I wrote a blog a while back titled "Juggalo Family?" in that post I discussed the "New school" vs the "Old School" and how we are all family regardless of when we found the music and family. I said "Family is Family, period. No matter how "down" someone is or isn't if they support the movement they are family in my book." I have been a huge advocate for unity and having each others backs no matter what. Recently some events have happened which make me question this attitude.
Earlier this year Twiztid began forming street teams to help promote their music, shows, etc. I was selected to be the lead for Tucson. The people over at Desert Juggalos had Phoenix on lock. I assembled a solid team and waited for the promo to be delivered from the promoter here. When it arrived I received around 50 black and white flyers and 50 small hand flyers. That was it. I got with each member of my team and we began pushing what promo we had into the community. When the Twiztid concert came through we were given VIP access and some swag for our hard work. The day of the show we showed up on time and ran into the lead for Phoenix and his girl. They told me they didn't think there was a lead or team in Tucson because they hadn't found the page on Facebook so they asked Aaron if they could come to Tucson and get on the VIP list for both the Tucson and Phoenix shows. Since my team was already on the list they were denied and had to drive home without even getting into the show. While they were here we discussed supporting each others teams and cross promoting to make both cities stronger. About a month later I received an email from the street team lead at Majik Ninja saying they were going with a different lead for Tucson. I started looking around out of curiosity to find out why they made that decision. My gut said the Phoenix team had something to do with it but I could not confirm.
I wrote to the team lead and asked who the new lead was and gave him my info so I could still support Twiztid and help out any way I could. I got no response from this. I am still a part of the street team leads group on Facebook and came across a post today from that Phoenix lead suggesting a friend of his for the lead position. He ended the post by saying "Since the Tucson show was a bust last time" as his justification. The show here was sold out and packed and all of our promo had been put out. I private messaged him and said "I think my team did awesome and the show was packed. Not sure why you say it was a bust." He did not respond but immediately went to the page and deleted his post.
So these series of events have opened my eyes to the fact that my kindness has been taken advantage of. It isn't the first time but I held hope the times before were isolated instances. I now believe that is not the case. Because Twiztid is giving away cool swag and freebies to their leads (Which I think is awesome and well deserved) you now have people looking out for themselves and their click and screwing others over to make it happen. As a street team there should be solidarity and unity but this case proves that is no longer the case. It is a sad day for me that I am losing what little faith I had in the fans. I still want to hold out hope we all are united and stand against the world of haters but I am finding more and more haters and self centered people than the Family I once knew.
We may all come from different backgrounds but we all united together. That is what drew me to the fan base and genre. The feeling of belonging no matter what town you were in. A sense of community that no other fans had. Bad concert experiences, bad interactions, and shady dealings has stripped me of that feeling. There are still Los and Lettes I have respect for that believe in these things. I still have nothing but love for Juggalos and will always give my non bias opinion in my Faygoluvers reviews and interviews. I have love for people like Scottie D, RAM in Roswell, Legion in Tucson, Docta Mann, Madchild, Twiztid, and Blaze. These guys are great examples of what we stand for. So I have to ask are we still Juggalo Family? Or has it all been a dream?
MMFWFL,
Juggalotus
I am a Juggalo until the day I die, I have done and seen it all in the Juggalo community. I will have to say though that the true heart and meaning of what a Juggalo is, is lost and dead. There is a reason we are considered a gang. It sucks because of us true juggalos that are kind and help others ( not just each other) out. I agree all the things I held in high regard to the Juggalo community are dead and gone. Just know there are still juggalos out here who remember a concert that didn't have robberies or meeting juggalos you could trust and feel the trust.
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