TJF Criminal Creativity Interview

TJF: Thanks for taking the time out for TJF! Could you introduce yourself, tell everyone who you are and where you’re from?

My name is Truck and we are Criminal Creativity Clothing. We are a small clothing line based out of The Murder Mitten, Michigan. We grew up just outside Flint and it has provided us the opportunity to have a front row seat to watch the Juggalo Family grow over the years.

TJF: Tell us more about Criminal Creativity… the whole scoop (how did it come about, who runs the company, services offered/products available, etc)

Criminal Creativity was started by myself and my business partner, Brewer. I spent two years in Iraq as a Department of Defense contractor saving money to launch our company. After coming home in 2009, we spent almost two years planning and working hard to start Criminal Creativity. We finally launched in August of 2011. We didn’t do it alone, we had the help of several of our friends and family who supported by doing things like modeling for our website, helping with our design process, and have been reppin our merch and spreading the word since even before we launched.

The best way to describe our line is High End Low Class. We just want to make cool designs on high quality products that you don’t have to break the bank to afford. We try to keep our costs down and refuse to charge extra for larger sized items. Whether your a small or a 5xl, you will find your shirt for the same price. Our designers range anywhere from comic book artists to tatto artists to graffiti artists. We are inspired by undergound art and music and want that to show in our designs.

We currently offer 12 different t-shirts, 1 workshirt, and 1 booty shorts design. We have plans on expanding into hats, sweatshirts, underwear, etc. and we are working on many non clothing items such as lighter, rolling papers, and even an energy drink.

TJF: Would you consider Criminal Creativity to be built on a Juggalo foundation?

We are definatly a company with a genuine Juggalo foundation. I first found I.C.P. back in 1994 when I discoved Beverly Kills 50187 by accident. I loved what I heard and haven’t looked back since. Some of our highlights include that myself and my business partner were among the lucky Juggalos included in the Murder Dog magazine article on ICP back in ’09 when they were interviewed about Bang Pow Boom. Also, in A Family Undergroung, when discussing Shaggy and the golf cart, there is a scene of him jumping the cart and running through a campsite, that was our campsite and that was actually the second time he ran through it jumping the cart. We have street teamed for Zug Izland back in the day and have attended a few Gatherings, many Hallowickeds (the pride of my collection is every Hallowicked single ever released, except for last year, i couldnt go and havent been able to get one yet, lol). We have been to Big Ballas, release parties, and even atteneded the Big Money Rustlas premier in Detroit. We have been lucky to meet many Juggalos over the years and even have Juggalo Family we keep in contact with regularly in other states, Canada, and even in Europe.

Even our company name was inspired by the Juggalo world. ”Criminal Creativity” comes from a line in Twiztids Freek Show sampler. The whole concept of Criminal Creativity is based on the idea that sometimes despite everybody (the mainstream) saying something is not good, it shouldnt be popular, there is no place for it, a group or idea will become successful. They use every tactic they can to spread the word, to gain a following, and to succeed. The whole idea of Psychopathic Records success was the inspiration for our name and our way of thinking with our business. We even gave refer to our fans as “Convicts” because we want to feel the same connection with them that we feel with our Juggalo Family.

On a personal level, we both have Juggalo inspired tattoos including Jokers cards and my favorite tattoo, which is a set of hands praying while holding a hatchetman charm. To me it represented that my love for the Juggalo culture can only be compared to how strongly some feel about their religion. It’s the only way I can describe the feeling to those who are not Juggalos.

TJF: Who designs/prints your gear, etc… A little in depth about them and their part in the process?

We currently print our gear on high quality Gildan brand T-shirts. We use Imageline screen printing in Owosso, Mi. We chose this company because the owner, Scott Hildebrandt, used to work for the Detroit Redwings and GM making tshirts and products for them. He makes very high quality screen printed products and when you buy our merch you can wear it and wash it without having to worry about cracking or fading in your design. Our shirts are printed on 100% preshrunk cotton and overall they are a great quality product for a great price. None of our t-shirts are over $20, no matter what the size.

TJF: Where can we find ya online? (websites/facebook/twitter, etc)

Our website HERE (www.criminalcreativity.com) - our Facebook HERE - our Twitter HERE.

Do us a favor and check us out. Please like our Facebook and follow us on Twitter. If you follow us, we will follow you!

TJF: Anything you’d like to add?

Just want to say thanks for taking the time out for us. We appreciate you not only helping us to get our name out there but to help show that there are Juggalos out ther who are doing positive things. We love our Juggalo Family and we love our Convicts.

Check us out, if you like what you see, I promise you that you ain’t seen nothing yet!

Thanks again for taking the time to let the community hear what your company is about. Maybe the community will see a future TJF discount code for CC!