D12 is stacked with special anniversaries this year.
The Detroit rap collective (aka the Dirty Dozen), which was home to Eminem before his solo breakthrough, was formed 30 years ago. It released its first album, “Devil’s Night,” 25 years ago this month. And on a sadder note, it was 20 years ago in April that co-founder DeShaun “Proof” Holton was fatally shot during a game of pool on Eight Mile Road.
But Von “Kuniva” Carlisle and Swifty McVay (nee Ondre Moore), who currently comprise the group, aren’t wallowing in nostalgia. Instead, they’re releasing the group’s first new album in 22 years, “D12 Forever Vol. 1,” on June 19 and getting ready for three concerts in England later this month. The past will certainly be celebrated, but as the top scrolling banner of D12’s website proclaims, “The story continues.”
“We’ve always existed,” Kuniva, 50, who was part of the original D12 lineup, says during a joint Zoom with McVay, 51. “We always put out mixtapes or something to stay out there — mixtapes, tours, interviews, things like that. There was never a point we did not exist. We always stayed doing something, even if it wasn’t in the public eye or something huge or anything. We never stopped.”
McVay, who joined the group in 1998, adds: “We always had the thought of keeping the brand alive, man. It just came with a lot of different circumstances in our lives that we have to balance, grandbabies and things of that nature on my end. But we still wanted to keep it going. We still kept that creative edge and still had that love, that passion, despite what everybody (else) wanted to do and had to do.
“It brings us a lot of joy to be able to bring this (new) music to the people and be able to get back on stage and show everyone we’re still here.”
Their band
D12 has been through a dozen members since its formation, four of whom are deceased. But it was the sextet of Kuniva, McVay, Proof, Eminem, Rufus “Bizarre” Johnson and Denaun “Kon Artis” Porter that made the platinum “Devil’s Night” and its double-platinum follow-up “D12 World, both of which — thanks more than partly to Eminem’s own success — debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The group members appeared on some of Eminem’s albums and contributed to the platinum “Eminem Presents: The Re-Up” in 2006, released after Proof’s death.
After that, Eminem largely stepped away from the group, which released its first mixtape, “Return of the Dirty Dozen Vol. 1,” in 2008. The remaining members worked sporadically, and then on “Stepping Stone,” a track on his 2018 album “Kamikaze,” Eminem declared that “D12 is Over,” adding that “the truth is, the moment that Proof died, so did the group.”
That was news to Kuniva and McVay, however.
“Hearing it, it caught me off guard,” Kuniva recalls. “I got news about 30 minutes before (its release), and it wasn’t put to me that way. It was like: ‘Yeah, it’s gonna be a dedication. You know how he feels about the group,’ so I was like: ‘Oh, that’s what’s up. He’s giving us a dedication once.’ Once I heard it, it was like: ‘Oh, s***. I didn’t know it was one of those types of dedications.’
“I think overall, he was just venting about how he felt. That’s his interpretation of what was going on. You can’t do anything but respect it. But as a collective, Swift and me as D12, this can never be over. This is something we worked on for half of our lives. No matter what goes on, we have to preserve our legacy, and we have to make sure we keep this thing going. This is what Proof would want. This is what we all would want.”
Kuniva and McVay are also quick to make clear there’s no bad blood involved. In fact, there was discussion about D12 working on a song for last year’s “Stans” documentary, although it did not pan out.
“He still supports us to this day,” Kuniva affirms. “Our friendship is forever. Our love is always there, and that’s what’s important to us. Rain, sleet, snow — we’re his brothers, we’re his family. Whenever he needs us, we’ll be there. He knows where to find us.”
Fight music
The “D12 Forever” album — executive produced by Kuniva and produced mostly by Jake Bass, son of early Eminem/D12 mentors Jeff Bass and his brother Marky Bass — has been a few years in the making. The duo really began honing in on it in early 2025 after touring with Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube, in addition to its own headlining dates.
“It was always the thing we wanted to make, another album,” Kuniva says. “We started putting music together, getting more in sync, more in tune with our rhythm and how we wanted to record. By the time we realized it was eight or nine songs … (and) we locked in and started doing the music, it was undeniable. We just kept going and going and going. Before we knew it, we had over 30-something songs.”
Fifteen of those, including spoken skits, made it onto “D12 Forever,” including the defiant, return-to-form first single “Tear It Down,” which was built from a track Bass came up with one day at his F.B.T. Studios in Ferndale. “It kinda reminded us of ‘Fight Music’ (from ‘Devil’s Night’),” McVay says. “It just reminded me of being on stage, that hypeness, jumping out into the audience and getting that feel.” “Tear It Down” also features a first-time guest appearance from fellow Detroit native Xzibit, as well as a return visit by Cypress Hill’s B-Real. Others on the album include George Clinton (who was in town Friday, June 5, to film a video for the song “Dirty Nation,” along with other content), Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man, Ice-T, Melanie Rutherford, Tech N9ne, King Iso and more.
Proof appears, posthumously, on “Proof and Eli” with his son, Eli Ble$$ed, while another late D12 co-founder, Bugz (Karnail Pitts), makes a cameo with “Bugz ’98.”
“The first thing in our mind as we were recording was to keep the same formula, and the formula came by default as we recorded because this is just who we are,” McVay says. “That same formula we had 25, 30 years ago was in us. That chemistry was there; we just kept it flowing. It never changed.”
Kuniva adds: “It’s just great this falls on 25 years of ‘Devil’s Night’ because it brings it all full circle, and that’s something really special to us. Here we are, 25 years later, bouncing out another studio project. We’re just happy to do this still, right now.”
He also hopes that “D12 Forever” will make clear to fans what the remaining two members have brought to the D12 mix over the years.
“I think me and Swifty are two of the most vicious but underestimated members in this group,” Kuniva says. “We really wanted to showcase how versatile we are. You hear how Swifty can switch different styles on this (album). You hear me doing that. It’s showing what brought us to the table and what we still bring to the table as D12 members. You’re gonna hear on this album a lot of versatility that was overlooked during the first two albums.”
Forever is a long time
This is, of course, “Vol. 1” of “D12 Forever,” with a follow-up already planned but not scheduled, and plenty of material ready for it. “It’s a two-part album,” Kuniva says. “We’re dividing up the songs, seeing what vibe goes with what.” The focus now, however, is getting the first volume out and noticed, as well as taking the act across the pond for shows on June 19 — the actual 25th anniversary date for “Devil’s Night” — in Manchester, the next night in London and the night after that in Bristol, with Treach of Naughty By Nature and Onyx also on the bill.
“We’re going to give roses to our fellow hip-hop peers, veterans, who we think are really dope and need to be celebrated more,” Kuniva says. “They’re people we respect as artists. That’s something we want to keep doing. And it’s the first time we’ll perform with our new music … bringing everything around full circle and bringing together what we did on (‘Devil’s Night’) and since.”
He adds: “The whole idea is D12 is forever. We want to cement ourselves in this game and in people’s minds that no matter what goes on in our hearts, D12 is forever. No matter what happens, D12 is solidified, and we’re always gonna be doing this at the highest level we can, for the fans and for ourselves. We’ve put so much into this group, and this brand is something we’ll never walk away from because this is our legacy. It’s important to show that we weathered the storm, and we’re gonna keep doing this, regardless.”
“D12 Forever Vol. 1” comes out June 19. More information and updates can be found at allthingsd12.com.
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