This has been a project that I absolutely love taking on. It allows me to not only discover new artists but listen to artists that I have missed out on. I never got into the “Juggalo” or Insane Clown Posse movement, as horrorcore hip-hop is certainly not my cup of tea, however reading about an artist that combines Native American spirituals with the cannabis culture and horrorcore hip-hop should make for a very interesting review, as we’ll be talking about ABA aka Anybody Killa today!
Out of Detroit, Michigan comes a hip-hop artist who is a son of a preacher and are also proud of their Native American heritage, which is of the Lumbee tribe. ABK would write about anything and if it sounded like it could be an instrument, he would utilize that instrument around the house.
In 1995, ABK would form his first group called Krazy Klan, but broke up soon after playing a few house parties.
In 2000, ABK would get discovered by Blaze Ya Dead Homie and would sign with Slangtown Records under the “Native Funk” persona. Both of them would tour as opening acts for Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid. While briefly forming Drive-By, their first single was released entitled “Foo-Dang”.
“Foo-Dang”
In 2003, ABK signs with Psychopathic Records and he enjoyed his greatest success that year with the release of “Hatchet Warrior”. The album was basically a shoutout to the Juggalo movement and it would peak at #98 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart while peaking at #4 on the Top Independent Albums chart. The album combines old-school rhymes with spirituality and horrorcore hip-hop. Check out the song “Sticky Icky Situation” from “Hatchet Warrior”.
In order to get his name out there, ABK would link up with Dark Lotus and Psychopathic Rydas and in 2004, released his follow-up entitled “Dirty History”. “Dirty History” would see the album chart at #152 on the Billboard Top 200 and it would peak at #7 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart. The album would feature one of ABK’s biggest underground hits entitled “Come Out And Play”.
The song would be the battlecry for the Juggalo movement as the lyric in the chorus states “I’ll be a Juggalo til my very last breath”.
ABK would release two more albums under Psychopathic Records including “Mudface” and “Medicine Bag”. The music video for “Last Chance”, which had a reggae vibe combined with horrorcore elements, would be a success for ABK as it received over two million hits on YouTube. Check it out!
After disputes with Violent J of Insane Clown Posse and Psychopathic Records, the album “Shape Shifter” was never released. ABK had a brief collaboration with Big Hoodoo to form The Hav Knots in 2014. ABK was invited to march on Washington in the “March of the Juggalos” in 2017, but later declined because a royalty check from Psychopathic Records bounced. Then, five months ago, it was announced that ABK split from Psychopathic Records and signed with Twiztid’s label Magik Ninja Entertainment.
Madness To Creation’s take: I felt that this decade ABK got the raw end of the deal. He should have released “Shape Shifter”, but between disputes between dj’s and record labels, maybe he should just scrap the project and work on something new. While I enjoyed the beats, the wordplay and rhyming schemes kind of turned me off. I thought in some songs a tagline or a chorus was way too repetitive for me, but that’s just me. I also felt that ABK didn’t necessarily offer anything new to the Psychopathic Records camp, as I basically felt it was just a different version of Insane Clown Posse. While I understand the underground niche that he carved out, I would have to politely pass on ABK, although I’m interested to see what is going to come out of him signing with Magik Ninja Entertainment.
