Does Slim Shady haunt D12 ?
To me, the answer is clearly yes. Why? Because you could hardly dissociate Eminem from his fellows. They grew up in the same hood, used to rap together, shared their pains and successes.
But Eminem is also the main handicap for the other D12 emcees in their fight for recognition. The more Eminem shines, the more they remain in the shadow of Slim Shady.
Even touring without Eminem seems to have solved the problem only partially. In fact, a D12 song interpreted without Eminem probably makes the crowd feel like something’s missing, even if Marshall’s gifted fellows are doing their best to entertain them.
The D12 rappers are gifted. Matter of fact: they do have skills.
Maybe the problem also lies somewhere else. It would be useful for people to know much more about D12’s former and current solo work.
If people took time to listen to albums like ‘Promatic’ which is Proof’s collaboration with Detroit rapper Dogmatic, there would be no doubt in their mind that Proof is a dope MC. They would certainly also enjoy Swifty’s Raw Collection collaboration ‘Grenade Pins’.
Touring without Eminem is certainly the first step for people to discover more about D12’s individual talents. The second step could be more promotion of the rappers’ individual work: you won’t certainly be indifferent to Bizarre’s ill rhymes, to Swifty the lyrical bomber. Proof the freestyler will amaze you. Kon artis’ beats and Kuniva’s rhymes will introduce you into D12’s World.
Give D12 a chance to show your their individual talents: they deserve it.
I have read on some forums that people didn’t want to go to the D12 concert, because Eminem wasn’t touring with them. To the people who still hesitate to go to the show, I would like to say that you won’t be disappointed with such talented emcees, no matter if Slim is present or to to the show. As far as I am concerned, I have decided to give the D12 emcees their chance in September at Paris Montmartre.