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Detroit's D12 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. Although D12 was formed in 1990 but 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.
"My Band" -Early career
D12 was initially formed in 1990 by Proof who invited local Detroit
rappers including Bizarre, Eminem and members who would leave the crew before it achieved success including Eiy Kyu, Killa Hawk
and Fuzz. The group was a loose collective and several members started to make 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 under his name 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 D12 member Eminem found success. All of the members of D12 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 three million records in the US.
Eminem's success persuaded Proof to establish D12 on a more permanent basis in early 1999. As well as Eminem and Bizarre, he
recruited Kuniva, Kon Artist and Bugz to join the group. Koniva and Kon Artist were previously part of Da Brigade. However, Bugz was shot 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 D12 World are also in his memory.
The six members of D12 signed a contract with Eminem's Shady Records and Interscope in 1999. The fact that
D12 rose to prominence after Eminem led many people to assume that the other members had less significance in the group - this
misconception would be the concept of the group's 2004 hit single "My Band".
Chart Success
Their debut, Devil's Night, referring to the Detroit tradition of setting abandoned buildings on fire the night
before Halloween, was released in June 2001. It debuted at number one at the
US and UK charts and reached the top of the Canadian charts as well. 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 top 10 in Australia;
- "S**t On You" reached the Canadian top 5; and
- "Fight Music", featuring Ice T and Fat
Joe in its music video, reached the 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:
- Kon Artis also Mr. Denaun Porter;
- Swift aka Swifty McVeigh;
- Kuniva aka Rondell Beene; and
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
Links
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