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Bizarre | |
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 Bizarre in May 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Rufus Johnson |
| Born | July 5, 1976 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Rapper, Singer |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Labels |
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| Member of | L.A.R.S. |
| Formerly of | |
Rufus Johnson (born July 5, 1976), [1] better known by his stage name Bizarre, is an American rapper, best known for his work with the Detroit-based hip hop group D12.
Bizarre was born Rufus Johnson on July 5, 1976, in Detroit, Michigan. Bizarre grew up living with his single mother. He started rapping when he was in fifth grade. His teacher thought he was talking to himself, and began calling him 'Bizarre'. [2] In 1995, he joined the rap group D12 with neighborhood friends DeShaun "Proof" Holton, Karnail "Bugz" Pitts, Carlos "Fuzz Scoota" Rabb, Willie "Eye Kyu" Drake, and Von "Kuniva" Carlisle. He also met Marshall "Eminem" Mathers through Proof. Bizarre used to attend a club on Friday nights called 'The Shelter' in Saint Andrew's Hall, where rap battles were held.
He was then featured on D12's first EP in 1997 titled The Underground EP. On the EP Bizarre recorded songs with D12 members Proof, Eye Kyu, Bugz, Eminem, Kuniva, & Mr Porter, before going on to release his debut solo EP titled Attack of the Weirdos in 1997. In 2001, D12 released their debut album, Devil's Night . In 2004, he was a part of the second studio album of D12 titled D12 World . Bizarre then released his first official studio album in 2005 titled Hannicap Circus through his own label Redhead Records, which received mixed reviews. He also appeared on the 2006 Shady Records compilation album Eminem Presents: The Re-Up , on the track "Murder" along with D12 member, Kuniva. Following the death of rapper Proof in April 2006, he and the rest of D12 became inactive for some time.
In 2007, Bizarre released his second studio album called Blue Cheese & Coney Island . [3] This included the some of his most famous hits, such as ‘Fat Boy’. In 2008, Bizarre and D12 recorded their first official mixtape titled Return of the Dozen. A sequel titled Return of the Dozen Vol. 2 followed in 2011.
In 2010, Bizarre released his third studio album on Average Joes Entertainment, titled Friday Night at St. Andrews . [4] The album is more reality-based on actual situations throughout Bizarre's early life and career, thus the album is more conscious than his previous releases. The album features guest appearances from Seven the General, Royce da 5'9", Tech N9ne, Yelawolf, Kuniva, and more.
The first single released was "Believer" with Tech N9ne & Nate Walker. [5] The second official single for the album was "Rap's Finest" featuring Kuniva, Seven the General, Royce da 5'9" & Redman. [6] However, for unexplained reasons, Redman would not appear on the album version of the single or the video. [7]
Bizarre, along with King Gordy, formed a hip hop duo called The Davidians. The Davidians were featured on Esham's mixtape, The Butcher Shop . The duo is currently signed to Majik Ninja Entertainment under the name Last American Rock Stars. [8] Bizarre was featured in Snowgoons's music video with Swifty McVay, King Gordy, Sean Strange and Meth Mouth.
In 2010, Bizarre was featured on the single "Be a Legend" with Russian hip-hop group Red Family MC'z. In 2011, Bizarre was featured on the track "Shock Em" with underground rap group Bankrupt Records for the album Double Vision. In 2012, Bizarre released his fourth mixtape, titled This Guy's a Weirdo.
In 2014, he released a song called "Pray for Me" for his upcoming album. His Lace Blunts 2 mixtape was released in March 2014, with nineteen tracks featuring guest artists such as Fuzz Scoota of their group D12, Rittz, Young Zee, King Gordy, and Big T. [9]
Bizarre was featured on an international collaboration track called "Fuck the DJ" by UK rapper Blacklisted MC also featuring Coolio, Adil Omar (from Pakistan) and Uzimon (from Bermuda) the song was premiered on music website Noisey from ''Vice'' magazine in October 2014.
Later in the year he wrote a verse alongside Detroit artists Mastamind and Jeremiah Ferguson for their song "Whats Right". [10] [11]
In 2014, he was featured on the single "Open Heart Surgery" by rapper Lazarus. [12] [13] It was released under All Def Digital and it won the award for "Song of the Year" at the 12th Underground Music Awards in New York City. [14] [15]
He has also made an appearance on a track titled "In Yo Behind" by Struggle Da Preacher which was released on Struggle's album Ups'n'Downs on June 30, 2014. [16] In July 2015 they shot a video for it in Moscow, Russia. [17] [18] Mike ADHD "Frag Out" featuring Young Dirty Bastard, Baby Eazy E and Bizarre.
In August 2017, The Keepaz of the Krypt (One Man Kru & Kapital Z) single "Diaries of the Whack Emcees" feat. Bizarre of D12 was released on all digital media outlets as well as One Man Kru's bandcamp page. The song garnered over 1 million plays on SoundCloud in its first week of release. The track was released just two weeks before it was announced that Bizarre had signed to Majik Ninja Entertainment. [19]
In May 2018, Bizarre released music video "Cocaine In Miami" [20] directed by Abeni Nazeer. He was also a feature guest on the Song Sadistentreff 2 by German rapper Crystal f, along with Timi Hendrix and King Gordy.
On July 9, 2018, Bizarre announced that he was reviving Redhead Records with Danny Mellz being his first act other than himself [21]
In September 2018, Bizarre featured in the single "Weirdo (feat. Bizarre)" by No Concept on Drumsound and Bassline Smith's label, Technique Recordings. [22] [23]
Also in September 2018, Bizarre made headlines again with Eminem by releasing his own diss track aimed towards Machine Gun Kelly, Jay Electronica and Joe Budden during the MGK and Joe Budden vs. Eminem beef of 2018. Bizarre's diss track titled "Love Tap" was released as a single everywhere on September 18, 2018. [24]
Bizarre also signed a deal for his podcast “The Bizarre World Podcast” with The Digital Soapbox Network/CBS/Entercom [25]
On October 10, 2019, Bizarre released his second Extended Play Rufus. The day after the release of his second extended play, he announced the release of a duo mixtape “Leatherface Mixtape” with Hopsin on October 31, 2019. [26]
On May 31, 2020, Bizarre appeared on an album “Tabu“ of a Czech rapper named Schyzo on the song “Lubrikant“.
Bizarre is featured on "Fat Man Swag" by Pacific Northwest rapper Jawbo, released on July 22, 2021.
Bizarre is featured on "Limitless" by Canadian rapper Brax, from album "Leave it to Cleaver" released in late 2021.
On October 31, 2021, Bizarre shared his fifth album "Dumpster Juice" with features from Kidd Kidd, Merkules, and Giggs, among others.
D12 was an American hip hop collective from Detroit, Michigan. Formed in 1996, the group achieved mainstream success with its lineup of de facto leader Eminem, Proof, Bizarre, Mr. Porter, Kuniva and Swifty McVay.
DeShaun Dupree Holton, better known professionally as Proof, was an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. During his career, he was a member of the groups 5 Elementz, Funky Cowboys, Promatic, Goon Sqwad, and D12. He was a close childhood friend of rapper Eminem, who also lived in Detroit. Proof was often a hype man rapper at Eminem's concerts.
Shady Records is an American record label founded by rapper Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg in 1999, following the commercially successful release of The Slim Shady LP that same year.
Ryan Daniel Montgomery, known professionally as Royce da 5'9", is an American rapper. Best known for his association with fellow Detroit rapper Eminem, they became acquainted in 1997 and formed the hip hop duo, Bad Meets Evil the following year. Their 2011 single, "Lighters" peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and preceded the release of their debut extended play (EP), Hell: The Sequel (2011). The song and its parent EP, which debuted atop the Billboard 200, have yielded Montgomery's furthest commercial success.
Attack of the Weirdos is the debut extended play by Detroit rapper and D12 member Bizarre. It was released on September 1, 1998 via Federation Records.
Bad Meets Evil is an American hip hop super duo composed of Detroit-based rappers Royce da 5'9" (Bad) and Eminem (Evil). Formed in 1998, the duo's name comes from the namesake song from Eminem's The Slim Shady LP (1999), which featured Royce da 5'9". They debuted the same year with the release of the double single, "Nuttin' to Do" and "Scary Movies", the latter of which for the soundtrack to the 2000 horror comedy parody film Scary Movie. A decade later, the duo reunited to release an extended play (EP) to critical and commercial success.
Denaun Montez Porter, also known by the stage names Mr. Porter, Kon Artis, or Denaun, is an American rapper and record producer. He was a member of Detroit hip hop group D12.
Kevin Bell, professionally known as DJ Head, is a hip-hop producer and DJ from Detroit, Michigan. He's best known for producing and co-producing songs for Eminem, Xzibit, Jay-Z, D12, Valid, Obie Trice, Bizarre, and as Eminem's original touring deejay from 1997 to 2002.
Luis Edgardo Resto is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and keyboardist who has worked closely with rapper Eminem since his third major-label album The Eminem Show. He is of Puerto Rican descent and was raised in Garden City, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.
Ramone Johnson, better known by his stage name Cashis, is an American rapper who was born and raised in Chicago, but moved to Irvine, California. He was most notably featured on the Shady Records album Eminem Presents: The Re-Up with Eminem and the record label, and released The County Hound EP in 2007. The County Hound EP sold 6,700 copies in its first week and debuted on the US Billboard 200 at number 106. He's best known for appearing on Eminem's song, "You Don't Know", featuring 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks.
The discography of American rapper Royce da 5’9” consists of 8 studio albums, 6 collaboration albums, 11 mixtapes and 30 solo singles, including 14 as a featured artist, and 18 music videos.
Waverly Walter Alford III, known professionally by his stage name King Gordy, is an American horrorcore singer/rapper from Detroit, Michigan. He is one-fourth of underground hip hop group the Fat Killahz, one-third of the horrorcore supergroup How to Gag a Maggot, and one-half of the hardcore rap duos Last American Rock Stars and Even Heathens He is currently signed to his self-owned record label King of Van Dyke Entertainment, which he unofficially launched during late 2018.
Slaughterhouse was an American hip hop supergroup consisting of rappers Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Crooked I and Royce da 5'9". They released their eponymous debut studio album independently in 2009, and signed to Shady Records, an imprint of Interscope Records to release it's follow up, Welcome to: Our House in 2012. The group disbanded in 2018.
"Rock City" is a song by American rapper Royce da 5'9", released as the third single from his debut album, Rock City , which was released in 2002 through MNRK Music Group and Game Recordings, after Columbia Records turned down the first version of the album. The song also features vocals from rapper Eminem, becoming Eminem's debut appearance on one of Royce's solo albums. The single was released on January 5, 2002, the same date as its same titled album was released. "Rock City" charted at #99 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart in 2002. Not counting Bad Meets Evil or Slaughterhouse songs, "Rock City" is Royce's most successful single chart-wise.
Friday Night at St. Andrews is the third solo studio album by American rapper Bizarre. It was released on May 18, 2010 through AVJ Records. Production was handled by several record producers, including Bus & Napoleon, Honorable C.N.O.T.E., Silent Riot, J. Wells and WLPWR. It features guest appearances from King Gordy, Monica Braire, Anamul House, Big Dame, Bonecrusher, Fiona Simone, K.B., Kid Jinx, Kuniva, Lil' Will, MJ Robinson, Nate Walka, Riodata, Royce Da 5'9", Seven the General, Tech N9NE and Yelawolf. Music videos were released for the songs "Believer", "Rap's Finest" and "Down This Road".
Hell: The Sequel is the debut extended play by Bad Meets Evil. It was released on June 13, 2011, in some countries, by Shady Records and Interscope Records and it was released on June 14, 2011, in the United States. The EP incorporates various styles such as hardcore hip hop and horrorcore. In May 2011, the album's title and artwork was revealed. The EP features the executive producers Eminem and Mr. Porter, with production handled by Bangladesh, Sid Roams, Havoc, DJ Khalil, The Smeezingtons and Supa Dups, among others.
The County Hound 2 is the second studio album by American rapper Cashis, who also served as executive producer. It was released independently on October 15, 2013, by his label Bogish Brand Entertainment. It serves as the sequel to his debut EP The County Hound EP, which was released on May 22, 2007 by Shady Records and Interscope Records. The album features guest appearances by Crooked I from Slaughterhouse, Obie Trice, Mistah F.A.B., Kuniva from D12, King Los, K. Young, Boaz, and Demrick among others. Production for the album took place during from 2006 to 2013, and was handled primarily by Rikanatti and Eminem among others. The album was supported by eight singles — "Layin' in the Cut", "Mind on Money", "Imma Hustla", "Look at Me", "Hi", "Take the Pain", "Bright Lights" and "Red". It was also met with positive reviews from music critics.
Kamran Rashid Khan, known professionally as Lazarus, is a Detroit-based American rapper, songwriter and physician of Pakistani descent. He is known for his singles "GODFLOW", "Break the Walls" and "Man on a Mission" along with his songs "Drug of Choice", "Open Heart Surgery", "Underdog", "MTBK" and "Decapitation Chamber" featuring Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Bizarre, Royce da 5'9", Bohemia and Ghostface Killah respectively.
Marvin Eugene O'Neal, known by his stage name Marv Won, is an American rapper and record producer from Detroit, Michigan. He is a member of the underground hip hop group, The Fat Killahz and rap duo Twin Towers. In 2021, he received a Detroit Music Award nomination for Outstanding Rap MC at the 30th Detroit Music Awards.
L.A.R.S. is an American horrorcore duo, formed in Detroit, Michigan. It consists of rappers Bizarre and King Gordy. They signed to Twiztid's independent record label Majik Ninja Entertainment on August 16, 2017.
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