Welsh Psycho (Devils Night - D12)

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Product:	Devils Night - D12
Date:	07/08/01 (11 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Catchy Tunes, Addictive Album, Funny

Disadvantages: Explicit Lyrics, Not for younger audience, Useless at a kids party

Those who thought that the St. Lunatics were the only big thing that was going to pop off from the Midwest this summer are in for a big surprise, because Detroit's own Slim Shady is back -- and, like Nelly, he's brought his people with him.

D12 is the name of the clique that gave Eminem his start, and the group's members -- Denaun (a.k.a. Kon Artis), Big Proof (a.k.a. Dirty Harry), Swift (a.k.a. Swifty McVeigh), Koniva (a.k.a. Rondell Beene), Bizarre (a.k.a. Peter Bizarre) and, yes, Em himself -- were all running together long before Slim Shady was even a gleam in Marshall Mathers' eye. According to Em, the group made a pact that if any member of the collective ever made it in the game, he would come back for everyone else. Since Em was the first one through the door, he stepped up as producer for D12's debut, Devil's Night -- and brought his good friend Dr. Dre along for the ride.

Devil's Night takes its name from the wilding and mischief that goes on in Detroit the night before Halloween. Accordingly, D12 gets completely buck-wild on the mic and tears things up with the kind of don't-care glee that makes Eminem's solo work so much fun. The members of D12 used to hone their rhymes at Detroit's Hip Hop Shop, where they dominated open mic nights, whetting their freestyle skills to a cutting edge; and now they wield these skills like a set of Ginsu knives. Tracks such as "Shit Can Happen," "That's How?," and the banging "Purple Pills" are lyrically off the chains. Others -- such as "American Psycho," "Nasty Mind," and the title track -- are guaranteed to frighten the timid and generate more controversy. But just when you think D12 is all about shock value, the group drops a track such as "Ain't Nuttin' but Music," which is as incisive and hilarious a send-up of the state of the music industry as anything you'll see on MTV.

M
usically, Devil's Night is a cut above, too. Dr. Dre's on board for four songs ("Nasty Mind," "Ain't Nuttin' but Music," "Fight Music," "Revelation"), and his deft pop touch permeates the album, seamlessly connecting banger after banger. But fans might notice the absence of one D12 banger -- the wildly funny "Shit on You" (available separately as a single). The track caught D12 at its irreverent, lyrically confident best and, though there's more than enough of that to go around on the album, the single's exclusion feels like a mistake. That said, Devil's Night is one of the funniest, most fully realized hip-hop albums to drop in a long time. And just in case your mama don't like all the cusswords, there's a clean version, too.

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