D-12 – D-12 World

D-12’s World This Is Not

D-12 seems to have a major problem. Their problem’s name? Eminem. How could D-12, a group that had so much promise after their first album, allow Eminem to pretty much overtake their new album D-12 World? Apparently Eminem sells, and D-12 doesn’t.Whereas their self-titled debut had Eminem on certain tracks, their second release has much more of him. It takes almost 2 minutes into the first track before anyone else is even heard on the mic, and from there the style is set for the album. Songs like “My Band” and “6 In The Morning” seem to belong more on Eminem’s next album, not D-12 World. Although two of the aforementioned songs deal with the fact that Eminem gets all the attention and it seems to be “his” group, having him as the major vocalist doesn’t do much to remedy this problem.

It makes sense though, considering that the tracks without Mr. Shady sound generic, bland, and without any real sense of direction. Bizarre, Kon Artis, and the rest seem to go into a mish-mosh of hip-hop styles that don’t flow that well and bore more than anything.

Musically the production is slick and features some great beats. “American Psycho II” (featuring B. Real from Cypress Hill) especially stands out, with a dissonant guitar riff going on in the background throughout. It’s too bad that their rap doesn’t work this well.

In many ways, “D-12 World” seems like two albums, most of it with Eminem, and a few B-sides that are without him. Too bad that the album is D-12 World and not Eminem’s World; it would have made more sense.