This article is about an American hip-hop group. For other uses, see d12 (disambiguation).
D12 (also known as D-12, The Dirty Dozen, D-Twizzy and Detroit-Twelve) is an American hip-hop group from Detroit, Michigan, which has had albums reach the top of the American, British, and Australian album charts: Devil's Night in 2001 and D12 World in 2004. D12 was formed in 1990, but only achieved mainstream success when its most accomplished member, Eminem, had risen to international fame and notoriety. Previously, D12 had been a notable contributor in the underground rap scene.

History
Proof formed D12 as a rap collective of local Detroit MCs including Bizarre, Eminem, Eye Kyu, Killa Hawk, and Fuzz. The group was a loose collective in the vein of Wu-Tang Clan. Several members began making names for themselves in hip hop during the late 1990s. Bizarre was named Inner City Entertainment's "Flava of the Week". He went on to release an album called Attack Of The Weirdos and become a member of The Outsidaz with Eminem, Rah Digga and Young Zee. Proof won a freestyling competition run by The Source in 1998.
Before the group had any success, Killa Hawk and Fuzz left the group due to various reasons. Fuzz in particular did not get along well with Bizarre, which inevitably caused him to leave the group. D12 went through many changes during its beginning stages - leaving only four official members: Proof, Bizarre, Eminem and Eye Kyu for a long while. Eminem then later left to pursue his solo career after being heard by Dr. Dre. D12 temporarily was over. Right about when Eminem got a deal, Proof decided to start D12 up again. Proof was set to find other local rappers to join the group. Proof managed to pick up local Detroit hip hop duo Da Brigade to join. Da Brigade featured longtime Eminem and Proof friend Kon Artis, who also produced Eminem's first album Infinite. The other half of Da Brigade was formed by local MC Kuniva. Kon Artis was just the producer for D12 at the time, but was later convinced to join D12 as an artist after his partner Kuniva decided to join the Dirty Dozen. Kuniva then introduced Bugz to Proof who later joined the group. Bizarre again joined, but Eye Kyu had decided not to. D12 were in need of one more member, until Bugz asked to have his long time friend Swift, who at the time was already a member of the rap duo Da Rabeez to join. After all six members were established, the group made a promise to each other that the first member to achieve solo success would come back for the others.

Early career

Main article: Eminem Death of Bugz
The group has released two albums, Devil's Night and D12 World. Both albums debuted at number one on the Billboard music charts in the U.S. and topped the charts in many other countries. The two albums' hit singles included "Purple Pills", "Fight Music", "My Band", and "How Come".
The group was often overshadowed by Eminem's massive success, and toured without him for the second album while Eminem was busy recording Encore. Although shadowed by Eminem's success, other members Bizarre and Proof managed to prevail with mildly successful solo careers with the releases of Hannicap Circus and Searching for Jerry Garcia in 2005. D12 (minus Eminem) appeared on Tech N9ne's 2002 album entitled Absolute Power on the track "She-Devil". They also decided that Eminem would not be as prominent on their upcoming third album, which remains evident even after Proof's death. Their third album is estimated to be 70% completed with yet any input from Eminem.

Success

Main article: Proof (rapper) Death of Proof

Main article: Swift (rapper) Swift's incarceration
Their debut album, Devil's Night, referring to the old Detroit tradition of setting abandoned buildings on fire (something that has since become a thing of the past in Detroit) the night before Halloween, was released in June 2001. It debuted at number one on the U.S. and British charts, also reaching the top of the Canadian charts. Devil's Night went on to sell four million albums worldwide and two million in the U.S. It featured the following hit singles:
The group's second album was D12 World released on April 27, 2004, featuring production by Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kon Artis and Kanye West, and guest appearances by Obie Trice on the track "Loyalty", and B-Real of Cypress Hill on the track "American Psycho II". It debuted at the top of the U.S., U.K., and Australian album charts, and number two in Germany — selling over half a million records in its first week of release in the U.S. alone. "My Band", the album's first single, was also successful reaching number one in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. rhythmic top forty, the top five in the U.K. and Germany, and the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Purple Hills" (the clean version of "Purple Pills") reached the top twenty on the Billboard 100 and number one on the rap tracks charts in 2001 as well as number two in the U.K. and the top ten in Australia.
"Shit on You" reached the British top ten and the Canadian top five.
"Fight Music", featuring Ice T, Angie Martinez, Fat Joe,in its music video, reached the British top twenty and the Australian top forty. Chart success
The members of the group have also, on occasion, turned to acting. Eminem is the lead actor in 8 Mile and has a cameo appearance in The Wash, while Proof also appears in 8 Mile as a freestyle rapper called "Lil' Tic". The group (without Eminem) appear in 2005's The Longest Yard credited as "Basketball Convicts". Although, Eminem rapping about football can be heard while the convicts are practicing at one point. The group recorded the song "My Ballz" for The Longest Yard soundtrack.
D12 member Eminem is set to star in a new film, as of 2006, titled Have Gun — Will Travel, a modernized remake of the 1957 cowboy western television series of the same name. The rest of the group was previously stated to be producing and starring in two movies, one titled Devil's Night — a horror film, and another titled Runyon Cash — about growing up in the streets of Detroit. Since this statement however, there has been no official word about these releases.

Appearances in film

Members
D12 currently consists of five members

Eminem (Marshall Mathers III) a.k.a. Slim Shady
Kuniva (Von Carlisle) a.k.a. Rondell Beene
Kon Artis (Denaun Porter) a.k.a. Mr. Porter
Swift (Ondre Moore) a.k.a. Swifty McVay
Bizarre (Rufus Johnson) a.k.a. Peter S. Bizarre Current members

Bugz (Karnail Pitts), a.k.a. Robert Beck; shot and killed on May 21, 1999)
Proof (DeShaun Holton), a.k.a. Dirty Harry; shot and killed on April 11, 2006) Deceased members

Eye-Kyu
Fuzz Scoota
Killa Hawk Former Members

Eminem: Shady Records
Kon Artis and Kuniva: Runyon Ave. Records
Bizarre: Red Head Records
Swift: Da Fyre Dapartment D12 Solo Label

Albums

2000 "Shit on You"
2001 "Purple Pills"
2001 "Fight Music"
2004 "My Band"
2004 "How Come"
2004 "40 Oz"
2004 "U R the One"