D-12 - D-12 World (April 27, 2004)

Although D-12's Devil's Night managed to sell a ton of copies, most industry insiders, bloggers, and music fans attributed the success of the disc to Marshall Mathers and not to the other five members of the crew. Admirably, Eminem has been nothing but supportive of his boys in the Dirty Dozen, but, understandably, the rest of the group still felt they needed to prove themselves. In between Devil's Night and their second disc, D-12 World, the team of Proof, Bizarre, Swifty McVey, Kon Artis, and Kuniva recorded guest spots, side projects, and the like, and reunited with the white boy for another stab at the major label recording process.

D-12 World works with essentially the same recipe as Devil's Night, except kicked up a notch, thanks to far less Eminem exposure and much darker, more serious themes (although the random stupidity still manages to squeak out, especially on "My Band", the lead single that fulfills Em's deal with Aftermath/Interscope that requires him to release something stupid as his first single).

If memory serves, D-12 World sold well enough, and the six members of the crew moved on to other things, electing to reunite at a later date. Unfortunately for the group, Eminem has become best known for falling the fuck off of the face of the hip hop lyrical map, and Proof was killed during a bar fight, leaving the crew down one man (or two, if you also count original member Bugz, whom Eminem replaced after his passing). Denaun Porter (Kon Artis) found much success in the producing game, studying at the feet of Dr. Dre himself, though, so there is a bit of a silver lining.

Here we go.

1. GIT UP
Eminem and friends opt to skip the "rap album intro" bullshit and jump straight to the music. I have to tell you, other than the absurd Eminem hook, this song is a lot better than pretty much all of Devil's Night, and the members of D-12 that manage to make an appearance seem to have honed their craft in between discs.

2. LOYALTY (FEAT OBIE TRICE)
Scratch that last sentence: Bizarre still sounds as bad as ever. Even special guest star Obie Trice allows himself to be dragged down lyrically by his hosts. Oh well, I spoke too soon.

3. JUST LIKE U
Almost as if Marshall were trying to punish me for my previous comment, Bizarre gets a solo track, in which he is ostensibly talking to his kid about life, albeit in a "shocking" and "fucked up" manner. The truth is, his act turned stale years ago, and rhyming about stupid shit just to shock people doesn't really work in our desensitized world: just look at Marilyn Manson's lack of a career. Having the label censor some of the words in your verses is a nice touch, though, since it leaves an aura of mystery ("what the fuck did he say?"), but a better business move would have been to make a good song.

4. I'LL BE DAMNED
I suppose the question is: did Eminem make a conscious effort to not appear on this and the previous two tracks, in an effort to showcase his boys, or did he hear the songs and elect to not even bother?

5. DUDE (SKIT)
...

6. MY BAND
The first single. It's pretty fucking corny, as is expected. In the group's defense, though, a lot of this is pretty amusing, and none of it is meant to be taken seriously anyway, since everyone in the group is simply complaining about Marshall's success. It's not a good song, but it's not insulting to your senses, with the exception of two things: Bizarre calling himself the "popularist" guy in the group (is that really save you more time than just saying "most popular"?), and Eminem's borderline offensive outro, which apparently inspired a remix of this very song.

7. U R THE ONE
zzzz...huh? What? I'm sorry, did I just miss something?

8. 6 IN THE MORNING
Em returns with his wordy flow that has also gotten a bit stale: his random threats don't sound quite as scary when you know that the motherfucker has issues with his ex-wife, loves his daughter, and is addicted to Ambien. He does prove that he's fully caught up with not-so-current events, though, referencing both Keith Murray's assault charge and the Curtis Jackson nine-shots-from-the-grassy-knoll theory.

9. HOW COME
Marshall's hook can be interpreted as an olive branch to a certain Royce da 5'9", albeit one which is quickly snatched away by the line "we're family, ain't a damn thing changed/unless it's you". This isn't that bad, to be honest. There's a much longer version on the Interweb somewhere that includes all six members of the crew, but this shorter version appears on D-12 World for a reason.

10. LEAVE DAT BOY ALONE
I just heard this song, and I can't recall anything about it.

11. GET MY GUN
Although this song is (probably) intended as a gangsta rap parody, it still blows a monkey's paw.

12. BIZARRE (SKIT)
...

13. BITCH
The fuck is this shit?

14. STEVE'S COFFEE HOUSE (SKIT)
Please refer to the above comment.

15. D-12 WORLD
I wasn't very impressed with this Kanye West production, but I did find it strange that this is, in fact, a Kanye West production, so that has to count for something. I do have to admit that Bizarre's threat to drop an adversary "like an Aftermath artist" was pretty fucking funny, though.

16. 40 OZ.
A weirdly misguided attempt to appeal to Southern rap fans, which failed miserably, although I find it oddly appealing. Be forewarned, though: you may actually feel your brain cells dying while this song plays.

17. COMMERCIAL BREAK (FEAT YOUNG ZEE)
Young Zee, from Em's old crew Tha Outsidaz (and Rah Digga's baby daddy) fills the spot that Obie Trice had on the first D-12 album. Was Young Zee ever truly a part of the Shady/Aftermath family, though? Because, aside from this interlude and one song on the 8 Mile soundtrack, we never heard from this dude again.

18. AMERICAN PSYCHO II (FEAT B-REAL)
Dr. Dre still seems to be obsessed with spaghetti western-slash-James Bond theme music (see also: Jay-Z's "The Watcher II"). B-Real serves absolutely no function on here whatsoever, which is always a great thing. While the original "American Psycho" was a legitimate bid for the horrorcore title, this lackluster sequel is simply pedestrian. Patrick Bateman would be ashamed.

19. BUGZ 97 (SKIT) (FEAT BUGZ)
While it's interesting to consider an alternate universe where D-12 remained underground and Eminem retained his solo status, this verse isn't enough to determine if Bugz would have been successful in the game. He sounds alright, though.

20. GOOD DIE YOUNG
The five members of D-12 that aren't named Marshall pay their respects to their fallen comrade Bugz, in a touching effort that is a nice change of pace for the crew. It's a case of "too little, too late", though.

The following is listed as a bonus track.

21. KEEP TALKIN'
Meh.

FINAL THOUGHTS: D-12 World is a conceptual mess. The issue that I had with Devil's Night, in which the white boy was the most distinguishable artist that wasn't named Bizarre, returns tenfold, as it seems that the other four rappers blend together even more so than ever before. The beats have been upgraded, and the themes are darker and more mature, but it's hard to sit through this disjointed effort. D-12 World is ultimately a disappointment.

BUY OR BURN? You don't really need to have any version of this album, whether it be in a physical form or as data on your hard drive, but if you feel differently for some godforsaken reason, a burn is sufficient. I wouldn't go out of my way, though.

BEST TRACKS: "Git Up"; "How Come"; "40 Oz."

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Eminem and D-12's previous adventures can be found by clicking here.

D-12 - Devil's Night (June 19, 2001)

Most people (including myself) frequently refer to Detroit's own Dirty Dozen, otherwise known as the rap group D12, as Eminem's weed carriers. Sure, that may be an accurate description of the group today, as they only came into prominence (relatively speaking; nobody really cares about D12 that much except for some of the hip hop bloggers) after Marshall Mathers blew the fuck up. But classifying them simply as such would be doing a disservice to the origins of the crew.

And what exactly are the origins of D12? I don't know, and I don't much care. I'm not from Detroit, so I don't have all of the facts, but what I do know is that the Dirty Dozen (which is made up today of Bizarre, the late Proof, Kon Artis, Kuniva, Swifty McVay, and Eminem) did not count Marshall in as a full fledged member until after the passing of underground emcee Bugz freed up a slot. I have no idea if this partnership took place before or after both Eminem and Bizarre had hit the marketplace with solo albums (yes, Bizarre was a solo artist prior to D12: Attack Of The Weirdos, which is otherwise terrible, is notable for having "Trife Thieves" (an early collaboration with Eminem and previous D12 member Fuzz) and for having the late J Dilla behind the boards on one track), but I do know that Marshall played the loyalty card after his first two Aftermath/Interscope albums ended up in the bedroom of every single white suburban teenager in the United States.

However, the other five members of the group (there are only six members total, each with a second rap alias that would make the group total up to twelve "members", but I don't recall what the other aliases are, and it's not like they use them today anyway) didn't want to ride on Marshall's coattails, which makes sense: Eminem was actually famous at this point, which would make any criticism against their work harsher that normal. At the same time, Eminem provided some added clout to the project, a group debut album that would eventually be titled Devil's Night. With his name attached, it was essentially guaranteed a release date by Interscope Records, and Em even convinced his new mentor Dr. Dre to provide some beats for a crew that he probably wouldn't have paid any attention to otherwise. But the true reason why the rest of D12 wanted to distance themselves (to a point) from Marshall was because (a) he was generally seen as the leader of the crew, (b) he was generally seen as the best rapper in said crew, and (c) he was white. In a predominantly African-American musical culture, the fact that Eminem was both a different race and a good rapper (back then, anyway) caused the rest of the crew to be unfairly judged, when in reality the other five artists were bland but in no way deserving of the labels bestowed upon them.

Prior to the release of Devil's Night, D12 released some singles to the Interweb, in an attempt to prove their worthiness minus Em. Eminem, to his credit, even tried his best to showcase the rest of the crew and publicly proclaimed that he was just one out of six rappers, but Interscope, wanting to, I don't know, actually sell records, seemed to have forced Marshall onto almost every single song on Devil's Night in some capacity.

Devil's Night sold moderately well, primarily to white teenagers who thought they were buying the third Eminem album. To this day, D12 is still trying to shake being referred to as Eminem's group, even after the recent loss of a second group member.

I hear Royce Da 5'9" is available, guys.

1. ANOTHER PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Sounds exactly the same as the introductions on Eminem's last two albums, except even less tolerable this go round.

2. SHIT CAN HAPPEN
Swifty McVay uses both "hunky-dory" and "roni" in his verse, which immediately makes me think that he's the most impressive from the Dozen, save for the white guy.

3. PISTOL PISTOL
Contains two Eminem choruses that are performed at the same time. Seriously, we Americans are spoiled as shit: there are children starving in third world countries that would kill for just half a chorus, and Marshall has the audacity to waste two of them at once. This gross negligence disgusts me.

4. BIZARRE (SKIT)
...

5. NASTY MIND (FEAT TRUTH HURTS)
Truly an embarrassment for all parties involved, and I'm including not just producer Dr. Dre, but every single rapper's mother in that category.

6. AIN'T NUTTIN' BUT MUSIC
This song probably started life as a posse-cut remix to Em's "The Real Slim Shady", and it contains a lot of the same subject matter (i.e., attacks on easy targets). Not horrible for what it is.

7. AMERICAN PSHCYO
Could be considered a legitimate bid to resurrect the horrorcore genre, except for the fact that the best rapper in the crew can't sell the "psycho" image; he just comes off as a guy that is trying to garner attention by spitting the most ridiculous shit that comes to mind.

8. THAT'S HOW (SKIT)
...

9. THAT'S HOW...
For a D12 song that only features Marshall in a couple of ad-libs, this song isn't bad, even though it resorts to the "repetitive chant" concept that was popular in rap at the time (hell, it's still popular now, and it's no less frustrating). The beat marches its way into your mind, leaving behind a soundtrack for your mundane day-to-day activities, such as washing the dishes, hiring three escorts to blow you while they're wearing skimpy thongs and full-on clown makeup, and taking out the trash.

10. PURPLE PILLS
The infamous first single from the Devil's Night project. Interscope forced the group to change up the subject matter and the title before its release to radio, so they altered it to "Purple Hills", thereby rendering the entire song nonsensical. The beat, provided by Em, isn't bad, and most of the rappers come off decently (save for Bizarre, who couldn't stay on beat with a map and a flashlight), but this really isn't first single material.

11. FIGHT MUSIC
I want to say this was the second and final single released from Devil's Night, but I could be wrong. I like how Em mentions that this song is representative of the kind of song where you don't have to ask who produced it, you just know: when I first heard it, I didn't hear the Dr. Dre sound at all, but now it's all I hear. The title is just begging to be used for a Hollywood movie about two inner city youth choirs that do battle while trying to raise money to save their rec center, which is in danger of being replaced by a high-rise condominium building-slash-left sock factory.

12. INSTIGATOR
The chorus invites you to find out what happens if you fuck with them, but the song itself is about starting shit for no actual reason. Such mixed messages give Max a headache, and the overproduced instrumental isn't helping matters any.

13. PIMP LIKE ME (FEAT DINA RAE)
The song for the ladies. Specifically, the ladies that like it when rappers fuck them and flee, after referring to them as "bitches" and "hos" all evening to their faces, but their low self-esteem drives them to think that the rapper in question is still a good and respectful person. Pretty lame, when you look at it (both the song and the example provided). The group members seem to enjoy the "beating of women" part of being a pimp much more than the "making the money" aspect, which is troubling.

14. BLOW MY BUZZ
Meh.

15. OBIE TRICE (SKIT) (FEAT OBIE TRICE)
Not a bad move by Marshall to promote his newest signee by putting him on the highly-anticipated D12 project. Too bad Obie easily outshines every rapper on the album with his short verse, save for the white guy.

16. DEVIL'S NIGHT
Going back to the horrorcore angle: if the members of D12 would have just gone a little bit further with their lyrical content, they probably would have sold more than the Flatlinerz and resurrected the genre. Instead, they choose to focus on absolutely nothing, with Marshall being the only one that tries to stay on topic, albeit not that impressively.

17. STEVE BERMAN (SKIT)
...

18. REVELATION
This song is just bad. The chorus (why does Em feel the need to sing his own hooks?) completely destroys the vibe the group was going for (mildly socially conscious). And I figured that the track, with its guitars and chorus, was Em's attempt at making a Pink Floyd track: the outro only confirms my suspicions.

The following track was an unlisted bonus track:

19. GIRLS
Apparently controversial at the time, since Eminem, performing solo, proceeds to rip various members of Limp Bizkit to proverbial shreds, and Limp Bizkit was also signed to Interscope at the time. It's certainly not a good dis, and for someone who can spit some admittedly vile things, calling Fred Durst and DJ Lethal "girls" is pretty fucking tame. Two thinks stick out for me, though. For one, when Marshall runs down a list of friends that he would do anything for, Royce Da 5'9' is mentioned as an ally, and that just made me sad (although, yes, I understand they have since reunited, but this is 2001 we're talking about). Secondly, Eminem mentions repeatedly (in what passes for a chorus) that he's a man, he can stand on his own two feet, and he doesn't need anyone to share his beliefs or join his beefs. He then almost immediately joined Curtis Jackson's donnybrook with Ja Rule: the same Curtis Jackson that kicked The Game out of G-Unit because he didn't want to join the group's battle with Fat Joe, Jadakiss, and Nas. Is Eminem trying to tell us something? Obviously not, since this song was released long before Curtis's reign on the charts, but Em's stance is telling.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Devil's Night is a slick, overproduced album that wasn't radio friendly enough to appeal to the mainstream, and much too polished to appeal to anyone in the streets. None of the artists involved (except for the white guy and Bizarre) have distinctive enough voices to make them stand out in a crowd, which makes them interchangeable, which is a horrible thing for members of a rap group to be. The Devil's Night project was successful, but for all of the wrong reasons.

BUY OR BURN? I can't recommend that you buy this disc without losing sleep at night. if I were writing for Entertainment Weekly, I would give the album a C-. Since I'm much more entertaining than that, though, I think that you should burn this disc if you absolutely have to hear it, since your life won't progress any differently if you have this or not.

BEST TRACKS: "Obie Trice (Skit)"; "That's How"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Eminem - The Slim Shady LP
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP