Devil's Night

by

D12

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Mr. Slim Shady did not get my attention until I heard "Guilty Conscience" w/Dr. Dre. He earned my respect with "If I Get Locked Up" from Funkmaster Flex's and Big Kap's "The Tunnel" CD. Although he may rap about controversional lyrics and sick diversions, Eminem has plenty of skill to back whatever he says up. On the "Marshall Mathers LP", which is still a CD to remember almost 11 months after it was released, Eminem left all people who said he couldn't do it again in disbelief. With songs like "Stan" w/Dido, "The Way I Am", "I'm Back" and "Kill You", Eminem showed that he was a force to be reckoned with and his album sales are more than 7 times platinum and rising. With "Devil's Night", it seems like Eminem is trying to get the same respect for D-12 that he already has for himself. Mission: Accomplished. "Devil's Night" has to be one of the best releases in 2001. All of the members of D-12 go blow to blow with Eminem on the whole CD. Production is mainly handled by Eminem and Dr. Dre lends his assistance to 3 tracks as well. Now I will admit while D-12 has skills and I can handle everything they have to say, some of the subject matter will be displeasing to some people. What you have to understand is that this what D-12 is all about. If Eminem has been able to maintain his success by staying true to what he does, so should D-12. The 1st single speaks of what I am talking about: "Purple Pills" is an excellent, well crafted song by D-12 but some people will find the lyrics very offensive. I am able to separate what they are talking about and the actual skill of putting the song together so the material is not offensive to me. The whole CD is based on what I am talking about but the skill level is definitely up to par: The Dr. Dre produced "Fight Music", "Devil's Night", "Pistol, Pistol" and "Pimp Like Me" are also examples of this but the tracks are tight and very well put together. Take the "Marshall Mathers LP" and add D-12 to each song and that's how this CD sounds. I will have to tell you that Bizarre is going to make some people sick just by himself. However, he is a very skilled MC and he will probably get a solo contract after this CD. Whether you like Eminem or not, this is a good CD to have in your collection. "Devil's Night" will definitely put D-12 on the map.

From Biggie and Junior M.A.F.I.A., Big Pun and Terror Squad, Busta and Flipmode Squad, to Nelly and St. Lunatics, every rap superstar has a crew that is wacker than wack. Eminem's D-12 is no exception. If you're still thinking of rounding out your Eminem collection, then you must really wanna make it complete if you buy this album, Devil's Night.

Everyone knows how Eminem's records are, so expect a lot of those same songs on this album. The bad songs aren't even worth mentioning (because that would be the majority of the album), but the very good tracks are: "Fight Music" is easily the winner here with its rocked-out and slammin' beat. But the reason why this album is bad is because the group is in Eminem's shadow for the whole album. They seem to work off of Eminem's "shock rap" formula which is proven to work. With the exception of Eminem and possibly Bizzare, none of the members really prove themselves worthy of holding the mic. Furthermore, at least there's a method to Em's madness; the rest of the group just use shock rap for shock rap's sake.

Now, this is not to say that Eminem is the perfect rapper on this album. His self-fueled "Ain't Nuthin' But Music" sounds like a generic remix of "The Real Slim Shady" and "Girls" is a diss to DJ Lethal and Fred Durst, but honestly, haven't we all heard all of Eminem's diss records before? (At least he redeems himself with less disses on The Eminem Show.) I'd say just stick with Eminem's three albums if you wanna feel Shady, but as another reviewer said, if one good MC out of six suits you fine, then buy it. D-12 may make Eminem and his fans proud, but they haven't really shown the rest of us what makes them so great.