D12 and the Detroit explosion

Not since the days of Berry Gordy and Motown has the music industry taken such a close interest in Detroit, Michigan. The corner stone of this interest is the rap group D12, Detroit’s Dirty Dozen. Their new album Devil’s Night has topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

Although the album has a proven global appeal the story behind it is much more local. D12’s Kuniva speaks with pride about the potential benefit that D12’s success represents for Detroit. Names like Eminem, Kid Rock and D12 are now synonymous with the city; in addition Alley Life, Obie Trice, Royce Da 5'9" and Drunken Master have all recently signed record deals.

Detroit News journalist Wendy Case has for many years charted the evolution of the local Hip Hop scene. Detroit rap acts have been described as super hardcore. She suggests that is due to the exclusion felt in the city from the mainstream music industry.

Kuniva is quick to point out how the city has been in something of a wilderness since Motown left Detroit.

"I think things have changed more since Motown left. Motown was Detroit. When it moved we were lost, we had no kind of outlet in the music industry. By not having anywhere to go, a lot of MCs moved away to LA or New York and because of all of that they became hungrier and more angry. It made our style develop even more rapidly and quicker because we were so hungry. It seemed like we were left for dead. It affected our music a lot and made us more angry. I think that that’s what got us here right now. So maybe if Motown stayed we wouldn’t be here.”

However also feeding into this sense of exclusion was the changing nature of the city of Detroit itself. In 1970, the U.S. Census reported Detroit's population at 1,514,063. In 1998, a Census estimate put Detroit's size at 970,196 -– a decline in equivalent to the entire population of Seattle.

D12 means Dirty Dozen – that is the six

members and their alter egos Bizarre (aka Peter S. Bizarre) Eminem (aka Slim Shady) Kon Artis (aka Mr. Denaun Porter) Proof (aka Big Proof, Dirty Harry) Kuniva (aka Hannz G) and Swift (aka Swifty McVay). Swift was the most recent recruit to the group and replaced Bugz – who, in a bleak paradigm of rap’s prevailing milieu, was shot down the night the group signed their record contract. According to Kuniva, Bugz was the one that held them altogether. "That was our heart right there," he reflects.

The fact that D12 talk about violence does not mean they endorse it. Talking about Bugz’ death Kuniva says: "He got caught at the wrong place at the wrong time; over a small incident, they took his life. It was real messed up.”

Kuniva explains that this is a reality that they reflect in their work. He sees what they do as reporting the stories the media don’t want to touch.

"Things happen like that in Detroit, people get shot for nothing. All the time, it happens everyday. People need to know that. Because they give us all that on television, the media gives it to us, when it gets messed up and they get scared. But it’s ok for them to speak about it, but when we speak about it, it’s wrong.”

Many cynics have suggested that D12 were the invention of Eminem, a faceless posse filling in space.

Wendy Case disagrees. "The facts in Detroit are quite different,” she says. “D12 have developed over many years. It was through Proof's Saturday open-mike events at the now-defunct music and clothing store the Hip-Hop Shop (at Seven Mile and Greenfield), that the group, including Eminem, hooked up. The year was 1994, and each of the rappers had already established themselves on the local scene. These rappers are a powerful collective in Detroit”.

Kuniva takes up the story: “We made a pact in those days, whichever one makes it first, he comes back for the rest. Eminem was the first to do it and he kept his promise.”

There are constant references on the new album to Detroit; indeed the name Devil’s Night is particular to the city. Case says "There are two things you get in Michigan that you don’t get anywhere else in the world. One is ‘Drive In Party Stores’ where you can buy all the beer in the world without leaving your car and two is Devil’s Night. On the album cover there is a match, which to anyone from Detroit only means Devil’s Night".

Now who wouldn’t get an album out of a hometown like that?

Devil’s Night is out now on Interscope Records