One of the members of Insane Clown Posse has teamed up with his 12-year-old daughter to create a new power duo: The Snake Busters.
This weekend, ICP’s Violent J and Ruby Bruce Lee premiered a new consumer advocacy web series under the moniker. They say they’re harnessing the power of the juggalos to bust snaky companies. The first episode focussed on fur-suit seller OISK, which The Snake Busters hypothesized stands for “Outrageously Insane Snaky Krooks” after the company sent Ruby an unsatisfactory suit.
I called Violent J and Ruby to learn more about this new franchise, but Violent J seemed more interested in talking about how proud he is of Ruby, and how much they’re bonding over her furry fandom. I ended the call realizing Violent J may be one of the best fathers around.
Here’s our conversation, edited for clarity and brevity.
Gizmodo: You own a company—Psychopathic Records. Does your approach to business influence the Snake Buster series at all?
Violent J: It does. Because when you run a business, obviously there’s a lot of opportunities to snake people. There’s a ton of opportunities to be crooked. But when we started our business, our model was—we know that the record industry is crooked, but we’re going to do things fair and square.
Giz: How did you decide to start Snake Busters?
Ruby Bruce Lee: Well, I was just looking for a new fursuit and I just found this. We just bought it thinking that we would get what we wanted, but we didn’t.
VJ: I told Ruby, whatever my kids are into, I’m going to support it, like, as hard as I can. And she’s into furries. And I didn’t know anything about furries, but Ruby taught me everything about them. I felt ashamed because I was like everybody else—I was making fun of furries too. But now I realize furries are a lot like juggalos—the people that follow our music—they’re alike in a bunch of ways. And now I support furries and I support what they’re doing to the fullest.
So Ruby ordered this furry costume because she’s into being a furry. And they robbed us! We didn’t know what to do because there was no refund. That suit didn’t look nothing like the picture on the computer, and the thing was like 800 dollars. That was just some genuine bullshit. And we didn’t know what to do. It’s not like we’re just throwing 800 dollars around left and right.
Me and Ruby already had this Snake Buster idea, because there was a product in Walmart that we saw that—what was it Rube?
RBL: It was this slime. But if you bought it for me, I probably would be very sick. Because it was slime, but it had fruit names like “sour apple.”
VJ: And “cherry.” It was this slime stuff that kids play with. But I thought it was edible, because the flavors were like “sour apple,” “cherry.” If had a young child, I would have bought that shit, brung it home, and told them they can eat it. It didn’t say “do not eat” or nothing on this package. I thought it was edible. And Ruby said, “Dad, you can’t eat this,” and I’m saying, “Yes you can. Look at all the flavors—they got grape, they got everything.” And she’s like, “You can’t eat it.” And when I finally realized you can’t eat it, I was legit mad. And I thought that product was bullshit, man. Because it should say, “not edible” or something, on the package. So me and Ruby was just sitting there wondering what to do. And then—I know the the power of the juggalos is pretty strong. Huge. Epically strong, in my opinion. And so I thought: We’ll go on YouTube and we’ll tell the juggalos the name of this product and the company and they’ll help us have it removed. And that was the idea of The Snake Busters
RBL: Yeah that’s how it started.
VJ: But then when Ruby got robbed for the furry suit, we decided—boom—that’s our first episode right there. And we’re probably going to do the Walmart product next.
Giz: So you’re going to keep doing it?
VJ: We’re getting a lot of reports from snaky products. We’re going to have to go in and figure out who’s the worst. We’re going to do one once a month. And, that’s fun to sit with my daughter and write up the script. I mean, it’s crazy fun.
Giz: You have such great chemistry on camera.
VJ: That’s awesome. That’s Ruby’s first time doing something like that! I’m so proud of her.
Giz: She’s a natural.
VJ: Wait until you hear—we’re going to post her song next week. It’s really good. I mean there’s no—I just can’t believe it—there’s no autotune, there’s no melodyne on it. She just went in and sang the song. I can’t wait to put that out.
RBL: It’s called, “Neat.” And there’s a backstory on it that doesn’t have to do with anyone. I just thought of a cool backstory, just to kind of like bring awareness to something.
VJ: What is it, Rube?
RBL: So, the backstory. This is about bullying, kind of. And it’s about popular girls and all that stuff. And then there’s the girls with no friends who are left out of things and they’re just talking about... Like in the song it talks about how reputation and being popular doesn’t matter.
VJ: You’re wasting your time if you just worry about your popularity and all that. I just—like that type of stuff is basically juggalo! And I just can’t—it’s so cool! Because she wrote that! I did not sit there and tell her what to write.
Giz: Did you pull from personal experience?
RBL: My friends are a little bit... I don’t know how to say it. Sometimes they tend to leave me out a little bit. But you kind of just ignore that stuff.
VJ: Rube... are you, um… You know how they got “popular girls?” Are you popular?
RBL: No.
VJ: You’re not?
RBL: Well, oh, I thought...
VJ: But you’re so talkative and outgoing!
RBL: I thought you meant like, am I mean.
VJ: No-no-no-no-no. Like everybody knows you, right?
RBL: Yeah. I guess I’m popular...
VJ: ‘Cause, when we did your parent-teacher conferences, all the teachers were like, “Everybody loves Ruby! She’s like the queen of the class.” And we were so proud to hear that! I think it’s great that you’re outgoing and super cool. You know, Rube? That’s really cool. My son’s the same way. And that’s cool because they get good grades! That’s the opposite of me in school. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe the grades they’re getting. It just blows my mind!
Giz: Ruby, do the other kids in school know about your furry interests?
RBL: My friends knew. No one else in my class knew. I didn’t really want to talk about it because I thought they would hate on me, because furries are kind of like...
VJ: They have a bad reputation.
RBL: Yeah, and at my school people don’t really like to talk about furries. They think they’re all weird. And I used think they’re weird. But then last year when I saw a picture of them, I was like, “Oh what’s this? It looks cool.” And then I looked into it. I’m like, “Oh it’s a furry.” I really like the design of them. I learned about the fandom. I learned everything. My friends, they don’t really mind, but they do call me a little bit weird.
VJ: You know, people are going to write negatively about it because they’re not a part of it. They see a bunch of people having a good time like that and they’re not a part of it.
RBL: They feel bad and they want to hate on them.
VJ: People fear what they don’t understand. And then people diss what they don’t understand. But if you ask me, if a group of people are having fun, how can that be wrong? Like a bunch of people coming together—they don’t know each other in life—coming together having fun, doing something. How can that be wrong!?
Giz: You said furries are like juggalos. Can you explain what you mean by that?
VJ: Sure. All day!
RBL: Can I explain it?
VJ: Yeah!
RBL: They don’t hate on others, because we’re all the same thing. They’re not like, “Why would you wear that? That suit looks horrible.” They don’t do that. It’s always nice. If someone has a fursuit and they’re like, “That suit you’re wearing is horrible. Who in the world made that?”—I wouldn’t really call them a furry because furries are people who love animals. And they just kind of like to dress up as them and then live as them because we just love animals a lot.
VJ: The main thing that links furries to juggalos is there’s no judgment. Come as you are. That’s the freedom. That’s the missing link in the world.
I mean that is 99 percent of the problems out here in getting along with each other in society. It’s everywhere. It’s everything. Someone in Hollywood gets plastic surgery—judgement! Someone gets arrested—judgement!
But furries and juggalos—there’s no judgment. Come just like you are. You’re going to be accepted. You’re welcome. Faults, flaws. No judgment. Everybody’s included. That’s what a furry and a juggalo are. That’s the magic, man.
Giz: Ruby, what can you share about your fursona?
RBL: She is very, very similar to me. She’s excited. She likes to jump around and when she’s mad she doesn’t like to talk to anyone. And she doesn’t get sad a lot.
Giz: Has the first episode of Snake Busters helped you connect with the furry community at large?
RBL: Yes, because my friends, like, they say that they’re furries. But I really don’t think they are. But ever since we released that video I can talk to a lot of furries now.
VJ: That’s great, Rube.
RBL: Yeah, I just feel a lot better about it.
Giz: I saw on your Twitter the Ace of Hearts Fox reached out to you. How did that feel?
RBL: That felt awesome because I watch him on YouTube and also Majera Strawberry commented too. And that also felt awesome.
VJ: Ha ha ha! That’s so great! That’s the best!
Giz: It’s great to see how much you’re embracing your daughter’s hobby.
VJ: I’m getting my own furry suit to go to some of these conventions. I’m going to go with her. I’m putting my own fursona together. And mine’s going to be sweet as hell. I know exactly what I’m getting and I know who’s making my suit and everything. It’s going to be really dope!
Giz: What’s the suit going to be?
VJ: Well I’ll tell you this. I’m going to be a fox and I’m going to be in a Kung-fu suit. And the stripes in the Kung-fu belt are going to be sequins. And I’m going to be Kung-fu Joe!
There’s going to be a convention somewhere, and my suit will be made and primped and pressed and plucked and ready. And I’m going to jump in that bad boy and we’re going to hit that convention. And that it’s going to be fun. My daughter already is going to make it the bomb. But I love to experiences like that. Man, I love to be a part of something, that I don’t fully understand. Just sit there and soak up all that knowledge of something that is obviously dope. That’s fresh. I’m so looking forward to that. Man, it’s like I don’t want a bunch of homies going either. I just want me and my daughter going.
Giz: You make a really good team. I could see you doing a TV show.
VJ: Hell yeah. Hell YEAH! We could host something on TV. Wouldn’t that be cool, Rube?
RBJ: Yeah.
VJ: That would be so great. I don’t need Shaggy no more. I’m going to kick his ass out.