Detroit's D12
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Detroit's D-12 short for Dirty Dozen have had top albums reach the top of the US and UK album charts - Devil's Night in 2001 and D12 World in 2004. D12 was formed in 1990, but it only came into the hip hop spotlight when their most notorious member, Eminem, rose to international fame with multi-platinum albums, a superhit movie and a whole lot of controversy.
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"My Band" - Early career
D-12 was initially formed in 1990 by Proof who invited local Detroit rappers such as Bizarre, Eminem and other members who would leave the crew before it achieved success including Eye Kyu, Killa Hawk and Fuzz. The group was a loose collective. Several members began making names for themselves in hip hop in the late 1990s. Bizarre was named Inner City Entertainment's Flava of the Week. He would also release an album called Attack Of The Weirdos and become a member of tha Outsidaz with Eminem and Rah Digga. Proof won a freestyling competition run by The Source in 1998.
However, it was as a solo artist that D-12 member Eminem found success. All of the members of D-12 have aliases and Eminem chose Slim Shady as his alias. He recorded an independent EP called The Slim Shady EP in 1997 and after signing to Interscope Records released his breakthrough album The Slim Shady LP which went on to sell over four million records in the US.
Eminem's success persuaded Proof to establish D-12 on a more permanent basis in early 1999. As well as Eminem and Bizarre, he recruited Kuniva, Kon Artis and Bugz to join the group. Kuniva and Kon Artis were previously part of Da Brigade. However, Bugz was murdered at a picnic in Detroit leading the band to recruit Swift to take his place. Each of the members of the crew wears a tattoo of Bugz name in his honour. The tracks "Good Die Young" and "Bugz 97" on D-12 World are also in his memory.
The six members of D-12 signed a contract with Eminem's Shady Records and Interscope in 1999. The fact that D-12 rose to prominence after Eminem led many people to assume that the other members had less significance in the group - this very accurate conception would be the concept of the group's 2004 hit single "My Band".
Chart Success
Their debut, Devil's Night, referring to the old Detroit tradition of setting abandoned buildings on fire (something that has since become a thing of the past in Detroit) the night before Halloween, was released in June 2001. It debuted at number one at the US and UK chart, also reaching the top of the Canadian charts. Devil's Night went on to sell four million albums worldwide and two million in the US. It featured the following hit singles:
- "Purple Hills" (originally "Purple Pills" before radio refused to play it) went top 20 on the Billboard 100 and number 1 on the rap tracks charts in 2001 as well as number 2 in the UK and top 10 in Australia;
- "Shit On You" reached the UK top 10 and Canadian top 5; and
- "Fight Music", featuring Ice T and Fat Joe in its music video, reached the UK top 20 and Australian Top 40.
The group's second album was D12 World released on April 7, 2004 featured production by Dr. Dre, Eminem himself and Kanye West and guest appearances by Obie Trice and B Real. It debuted at the top of the US, UK and Australian album charts and number 2 in Germany, selling over half a million records in its first week of release in the US alone. "My Band", the first single, also has been successful reaching number one in Australia and the US rhythmic top 40, top 5 in the UK and Germany and top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Group Members
As of 2004, D12 consists of six members:
- Eminem aka Slim Shady;
- Proof aka Dirty Harry;
- Kon Artis also Mr. Denaun Porter;
- Swift aka Swifty McVeigh;
- Kuniva aka Rondell Beene; and
- Bizarre, aka Peter S. Bizarre.
As each member of the crew has an alias the number rounds up to an even dozen.
Past members of the group include Bugz, Eiy Kyu, Killa Hawk and Fuzz.
Discography
Albums
- Devil's Night (2001) #1 US, #1 UK
- D12 World (2004) #1 US, #1 UK
Singles
- non-album single
- 2001 "Shit on You" #10 UK
- from Devil's Night
- 2001 "Purple Hills" #19 US, #2 UK
- 2001 "Fight Music" #11 UK
- from D12 World
- 2004 "My Band" #6 US, #2 UK
- 2004 "How Come" #27 US, #4 UK
Links
- D12 official site (http://www.d12online.com/)
- Shady Records (http://www.shadyrecords.com/)
- MTV D12band page (http://www.mtv.com/bands/az/d12/artist.jhtml/)
- All Music Guide D12 page (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDMISS70311071654390588&sql=Bxrm8b5m49sqa/)
- VH1 D12 home page (http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/d12/artist.jhtml/)de:D12