Stoned Is The Way I Walk

Slouched in a chair in the conference room of Dublin’s Clarion Hotel, D12’s Bizarre (pictured far left) has a look etched on his face which screams, ‘Get me out of here’. Entering the room, hotpress greets him with a hello to which he responds with a mumble. It’s only when the group’s record label rep mentions that he must spend 15 minutes promoting his new album that he seems to come alive, requesting that we make it only 10 minutes.
“Have you been doing interviews all day”, we ask as he yawns in his chair, tossing a stress ball at his tour manager, who has decided to ‘sit-in’ on the interview. “No,” comes the sluggish response. “This is the only one.” Difficult is not the word.

Coming to the end of a European tour, D12 are in town for two shows at Dublin’s Ambassador Theatre. With three hours to go until the curtains are lifted, Bizarre looks like a man more fit for taking to his bed than to the stage. On the table between us sits a huge lump of grass, while beside it is an ashtray filled to the brim with the butt ends of joints. When he’s not giggling to himself or mumbling incoherent responses to questions put to him, Bizarre takes to shouting, “Ha, I went crazy, that’s why they call him Bizarre,” at random moments throughout our interview.
It’s a pity not to have caught him at a better moment, or at least not as stoned, as the group’s second album D12 World is an altogether more interesting, varied and personal record than its predecessor. Its variety is sparked by the input of production talents such as Kanye West, Hi-Tek and Trackboyz along with Dr Dre and of course the crew’s most infamous member, Eminem.
“Yeah it was good working with other people, know what I’m saying?” mumbles Bizarre in a slow sludgy drawl. “It brought a different vibe, know what I’m saying? Each brought different elements. It was fun working with people like Kanye and Hi-Tek. I mean we took more control of it than Devil’s Night, you know what I’m saying? Sort of gained from learning and maturing where in the past we were just happy to make a record know what I’m saying?” Yes, we know what you’re saying.
While holding back on responses to questions dealing with his work, Bizarre is quite content to pepper our interview with stoner talk. When asked if he’d been out on the city’s streets he responds “No, I’ve been fishing,” before proceeding to ramble on about the various rainbow coloured fish he’d caught in his “private pond.”
Ask him about his views on the US and he says, presumably taking the piss, that, “We just got to get rid of Bush. Made a lot of bad decisions. I’m rolling’ with Cheney man.” Bizarre by name, bizarre by nature. “Ha, I went crazy, that’s why they call him Bizarre” he screams one more time. And with that, hotpress leaves the building.

D12 World is out now on Interscope