DetroitNews.com posted an article over night about Twiztid leaving Psychopathic and becoming Independent. In this article Twiztid discusses why they left Psychopathic Records, the label support of AbominationZ, if there is beef with ICP, contemplating leaving Psychopathic Records since the release of Heartbroken & Homicidal and more. You can read the full article below.
For Detroit rap duo Twiztid, “A New Nightmare” marks a new beginning.
The group’s latest album, in stores today, marks its first release since leaving its longtime home at Psychopathic Records. The group was signed to the Insane Clown Posse’s label for 16 years and released nine albums through the Farmington Hills-based company, ending with last October’s “Abominationz.” Unhappy with the label’s handling on the album, Twiztid decided to break off and go its own route.
“(‘Abominationz’) was their chance to show us that we do mean something to them, that it does matter,” says Twiztid’s Monoxide, aka Paul Methric. Psychopathic failed to keep up their end of the bargain, says Methric, who says the label’s support of the project was “detrimental” to Twiztid’s growth. His partner, Jamie Madrox (born Jamie Spaniolo), agrees.
“Financially, people-wise, tolerance level, we were done,” Spaniolo says.
For fans, news of the split came as a shock. Twiztid has been synonymous with ICP and Psychopathic Records since it released its first album, “Mostasteless,” in 1997. ICP fans gravitated toward Twiztid, and the group — which shares ICP’s horror-rap style and theatrics (like their mentors, Methric and Spaniolo perform in white face paint) — built a grass-roots following among Juggalos.
Here’s where things get tricky, however. Methric and Spaniolo insist they have no beef with Psychopathic or ICP. They’re even playing next month’s Gathering of the Juggalos festival, ground zero for all things Insane Clown Posse.
“I don’t hate them, they don’t hate us. It just is what it is,” says Methric over lunch at Bastone in Royal Oak earlier this month. “(Fans) don’t believe us. They want a war. They want ‘A New Nightmare’ to come out and be all diss records, but they’re not going to get it.”
Still, Methric says he’s not sure how the Gathering performance will be received. “That‘s (ICP’s) event. Who knows what we’re gonna be walking into, but we’re not going to run from it,” he says. “We’ll face it like men.”
“A New Nightmare” was recorded in the springtime at the Disc in Eastpointe, where Twiztid recorded its earliest material. The return “centered us,” Methric says, after years of recording at Psychopathic’s in-house studio.
But with the weight of leaving Psychopathic off their shoulders — a move they had been contemplating since the release of 2010’s “Heartbroken & Homicidal” — they were given a fresh perspective on writing and recording.
“We totally feel refreshed. We feel like a million bucks,” says Spaniolo.
Methric and Spaniolo have been friends since childhood, when they met at a Boys & Girls Club in Detroit. They began rapping in the group House of Krazees in the early ’90s and later broke off to form Twiztid.
Without radio or video play, Twiztid has steadily built a strong following. In 2009, its album “W.I.C.K.E.D.” hit No. 11 on Billboard’s Top 200 albums chart; “Abominationz” opened at No. 18.
Methric says they are trying to capitalize on their momentum, and they needed to do things on their own in order to do it. Not just for themselves, but for their fans.
“It’s not about us. Me and (Spaniolo) can deal with it, we’ve been dealing with it for years,” Methric says. “It’s about Twiztid fulfilling our end of the bargain to these kids that have us tattooed on them, that have grown up with us since they were 12, and now they’re 27. It’s such a bigger picture than just us.”
And they insist they’re not switching up their style.
“We’re doing the same (thing) we did back then, it’s just a different address,” Methric says. “We’re paying the bills now, but nothing is going to change.”
Faygoluvers Comments
Mr.Bitches
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 06:33 am GMT -5 at 6:33 am
New Nightmare was a good album,sucks Twiztid got screwed over on Abominations like that..Ive always said they shouldve had a bigger role behind the scenes at psychopathic makin more desicions.They pretty much made the label what it is.
YayYay
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 06:35 am GMT -5 at 6:35 am
might wanna rename the title from “monoxide” to “twiztid” since madrox adds his 3 cents too.
PunkRockJuggalo
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 07:09 am GMT -5 at 7:09 am
Just so there is no confusing i will edit the titled. So people will understand they both do speak in this article. Although mono does most of the speaking which is why i worded it that way.
YayYay
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 07:27 am GMT -5 at 7:27 am
it’s all good. glad twiztid finally bluntly said what most of us figured anyway. after ‘wicked’ everything seemed to go down hill between them and the label. they said a lot of shit on heartbroken and homicidal but i don’t think most juggalos picked up on it. it’s like after icp got some new life with bang pow boom, they got a ‘fuck everyone else this is our label’ prima donna attitude. twiztid got sick of dealing with it.
PunkRockJuggalo
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 07:33 am GMT -5 at 7:33 am
I thank you for your opinion on the titled.
Mr.Bitches
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 08:20 am GMT -5 at 8:20 am
I knew shit was goin downhill when H&H had No videos and they tried using twiztid to push Cold 187’s bs album…Violent J seems like hes trying harder to do shit HE wants with the label,as opposed to what the juggalos want…back in the day,that shit was kinda the same thing.But these days sumthin just seems off..ICP just has to get back to doin the real Wicked shit,The worlds plenty fucked up.Should be plenty of material to work with.Just gotta put it in the music.
DemonicSwagger
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 11:38 am GMT -5 at 11:38 am
Twiztid lyin. They wanted to leave right after green book (which was supposed to be a farewell album) and have their own label (majic records) but they got alot of money jacked by Tom Dubb (who was to run the finances of the label majic records) and then they couldn’t afford their mortgages of their brand new homes. Violent J paid their mortgages in a deal arranged that twiztid would release another 2 albums (mans myth and mutant) on psychopathic records. After the release of the 2 albums jamie convinced paul to stay with the label out of loyalty for violent j helping them and not holding a grudge (which may be the reason jamie doesnt speak on any issues lately). Or atleast thats the conspiracy I came up with BAHAHAHA
DemonicSwagger
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 11:39 am GMT -5 at 11:39 am
Think about it lol
Doc RenoK
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 02:05 pm GMT -5 at 2:05 pm
Yeah , trying to leave since h&h my ass; they’ve been trying to leave for like 10 years now
Jake Jeckel
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 04:52 pm GMT -5 at 4:52 pm
H&H was a pretty bad ass album. And if Twiztid really, really wanted to leave PSY then they wuld have done so a long time ago. If they really didnt think that they wuld stay on PSY they wuld have gone independent when Majik fell threw and wuldnt have signed back with PSY. I think Twiztid wanted to stay on the label, and after some behind the scenes bs that I’m sure we wont hear about right now happened, and then the mishandleing of Abominationz wuz the icing on the cake and they said no more, and left. I support their decision, and will continue to support them, on PSY or not they still run with the hatchet, and continue to put out killer cds for the fans. And if the people at the Gathering hold hard feelings towards Twiztid for them doing whut they had to do to continue doing whut they do then they jus need to grow up.
adamjboss
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 04:59 pm GMT -5 at 4:59 pm
this is what should be expected from a label:
1. give the artist a place to record
2. promote the record (ads, music videos, etc)
3. make sure the record is actually in stores for people to buy
4. put together a tour and get them out there
what psychopathic actually did:
1. put them in a studio
2. little to no promotion on abominationz. im sitting there waiting for 1 vid from abominations and the clowns are putting out their third or fourth shitty vid for MDP. if i didnt come here i would have never known it existed.
3. wasnt in my local music stores. had to order it. so fail
4. i dont know if psy set up a tour or twiztid did it themselves so i won’t speculate on this one
icp didnt realize what they had and now they have fucked themselves. i hope twiztid gets the success they deserve. icp doesnt deserve to even own a record label. they suck at it. they take all of there artists money and use it to promote themselves.
LTB
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 05:40 pm GMT -5 at 5:40 pm
More than adequate promotion was given, all the MDP music vids have been stellar, most stores stock little to no copies of psy cd’s, and you know nothing of running a record label.
Lucem Ferre
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 07:13 pm GMT -5 at 7:13 pm
Juggalos get down on your knees, and defend your clown god’s constantly.
How do you know that he know’s nothing about how to run a lable?
Joe Strange even says they are fucking up the business. That is very good ethos right there, buddy.
Your clown gods just might not be as perfect as you want them to be.
JuggaloJoe
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 07:34 pm GMT -5 at 7:34 pm
I don’t normally chime in on stuff like this, I like to read what people have to say but either an appropriate response has already been given or just a bunch of assholes trying to stir up shit, but to defend Adam I agree that there was very little to no promotion on abominationz. The only way you knew about the release was a video put out by psychopathic video the month of its release, faygoluvers, self promotion, or if you happened to order from hatchetgear you got a small flyer promoting the release. In the meantime cold187 had a music video many ads of promotion on psychopathic video and similar add promotion as abominationz for his album which coincidently released on the same day. If that isn’t a slap in the face to an artist that has stood by your side for 16 years I don’t n is what is. That being said I should note that it is possible that twiztid did not want to make a video but the promotion did suck on psychopathics part. Everything else you said LTB is right on point.
V_Ron
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 07:39 pm GMT -5 at 7:39 pm
Bullshit, adequate promotion was not given. You must be new. There was a time when Twiztid’s albums were respected and promoted properly. I didn’t preorder the MDP because BPB was such a horrid disappointment; I had no clue Abominationz was in the works. If they would have hyped that album as much as they did with Cold 187um and this Hoodoo garbage, articles such as the one above would not exist.
LTB
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 08:38 pm GMT -5 at 8:38 pm
The flier was in my copy of MDP I bought in store. Not online. It was promotion enough to get me, someone who didnt know who twiztid was at the time, to go out and buy it. Both versions.
Lucem Ferre
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 08:44 pm GMT -5 at 8:44 pm
I hostly saw more Abominationz advertisements all over than MDP ones. Thay had fliers posted up all over the gate way mall.
sketchez
Comment posted on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 09:13 pm GMT -5 at 9:13 pm
Why the fuck wouldn’t icp promote abominationz??? they knew it was an awsome album and plus they were on it. PLUS wouldn’t they make more money if twiztid sold more albums? why would they care if twiztid gets really famous. . icp has made it major in music plus more for so many years.. they already repeatedly proved they can do that. WTF!
chunk801
Comment posted on Monday, August 5th, 2013 02:59 pm GMT -5 at 2:59 pm
all I gotta say is i’ve met both icp and twiztid a couple times and their all cool dudes, they all make dope music, yeah psy fucked up by losing sight on whats important, but if twiztid is gonna grow because of it whatever man. Icp should straight up do anything they can to get em back to psy but that will never happen
blooddrunkenninja
Comment posted on Sunday, November 1st, 2015 11:56 am GMT -5 at 11:56 am
Im happy to see they represent as family and wont do som diss war with icp or psychopathic despite what has happen that made them make the decision for new label family is for life you may disagree be pissed and go a seperate way even tho shit happens family will always be family
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