Today Marks the 20th Anniversary of Dark Lotus’ “Tales from the Lotus Pod” Nationwide Release!

Hot damn, ninjas! Today officially marks the 20th anniversary of the extremely lyrically dark influential LP ‘Tales from the Lotus Pod’.  Insane Clown Posse, Twiztid, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, and Marz literally scared the underground straight to hell and back on Tuesday, July 17th, 2001! And those who attended the 2nd annual Gathering of the Juggalos were able to scare themselves to hell and back, a little earlier. Can you remember where you were precisely when you were first bumping the OG ‘Tales from the Lotus Pod’?! What was going on in your personal life twenty years ago?! Leave your thoughts below! With that being said, Twiztid History and a few of our staff members are sharing their own memories/thoughts in honor of  20 years of Dark Lotus taking over the wicked underground with “Tales from the Lotus Pod”!

Words By: Twiztid History

Happy #TBT, y’all! We got a big one this week! Today we celebrate the fact that the Dark Lotus – Tales From The Lotus Pod album was released exactly 20 years ago this week at the 2nd annual Gathering of the Juggalos on July 13, 2001.

Tales From The Lotus Pod had first been announced way back in mid to late 1999. During the two years between announcement and release, the group went from featuring only Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid, to adding then subtracting Esham and WCW star Vampiro and eventually including Blaze Ya Dead Homie and Marz. By the time this record actually dropped, it felt like a monumental event in the Juggalo world.

Not only did it feel that way, it WAS a monumental event in the Juggalo world. People were absolutely beside themselves with anticipation for this album, myself included. Tales From The Lotus Pod did not disappoint and became an instant Juggalo classic.

Not only did the album drop that weekend but Dark Lotus, themselves, appeared and performed for the very first time ever. Not only was it the first appearance of Dark Lotus but it would go on to be the ONLY appearance of Dark Lotus with Marz! Marz appeared on the original version of Tales From The Lotus Pod as the 6th member of the Lotus but left the group/was kicked out almost immediately after the record was released, eventually being replaced by ABK for a reissued version in 2002.

Attached are a series of photos from that performance. These photos originally appeared on Twiztid.com shortly after The Gathering, in the summer of 2001.

Rosco:

After The Great Milenko and The Amazing Jeckel Brothers, I didn’t delve too deep into the underground world of Juggalo music. I saw the promo images for Twiztid‘s Mostasteless and they looked sick as fuck but because it wasn’t ICP, I didn’t really check it out. Keep in mind I was only 12 years old at the time and my favorite music to bump was shit like Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, and the Bloodhound Gang.
So although I never gave Twiztid a chance back then, I loved ICP and would check out as much as I could.
It was around that time I saw this image on a message board:
On my next trip to the CD store (yes, they still existed back then) I found it.
It was beautiful.
It was mysterious.
It was black with a shiny red cross on the cover.
It was $34 for some reason.
It was “Tales From The Lotus Pod“!

On the way home, with my Mom driving and me sitting in the back seat with my Discman, I was introduced for the first time to Jamie Madrox, Monoxide Child, and Marz. The introduction talking about the coming of the almighty 6th Joker’s Card gave me mad goosebumps. I immediately fell in love with it. When Ali Baba hit my eardrums I was in shock. I literally couldn’t believe I had been putting off checking out anything in the Juggalo underground besides ICP. They had mad talent on their roster and I was fucking sleeping on it!
Needless to say, the Joker’s Cards made me fall in love with ICP. The Lotus made me fall in love with the family.
The main thing I took away from my experience with Dark Lotus is exactly what they say on the CD. It’s not hidden in the lyrics. It’s right there on the second last track:

Say what you will of me. I’ll always have Juggalo family.

Chad Thomas Carsten: 

I honestly first heard “Tales from the Lotus Pod” in the winter of 2007. But holy shit did the album shake my musical soul to its very core! I was only 18 years old living with my Grand Parents at the time in Northern Michigan, right in the woods. I had bumped all of ICP’s Joker’s Cards, Blaze Ya Dead Homies, Twiztid’s releases that were available at the time. I was deeply craving for more wicked underground hip-hop flavor. So I finally decided to bump the original “Tales from the Lotus Pod” during the midnight hours, in a pitch-black room located in the basement of my Grand Parents home, while sporting Dollar Store headphones.  I grinned evilly the entire time in complete astonishment towards the lyrically awesome wickedness my eardrums were hearing from Dark Lotus for the very first time. When “Black Crows” hit my dome I started to feel a strange paranormal-like presence near me. Like someone/something was in the room with me as I was laying in bed by myself. It gave me the chills across my body. Oddly enough, shortly after that feeling, the power went out for about 15 minutes or so. And that’s when I decided to get the hell outta the basement and sleep in the living room the rest of the night. I ended up bumping the entirety of “Tales from the Lotus Pod” the next day when the sun was shining, as I was a little shook. *Laughs* Fast forward to the Gathering of the Juggalos 2016 at Legend Valley. I was finally able to see  Dark Lotus (first and only time) live around the 3/4 a.m. hours, shortly after interviewing Alla Xul Elu. And, wow! My jaw kept dropping in complete bewilderment towards their epic set! The beyond-packed Juggalo crowd roared in positivity the entire set! Definitely in my top 5 live shows. Wish I could travel back in time to that same exact Dark Lotus set. True story!

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