Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Rapper Bizarre Leaves D12




Bizarre has announced that he's officially separated from D12, the Eminem backed crew of hip hop hooligans that rose to fame in the early 2000s.

The Detroit native, born Rufus Arthur Johnson, confirmed the news in an interview with HipHopDX.

"I'm not in D12 no more," he said. "We just had creative differences and decided to go our separate ways – well I decided to go my separate way... It’s a personal decision on my part. I think I’ve just grown as an artist and it’s time for me to branch off on my brand."

Bizarre, who has released three solo albums since 2005, and the cult-classic EP Attack of the Weirdos in 1997, said he's started his own collective called The Weirdo Movement.

"The Weirdo Movement, it’s consisting of me, my group FaygosandConey from Detroit, this guy named Fury, and my Asian brother from Seattle, Sonny Bonoho," Bizarre explained. "It’s just encouraging people that it’s alright to be weird, it’s alright to be different and speak your mind and dress and look however the fuck you wanna look. It’s a weirdo movement, it’s time for that. Hip hop is changing anyway, it’s getting more and more outrageous how they looking. And I been doing this shit for years."

The off-beat emcee also shared his thoughts on the latest troupe of troublemakers to shake up the genre, Odd Future.

"Aw, man. They dope. They remind me a lot of a young D12. They got a lot of energy," Bizarre said of the LA collective, which drew comparisons to D12 early on. "And to do the type of shit we do, it takes a lot of balls.  It takes a lot of balls and craziness to do the type of shit we do, so I salute.

Bizarre's fourth album This Guy's A Weirdo is due in stores March 30.