Editing Riddle Box (section)

==Conception==
===Background===
In 1995, Insane Clown Posse signed a contract with the short-lived [[Jive Records]] subsidiary label [[Battery Records (dance)|Battery Records]].<ref name="BehindthePaint231">{{cite book |last=Bruce |first=Joseph |author-link=Violent J |author2=Hobey Echlin  |editor=Nathan Fostey |title=ICP: Behind the Paint |edition=second |publisher=Psychopathic Records |location=Royal Oak, Michigan |isbn=0-9741846-0-8 |pages=231–269 |chapter=Ringmaster's Word|date=August 2003 }}</ref> Anticipating the album to be their first national release, the duo began work on ''Riddle Box''. Member [[Violent J|Joseph Bruce]] recalled thinking that working on the album would be "all the records we had done … rolled into one single effort."<ref name="BehindthePaint231"/>

===Recording===
Recording for ''Riddle Box'' occurred in producer [[Mike E. Clark]]’s personal studio.<ref name="BehindthePaint231"/> The group was looking to make the album more theatrical, so Clark introduced them to local guitarist and vocalist [[Legz Diamond|Rich Murrell]].<ref name="BehindthePaint231"/> Originally a member of the group Coup Detroit, Murrell later left his band to join Insane Clown Posse’s studio band along with Clark.<ref name="BehindthePaint231"/> Murrell contributed to the album through guitar and various vocals in songs and skits.<ref name="BehindthePaint231"/>

Jive Records' Senior Vice President of [[Artists and repertoire]], Jeff Fenster, had told Insane Clown Posse that ''Riddle Box'' couldn’t be over one hour long.<ref name="BehindthePaint231"/> When the group turned in the album at 70 minutes and 40 seconds long, Fenster was furious.<ref name="BehindthePaint231"/> Joseph Bruce told Fenster that the album featured several skits, and convinced him that the length was not an issue.<ref name="BehindthePaint231"/>

===Joker's Cards===
''Riddle Box'' is the third [[Dark Carnival (Insane Clown Posse)#Joker's Cards|Joker's Card]] in Insane Clown Posse's [[Dark Carnival (Insane Clown Posse)|Dark Carnival]] [[concept album]] series.<ref name="McIver">{{cite book |last=McIver |first=Joel |title=Nu-metal: The Next Generation of Rock & Punk |year=2002 |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=0-7119-9209-6 |page=64 }}</ref> The Dark Carnival is a concept of the [[afterlife]] in which souls are sent to a form of [[limbo]] while waiting to be sent to [[heaven]] or [[hell]] based on their [[Divine judgment|individual actions]]. These concepts are related by Insane Clown Posse in a series of albums called the six [[Joker (playing card)|Joker's Card]]s. Each of the six Joker's Cards relate to a specific character — an entity of the Dark Carnival — that tries to "save the human soul" by showing the wicked inside of one's self.<ref name="BehindthePaint174">{{cite book |last=Bruce |first=Joseph |author-link=Violent J |author2=Hobey Echlin  |editor=Nathan Fostey |title=ICP: Behind the Paint |year=2003 |edition=second |publisher=Psychopathic Records |location=Royal Oak, Michigan |isbn=0-9741846-0-8 |pages=174–185 |chapter=The Dark Carnival }}</ref><ref name="Friedman">{{cite news |title=''Juggalos'' |first=David |last=Friedman |url=http://my.texterity.com/murderdogmagazine/volume16#pg192 |publisher=Murder Dog |date=November 2009 |pages=192–198 }}</ref>

''Riddle Box'' is one of several entities used to determine the fate of the dead.<ref name="RB">{{cite web | title=Who R ICP > Joker's Cards > ''Riddle Box'' | url=http://insaneclownposse.com/carnival/iframe.php?page_id=icp_riddlebox | publisher=[[Psychopathic Records]] | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060324041319/http://www.insaneclownposse.com/page.php?page_id=icp_riddlebox | archive-date=2006-03-24 | access-date=2009-11-25 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Friedman"/><ref name="Apollo">{{cite web |url=http://www.paoracle.com/?archive=77 |title=An Intelligent Look at the Insane Clown Posse |author=Phoebus Apollo |date=2004-01-22 |publisher=phoebus apollo |access-date=2009-11-25}}</ref><ref name="TheGuardian">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/oct/09/insane-clown-posse-christians-god |title=Insane Clown Posse: And God created controversy |author=Jon Ronson |date=2010-10-09 |access-date=15 October 2010 |location=London |work=The Guardian}}</ref> Upon death, a soul enters a dark chamber containing a [[jack-in-the-box]] on an old wooden table. The front of the box has a "painted question mark faded with time," representing the mystery of your own afterlife.<ref name="Friedman"/><ref name="RB"/> As the handle is turned, a melodic tune begins to play, and when the music stops, the choice is made. The pure see a vision of God, warming their souls as they enter eternal peace.<ref name="RB"/> The wicked see an immense fog seeping from the box, "stripping their sanity, as they witness an image of hell, spawned and formed from their own evil; a hideous reflection of their demented souls."<ref name="RB"/> The floor falls from underneath them, casting the doomed into the bottomless pit of Hell.<ref name="RB"/>