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Look at Y2hiphop.com, they totally TRASHED BIZARRE SO BAD, ouch omg !!
Just last year, Eminem released the multi-platinum "Marshall Mathers LP", which even surpassed "The Slim Shady LP" in sales, and catapulted him into the ranks of one of the most popular rappers ever. But due to high sales and even higher teeny bopper and TRL appeal, a lot of hip-hop critics tryed to pan the album by calling it "gimmicky shock value", and saying the replay value isn't there at all. It was there loss though, as the "MMLP" was one of 2000's best releases, and showed that Em has improved in both delivery and content. Now in 2001, Em's crew D12 is finally ready to release their debut LP, entitled "Devil's Night". D12 consists of 6 MC's (they all have 2 personalities, so that's how they get 12), who are Proof, Bizarre, Swift, Kuniva, Kon Artis, and Eminem himself. So the question remaining is, "will this be another Eminem album featuring 5 nobodies", or "an album that showcases 5 talented MC's along with Eminem"? The answer is neither, as D12 is basically made up of Em rhyming alongside 5 clones. However, this is surprisingly an entertaining and solid effort, with all of the members (except for one) showing some skill on the mic. Read on to find out everything...
Before i get into the album, remember how i mentioned that everyone in D12 has some skills, minus one person? Well, that's Bizarre, who has an awful flow and pathetic lyrics that try to shock you, but end up making you laugh because they are incredibly stupid. Even though a few of his shock lyrics are mildly amusing, most of them are retarded. "My girlfriend had a miscarriage, i had to eat it" -- that line is very shocking, because it makes you wonder how any human being can write something that even excels Noreaga in terms of extreme wackness. Even though all of Bizarre's verses are short, most of them stain the album. So with that out of the way, we can get into the review.
After the obnoxious and unnecessary "Another Public Service Announcement" intro, the very first song of the LP kicks in, which is "Shit Can Happen". Denaun Porter laces a Dre-ish beat for Kon Artis, Kuniva, and Swift to rhyme over, and they all leave good impressions. Unfortunately, Eminem also drops by to spit the last verse, and easily outshines everyone. "Pistol Pistol" follows, and just has Eminem resorting to doing the hook, allowing the remaining 5 members to shine. They all do too, with Bizarre even dropping a good verse: "This 9 will make Holyfield start fighting, it'll make Mase say fuck church, and go back to writing/ It'll make Shyne say he sound like Biggie Smalls, it'll make R. Kelly give respect to Aaron Hall". Dr. Dre contributes his first beat to "Nasty Mind", and it's one of the album's best. Looking at the title, you already know what to expect about the content, but everyone (excluding Bizarre) comes at least decent.
"Ain't Nuttin' But Music" is basically a continuation of "The Real Slim Shady", just that everyone in D12 joins Eminem this time around. Dre tweaks the beat a little bit, but it still sounds very similar. And just like "The Real Slim Shady", numerous people get dissed, which include everyone from the Baha Men, Rev. Jackson, Whitney Houston, Everlast, and many more. "American Psycho" comes up next, and is the complete opposite of the previous track. Creepy melodic piano keys, dark bass, and a slashing guitar riff set the perfect backdrop for an extremely tight opening verse from Eminem: "I'm a human mutt, fuck a being/ I'm a dog, fuck lambs i'm silencing them all, i'm involved in murders forensic science couldn't solve/ Giant set of balls too big to buy a set of draws, might as well unzip my fly and let 'em fall/ Each thought is completely warped, i'm like a walking, talking Ouija Board". Unfortunately, Bizarre almost ruins the song with his god-awful verse, and drops wack lines like: "My dick isn't burning 'cause of disease, it's because of me jerking off with gasoline". At least Kon Artis closes the track with a decent verse.
"That's How" is easily the nicest track on the album that doesn't feature Eminem. The concept is actually pretty creative (well, for D12), with each member explaining how people and certain things get fucked up. The lyrics, beat, and hook are also extra tight, making this one of the album's best tracks. "Purple Pills" is dedicated to mushrooms and popping pills, and features another very dope Eminem verse. The production is even tighter, which includes a nice sax loop and a nice harmonica sample at the end. This track brings back the older version of Eminem, and is a nice change of pace from his angrier Marshall Mathers style. Once again though, Em easily outshines the rest of his crew, and Bizarre almost ruins the song at the end with a wack verse.
"Fight Music" features intense Rock-ish production, which is surprisingly produced by Dr. Dre. Eminem reverts back to his Marshall Mathers style again, and his delivery on this track resembles the one on "The Way I Am". It's more of the same though, as Em's verse outshines everyone else, and Bizarre drops another wack verse. The album starts to get pretty monotonous and boring, once the next 3 songs come on. "Instigator" is easily the weakest track on the album, "Pimp Like Me" is a boring pimp track, and "Blow My Buzz" is basically a generic version of "Purple Pills". Fortunately, the album starts to pick up once the title track "Devil's Night" comes on. "Revelation" features another Rock-ish Dre beat, but it's on the dreary "Marshall Mathers" tip this time around. All 6 members drop autobiographical rhymes on this one, and they all come tight (well, not Bizarre, but at least his verse is tolerable).
"Girls" is the infamous hidden bonus track, which is the venomous Eminem solo. On this track, Em goes all out dissing Limp Bizkit, and rips both Fred Durst and DJ Lethal. Eminem also takes shots at Dilated Peoples (I thought they squashed their beef?) and Everlast. One thing i noticed about this song though, is that Em sounds just like Tupac. His delivery, cadence, and voice are very Pac-like, and even the production is Pac-like (the beat sounds like one of the slower, darker tracks on Makaveli). The 2Pac similarities are also very noticeable at the very end of the track, where Eminem is talking.
In conclusion, this was definitly a much better album then i expected it to be. Although the D12 album isn't really about anything else besides shock value, it's surprisingly very good and entertaining for the most part. The 7 Eminem verses really helped this LP out though, as most of Bizarre's verses were horrible for the most part. As for the rest of the members -- Proof did okay, although i expected much better from him after hearing his freestyles. Swift, Kon Artis, and Kuniva were actually impressive almost throughout the entire album, and proved that they can hold their own pretty well. Eminem is still by far the most skilled member in the group though, as he always outshined the rest of D12 whenever he dropped a verse. So basically, you can live without "Devil's Night" in your collection. But if you're an Eminem fan or like hip-hop that's more twisted than usual, it wouldn't hurt picking up this release.
Just last year, Eminem released the multi-platinum "Marshall Mathers LP", which even surpassed "The Slim Shady LP" in sales, and catapulted him into the ranks of one of the most popular rappers ever. But due to high sales and even higher teeny bopper and TRL appeal, a lot of hip-hop critics tryed to pan the album by calling it "gimmicky shock value", and saying the replay value isn't there at all. It was there loss though, as the "MMLP" was one of 2000's best releases, and showed that Em has improved in both delivery and content. Now in 2001, Em's crew D12 is finally ready to release their debut LP, entitled "Devil's Night". D12 consists of 6 MC's (they all have 2 personalities, so that's how they get 12), who are Proof, Bizarre, Swift, Kuniva, Kon Artis, and Eminem himself. So the question remaining is, "will this be another Eminem album featuring 5 nobodies", or "an album that showcases 5 talented MC's along with Eminem"? The answer is neither, as D12 is basically made up of Em rhyming alongside 5 clones. However, this is surprisingly an entertaining and solid effort, with all of the members (except for one) showing some skill on the mic. Read on to find out everything...
Before i get into the album, remember how i mentioned that everyone in D12 has some skills, minus one person? Well, that's Bizarre, who has an awful flow and pathetic lyrics that try to shock you, but end up making you laugh because they are incredibly stupid. Even though a few of his shock lyrics are mildly amusing, most of them are retarded. "My girlfriend had a miscarriage, i had to eat it" -- that line is very shocking, because it makes you wonder how any human being can write something that even excels Noreaga in terms of extreme wackness. Even though all of Bizarre's verses are short, most of them stain the album. So with that out of the way, we can get into the review.
After the obnoxious and unnecessary "Another Public Service Announcement" intro, the very first song of the LP kicks in, which is "Shit Can Happen". Denaun Porter laces a Dre-ish beat for Kon Artis, Kuniva, and Swift to rhyme over, and they all leave good impressions. Unfortunately, Eminem also drops by to spit the last verse, and easily outshines everyone. "Pistol Pistol" follows, and just has Eminem resorting to doing the hook, allowing the remaining 5 members to shine. They all do too, with Bizarre even dropping a good verse: "This 9 will make Holyfield start fighting, it'll make Mase say fuck church, and go back to writing/ It'll make Shyne say he sound like Biggie Smalls, it'll make R. Kelly give respect to Aaron Hall". Dr. Dre contributes his first beat to "Nasty Mind", and it's one of the album's best. Looking at the title, you already know what to expect about the content, but everyone (excluding Bizarre) comes at least decent.
"Ain't Nuttin' But Music" is basically a continuation of "The Real Slim Shady", just that everyone in D12 joins Eminem this time around. Dre tweaks the beat a little bit, but it still sounds very similar. And just like "The Real Slim Shady", numerous people get dissed, which include everyone from the Baha Men, Rev. Jackson, Whitney Houston, Everlast, and many more. "American Psycho" comes up next, and is the complete opposite of the previous track. Creepy melodic piano keys, dark bass, and a slashing guitar riff set the perfect backdrop for an extremely tight opening verse from Eminem: "I'm a human mutt, fuck a being/ I'm a dog, fuck lambs i'm silencing them all, i'm involved in murders forensic science couldn't solve/ Giant set of balls too big to buy a set of draws, might as well unzip my fly and let 'em fall/ Each thought is completely warped, i'm like a walking, talking Ouija Board". Unfortunately, Bizarre almost ruins the song with his god-awful verse, and drops wack lines like: "My dick isn't burning 'cause of disease, it's because of me jerking off with gasoline". At least Kon Artis closes the track with a decent verse.
"That's How" is easily the nicest track on the album that doesn't feature Eminem. The concept is actually pretty creative (well, for D12), with each member explaining how people and certain things get fucked up. The lyrics, beat, and hook are also extra tight, making this one of the album's best tracks. "Purple Pills" is dedicated to mushrooms and popping pills, and features another very dope Eminem verse. The production is even tighter, which includes a nice sax loop and a nice harmonica sample at the end. This track brings back the older version of Eminem, and is a nice change of pace from his angrier Marshall Mathers style. Once again though, Em easily outshines the rest of his crew, and Bizarre almost ruins the song at the end with a wack verse.
"Fight Music" features intense Rock-ish production, which is surprisingly produced by Dr. Dre. Eminem reverts back to his Marshall Mathers style again, and his delivery on this track resembles the one on "The Way I Am". It's more of the same though, as Em's verse outshines everyone else, and Bizarre drops another wack verse. The album starts to get pretty monotonous and boring, once the next 3 songs come on. "Instigator" is easily the weakest track on the album, "Pimp Like Me" is a boring pimp track, and "Blow My Buzz" is basically a generic version of "Purple Pills". Fortunately, the album starts to pick up once the title track "Devil's Night" comes on. "Revelation" features another Rock-ish Dre beat, but it's on the dreary "Marshall Mathers" tip this time around. All 6 members drop autobiographical rhymes on this one, and they all come tight (well, not Bizarre, but at least his verse is tolerable).
"Girls" is the infamous hidden bonus track, which is the venomous Eminem solo. On this track, Em goes all out dissing Limp Bizkit, and rips both Fred Durst and DJ Lethal. Eminem also takes shots at Dilated Peoples (I thought they squashed their beef?) and Everlast. One thing i noticed about this song though, is that Em sounds just like Tupac. His delivery, cadence, and voice are very Pac-like, and even the production is Pac-like (the beat sounds like one of the slower, darker tracks on Makaveli). The 2Pac similarities are also very noticeable at the very end of the track, where Eminem is talking.
In conclusion, this was definitly a much better album then i expected it to be. Although the D12 album isn't really about anything else besides shock value, it's surprisingly very good and entertaining for the most part. The 7 Eminem verses really helped this LP out though, as most of Bizarre's verses were horrible for the most part. As for the rest of the members -- Proof did okay, although i expected much better from him after hearing his freestyles. Swift, Kon Artis, and Kuniva were actually impressive almost throughout the entire album, and proved that they can hold their own pretty well. Eminem is still by far the most skilled member in the group though, as he always outshined the rest of D12 whenever he dropped a verse. So basically, you can live without "Devil's Night" in your collection. But if you're an Eminem fan or like hip-hop that's more twisted than usual, it wouldn't hurt picking up this release.
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