRO, a revision that allows greater maximum storage ...

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...

format. In December 2020, Twiztid released a limited edition

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

''Freek Show: Disturbed & Unheard (A Celebration of 20 Years)'' via Majik Ninja Entertainment. The EP is composed of six tracks from the original recordings during the 'Freek Show' sessions. For Twiztid's 25th anniversary, Majik Ninja Entertainment re-released hard copies of the album in 2023.

Track listing

Personnel

*Jamie " Madrox" Spaniolo – vocals, producer (tracks: 1–15, 17, 18), additional producer (track 16), recording, mixing, concept *Paul " Monoxide" Methric – vocals, producer (tracks: 1–15, 17, 18), additional producer (track 16), recording (tracks: 1–9, 11–18), mixing, concept *Rich " Legz Diamond" Murrell – vocals (track 1) *Joseph "

Violent J Joseph Frank Bruce (born April 28, 1972), known by his stage name Violent J, is an American rapper, record producer, professional wrestler, actor, and part of the hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse (ICP). He is a co-founder of the record label Ps ...

" Bruce – vocals & recording (tracks: 8, 12, 16) *Joseph "

" Utsler – vocals & recording (tracks: 8, 12, 16), scratches (track 11), producer (track 16) *Chris " Blaze Ya Dead Homie" Rouleau – vocals & recording (tracks: 14, 16) *James " Anybody Killa" Lowery – vocals & recording (track 14) *

– vocals & recording (track 14) *Pickles – additional vocals (track 10) *Fritz "The Cat" Vankosky –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

pan flute A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...

, producer (tracks: 1–15, 17, 18), additional producer (track 16) *Eric Wheeler – photography *Gary Arnett – graphics *Eric Shetler – layout

Chart history

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2000 albums Twiztid albums Island Records albums Psychopathic Records albums Albums produced by Jamie Madrox Albums produced by Monoxide Child