D12

D12, aka The Dirty Dozen, is an American hip hop group from Detroit, Michigan. They have had chart-topping albums in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. D12 was formed in 1996, and achieved mainstream success after Eminem rose to international fame. D12 released their debut album [i][m=71995][/i] in 2001, followed by [i][m=202407][/i] in 2004, which together spawned numerous hits such as "Fight Music", "Purple Pills", "My Band", "How Come" and "Shit on You". Since Eminem’s hiatus in the mid 2000s and the death of founding member Proof in 2006, the group has been less active. Between 2008 and 2015, D12 released three official mixtapes with the core lineup reduced to Bizarre, Kuniva and Swifty (with isolated token appearances by Eminem and some contributions from Kon Artis and returning member Fuzz Scoota). Kon Artis left the group in 2012 and later rejoined, but his contributions during this period were minor as he concentrated on his solo career as a producer. On August 31, 2018, Eminem released a song titled "Stepping Stone" on which he announced that "D12 is over." However, as Bizarre, Kuniva and Swifty had been recording and touring under the name D12 as a trio for several years prior to Eminem's announcement and have continued to do so since, this announcement is more accurately read as Eminem's official retirement from the group after a decade of mere token involvement.