No one out of the Midwest has sparked controversy quite like bad-boy MC Eminem. That is, until the emergence of his latest project, the Dirty Dozen rap outfit known as D12.

D12 is a sextet composed of rappers Bizarre, Swift, Kon Artis, Proof and Kuniva, who all hail from Eminem's native Detroit hood and set out with the notorious white rapper to bring the vulgar and profane to a radio near you in 2001. The group was originally founded by Bizarre (aka Peter S. Bizarre who is also a member of Outsidaz with Em and Rah Digga) and Proof (born Deshaun Holton but known for his freestyle talents as Proof or Dirty Harry Proof) in the early ‘90s but swelled after childhood friend Eminem and others joined the gang. The rest of the crew included Kon Artis (aka D12 producer Denine Porter), Swifty McVay (aka Swift who joined in 1998) and Kuniva (born Von Carlisle), and they instantly adopted aliases and now all share the same tattoo of former D12 member Bugz, who was gunned down at a picnic. The name Dirty Dozen comes from the fact that all members have split personalities, thus the shocking raps that they deliver are only half of what you see.

The group released their debut, Devil's Night, on Eminem's Shady Records Interscope imprint and instantly brought on the raunch with the album's single "Shit on You." Three years later D12 issued their sophomore effort, D12 World, featuring cameos from Obie Trice and B Real. Sadly D12 lost another soldier when Proof was shot at an after-hours club on the infamous Eight Mile Road in Detroit. The group maintains that they will continue to produce music centering on sex, drugs and violence, of course, and an album featuring unreleased tracks by Proof is in the works.