D12 are about to the release a follow up to their acclaimed album, Devil's Night, with Devil's Night: The Mixtape. With that in mind, we thought it'd be interesting to have the Detroit crew take us through the creation of the original album, a mini oral history, if you will.
The crew highlights how the album's idea was mainly inspired by Proof, "it was Proof's idea, his plan," Bizarre said. Eminem took a big brother role, as he provided the label that would release Devil's Night, as well as advice.
Kuniva elaborated on Em's role, saying, "All we wanted to do was make dope music, and we were more focused on shock value and shit like that, that was our thing, sayig and doing shit that nobody else would say. We were more focused on getting the 'oohs and ahhs,' but Em had tell us, 'you have to start structuring these songs the right way, do it like this, do it like that. We were pretty much like deer in the headlights. We saw everything coming but we didn't expect it to be that massive."
The trio went on to speak on their favorite songs off the original Devil's Night, naming "Fight Music." They spoke on a record that never actually came together, leaving fans to sit and wonder what could have been.
"I remember one particular record, and it ended up being an Eminem record. It was "Sorry Mama," [Ed. Note: aka "Cleanin Out My Closet"] one of his biggest hits. But we had that song first, and actually Bizarre was on that song first. He was talking some crazzzy shit, and the whole group was like, yo he can't say this shit, it's too much. He got a call from Dr. Dre who was like, 'man, say that shit! You gotta say it, blah blah blah,' but ultimately he gave in to the group and was like fuck it. So Eminem was like, 'fuck it, I'll take the song,' and he took it and made 'Sorry Mama' with it. That particular incident is just a reminder of how creative everyone was and so much ahead of our time we were."
"I think our goal was met with that particular project...It was more of us showcasing who we are, showcasing the zaniness and raunchiness of the group, and letting people know we have skill and all that. But I think overall what we were tryna accomplish is really showing people that there still are dope rap groups," Kuniva said on what the project meant, or means, to D12. "The main thing we were tryna accomplish while making this project was, for one, getting up out of our mama's basement, and for two, to really make a mark on this industry, because we had something to prove. Because they write as off as, 'yall just Eminem's boys, he's just looking out.' We wanted to let people know we're more than just his homeboys, we actually had skills."
To cap off the interview, D12 explain the idea behind the Devil's Night: The Mixtape. Bizarre says, "The Devil's Night Mixtape, we going to the mindstate of Devil's Night-- the old essence, the old D12 that you got back in the day, in the mixtape from. The raw skills, the raw lyrics, the battle shit, all that."