Music / Fearless Fred Fury

FITE BACK!

Fearless Fred Fury is a 2019 album by the Hip-Hop act Insane Clown Posse that serves as the Fourth Joker's Card in the second deck of their Concept Album cycle.

The album's theme concerns self-respect. Red Fred, the face of this Card, gets so angry over people not having any pride and respect for themselves, that he'll run up and punch people who don't have any pride or self-respect, accompanied by his Pet Rat, Flip, who feeds on your fear of Fred.

The album was released prepackaged with a supplementary recording titled Flip the Rat which is longer than an EP, but shorter than a standard ICP album, so ICP categorized Flip the Rat as a "Medium Play".

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Track listings

Fearless Fred Fury:

1. "Intro"
2. "Red Fred"
3. "Fury!"
4. "West Vernor Ave."
5. "WTF!"
6. "Satellite"
7. "Seriously Hilarious"
8. "Game Over"
9. "Night of Red Rum"
10. "Low"
11. "Triplex"
12. "Nobody's Fault"
13. "Hot Head"
14. "Shimmer"
15. "Freedom"
16. "Beware!"
17. "I Like It Rough"

Flip the Rat:

1. "Intro"
2. "A Face 4 Fighting"
3. "Fite Back" (feat. DJ Paul)
4. "Revenge"
5. "I'm That Type" (feat. Ouija Macc)
6. "Hungry" (feat. Big Hoodoo)
7. "Splish Splash"
8. "Friend Request"
9. "I Could Never"
10. "Hawking"
11. "Tha Dogg"
12. "Be Safe"

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Red Tropes:

• Arc Number: "Hot Head" features Shaggy chanting the number 17^note the number of copies Carnival of Carnage sold on it's firat day of release.
• Basement-Dweller: "Game Over" is about a Basement Dweller who wastes his life playing Video Games, never leaving his room, never leaving his home, never getting laid, and lacking the self-respect to even clean his room because of his lack of confidence.
• Bonus Material: The CD and vinyl editions are packaged with a bonus recording titled Flip the Rat, which is longer than an extended play at 50 minutes, but shorter than a standard Insane Clown Posse album, so ICP consider it a "Medium Play" (or MP) instead of an LP.
• Call-Back: "Seriously Hilarious" samples the line "ICP, we're all alone, ever since Inner City's Ghetto Zone" from "Everybody Rize", referring to an amateur recording self-released by ICP back when they were Inner City Posse, before they started Psychopathic Records.
• Cover Drop: You might not notice this immediately, but the cover of the Bonus Disc Flip the Rat is the same illustration of Flip that is on the front cover of Fearless Fred Fury.
• Darker and Edgier: "I Like It Rough" is preceded by a warning that it is one of the darkest songs ICP has ever recorded, and that it's treatment of rough sex may be disturbing to some listeners. Considering some of the lyrics in their catalog, the fact that they felt this one was disturbing enough to require a separately indexed warning to listen at your own risk preceding the song says a lot.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Several tracks feature J referencing the Arc Number 665, referencing the original plan to follow up original deck of six Joker's Cards with 6 more Cards, and then to follow the second deck or Joker's Cards with a third deck consisting of only 5 cards. However, due to Violent J's heart problems and retirement from touring, ICP might not release any more albums.
  • Also, Flip the Rat Special Guest Stars Big Hoodoo and DJ Paul are both no longer signed with Psychopathic.
• Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: On "Be Safe", the finale of Flip the Rat, Shaggy gets so into his rap that he blurts out, "I might suck a dick—" Record Needle Scratch, as Shaggy realizes what he just rapped, then he continues, "—uh, I would never suck a dick!"
• He Also Did: Violent J himself produced several tracks on Flip the Rat, under the name Dr. Punch.
• New Sound Album: This album has more of a Trap Music sound and is a departure from the Pop Rap sound of The Marvelous Missing Link (Found).
• New Technology Is Evil: "Friend Request" warns that predators and Serial Killers might use social media to seek out victims.
• Paranormal Romance: J has one with "Shimmer". However, this one turns out much better than the one on "In My Room".
• Sad Clown: "Nobody's Fault" starts off with J as a Sad Sack, until Red Fred comes out of nowhere and punches him, which helps encourage him to become more self-confident.
• Sampling: Reggae is a recurring source for sampling this time around, with "Red Fred" sampling "Murderer" by Barrington Levy, and "West Vernor Avenue" interpolating Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue",^note zoomers know this song best as being "that Pineapple Express song" but Psychedelic Rock/Progressive Rock also gets a nod as well, with the Proto-Prog/Psychedelic band The Zombies' song "Time of the Season" being sampled on "Low". And Alternative Metal on "Tha Dogg" off Flip the Rat, sampling Alice in Chains' "Man in the Box".
• Sequel Song: "Night of Red Rum", to "Night of the Axe", "Night of the 44" and "Night of the Chainsaw".
• Spiritual Sequel: This album, to The Amazing Jeckel Brothers. It features the same emphasis on anger and aggression, as well as a red color scheme. Additionally, "Triplex", which features three murderers at a rehab meeting confessing to recently committing horrific acts, can be seen as a Spiritual Sequel to "Sleep Walker", which was given away as a free single at their 1999 Hallowicked concert, and "Shimmer" to "In My Room".
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Fans who found The Marvelous Missing Link (Found) to be lackluster due to its Lighter and Softer sound found Fearless Fred Fury to be a significant improvement.
• Updated Re Release: The album was reissued in a "Furious Edition" in 2021, which contained both of the discs featured on the standard edition of the album, plus a bonus Compilation Album called An Era of Fury, which collected all the B-sides ICP recorded during the period in which Fearless Fred Fury was released, such as their diss track towards Twiztid, "7 Foot 8 Foot", and their Cover Version of Esham's "Judgement Day", from their 2018 Hallowicked single. The cover art was also changed to a Tom Wood painting.

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