People usually focus a lot of attention on the comments that the media have to offer about groups like D12.
In fact, you will learn much more about D12 by listening to the six emcees talking about each other.
Kon Artis and Kuniva will confirm you that Proof is an incredible freestyler and emcee. If you have listened to Proof’s mixtape, you will know that they are so right about it. His mixtape offers us various styles and sounds.
Proof is a gifted emcee who deserves to be known better.
Kon Artis:”He taught me how to rhyme. He’s my drinking buddy, but I can’t drink as much. At times he worries me because he can be a wild card, but he’s calmed down a lot.”
Kuniva: “He’s a live wire. Bound to say anything, do anything. Proof can switch up his style so many different ways — he can flip it and do any flavor.”
Kuniva might be the most discrete member of the D12 group, he is a skilled MC. Kuniva is like the observer of the group. In real life, Kuniva doesn’t like to talk too much. He prefers to observe people’s conversations. His discretion may sometimes be a handicap, as Proof points it out:
Proof: “Kuniva is one of those quiet dudes. He gets overlooked — people don’t realize how incredible he is.”
Kuniva may have been the least experienced of the six emcees, but he has learnt a lot from his fellows:
Bizarre: “He’s like a lyrical surprise guest — like a little cousin. We got Kuniva straight out of the hood. He was the least experienced, but he listens and feeds off us.
Kon Artis and Kuniva’s story is a long story of friendship and loyalty :
“He keeps to himself, but he’s a genius with that pen. I owed it to him. I knew if I kept him under my wing he’d turn into something. . . . and I knew we’d be victims if we didn’t get out. We would have been dead or in jail.”
Like Eminem, Kon Artis is a producer and an emcee with mad beats. His D12 apreciate him for his ability to make such incredible beats. His particular voice also distinguishes him from the other emcees in the group:
Proof: “He’s the musician of the group and an incredible singer — put that in bold letters. He brings a different angle to the production. When Em’s not around, he’s the leader in the studio. To me, his beats are more funk — like some kind of galactic funk.”
Bizarre: “When you listen to Kon Artis beats, it’s like a breath of fresh air. He really challenged us this time, made us go in a different direction.”
MC Bizarre is appreciated by his fellows for his originality and his ill rhymes too:
Kon Artis:’He’s totally left field — brings that edge to the group. He’s off-balance as well.”
Proof: “D12 is about sick MCs and sick things, and he embodies that. He’s the release, the ill mind, the imagination.”
Kuniva: “He’s one of the smartest guys I know. He brings that dark element. He knows how to say the things that make people go, ‘Oh my God, you didn’t just say that.’ ”
Swifty Mc Veigh is the ‘ lyrical terrorist’ who doesn’t hide his sympathy for bomber Timothy Mc Veigh. He drops his grenades on the mic. Thanks to Kuniva, we know that we owe the whole ‘D12 World’ concept and the album cover to him:
Proof: “He’s the industry terrorist, the grenade dropper. But he’s also the balance for D12 — in terms of decision-making, he’s the levelheaded one.”
Kon Artis :”Swift is about unity, the bighearted guy who understands the meaning of group and loyalty.”
Kuniva: “A lot of times he’s the first to rap on a song because he’s
such a fast writer. We’ll write entire songs around Swifty. He came
up with the whole ‘D12 World’ concept — the album cover and
everything.”
No need to make a presentation for the CEO of the D12 group, Eminem. What’s the difference between him and the other D12 members?
He’s white and he’s the ‘lead singer of his band”. Don’t get me wrong. It was sarcasm.
Who could talk better about Marshall Mathers than his long term friends from D12 who are like his family members to him?
His friends describe him as a perfectionnist, a ‘workoholic’ and of course, as the lyrical genius we already know.
Kuniva: “His brain works so fast. He can put rhymes together so fast and it all makes sense. It’s spontaneous — he paints a picture in his head and makes it work. I came up under him and Proof. He’s more laid-back now than when he did ‘The Slim Shady LP.’ But he can’t stay away from the studio. He’s a workaholic. A perfectionist.”
Bizarre: “People don’t understand — he’ll spend three weeks on a single song, adding instruments, adding sounds.”
Proof: “Em is making us grow up. He told us, ‘You got to get your own hands into your own destinies.’ ”
Kon Artis: ‘Em guides the ship, makes sure we don’t lose our focus. How can you not be motivated if you’ve got what he’s got?”
The D12 members know each other very well and they remain our best source of information about the members’ personality and music.