"Syko Sam" is an unsigned horrorcore rapper from Castro Valley, California. He's also known as Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III, the young man charged for the slaying of four victims on Saturday.
An image of McCroskey holding an ax in the air and a bandana over his face is the first thing you see when you open his MySpace page. It's at the top of the page before actually getting to his actual profile, greeting you with this message: "Welcome to the mind of Syko Sam."
His headline reads, "I Hate Everything and I Hate Everyone." McCroskey's profile picture is similar to the image at the top of the page. It's him in similar garb, in from of what appears to be a cathedral with an upside-down cross looming in the thunderous crimson clouds above.
Artists considered horrorcore include the Insane Clown Posse, Twiztid, and Blaze Ya Dead Homie. The genre of horrorcore is mostly associated with the juggalo culture. Juggalo characteristics include drinking large amounts of Faygo soda, painting their faces, and lyrics about suicide, rape and murder.
Richard "Syko Sam" McCroskey's actions come as no surprise when you listen to the lyrics of his songs. In of his tracks titled "My Dark Side," he raps, "I've killed many people and I kill them real slow." True or not at the time he wrote the song, that should've have been a little more than a hunch that McCroskey was capable or some serious criminal damage.
Let it be said that this is a genre of music, and several songs are written with lyrics very similar to McCroskey's without any follow-through from the artists. Insane Clown Posse's song "Murder Rap" contains the lyric, "If you say the wrong thing I'll put a slit in your throat." Regardless of the image they portray, no member of Insane Clown Posse has a criminal record, or that I was able to find.
I've had friends in high school and work colleagues that listen to horrorcore music; they're just as nice as the next person. Though the fascination of the juggalo culture is lost on many, it's a way of life for several people.
McCroskey had a personal MySpace as well as his music profile. His display name on his personal profile is LiLdEmOnDoG. This profile has a banner at the top of the page very similar to Syko Sam's page; only this one read, "I'm different, I've seen the dead alive." It's accompanied by an image not unlike the others; McCroskey with a bandana covering the greater portion of his face and his hood up.
It showed that a girl with the display name of RagDOLL[RazsDolly?QueenlistDead]-U.A-10/6 had been commenting McCroskey up until Mon, Sept 7 around 10 p.m. (These are also the last two comments on his page that were posted.) Her comments suggested that McCroskey was coming to visit her. RagDOLL's comments are not unlike any other teenage girl's comments to her boyfriend; excited for his visit. She leaves many emoticons such as "
