Rap Guys - Bizarre (of D12)

There are at least two artists/groups called Bizarre.

1. Rufus Arthur Johnson, better known as Bizarre (born in Detroit, Michigan on July 5, 1976, is an American recording artist, best known for his work with Detroit hip-hop group, D12. More recently Rufus Johnson was featured on season 3 of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club.
He has appeared in many magazines including Rolling Stone and The Source. His story-telling rap style consists mostly of exaggerated instances of sex, child abuse, and rape (freely mentioning domestic violence, incest, and bestiality). It is mostly an attempt to be comedic, but also to vent the frustrations from his life and childhood.
An interview stating that Bizarre was interested in helping up and coming artists was played on the Tim Westwood show on BBC Radio 1 in January 2008. Subsequently Bizarre featured heavily on the single "Who the Fuck are You" with UK rapper SamuelVictor. When the track was premiered on BBC Radio 1 on September 11, 2008 the DJ and Producer recounted the story and said that it was the first time that a UK rapper had worked with Bizarre or D12, discounting their work with Gorillaz, as only D12 rapped on the track.

2. Estonian shoegaze group Bizarre came together in 1992. In the early stage they were largely influenced by the post - MBV dreampop scene. After causing a considerable stir in the underground, Bizarre released their debut cassette-only album called -Beautica- in spring 1994. It consisted of swirly, FX-ridden guitars, layers of hushy vocals and a sensitive atmosphere of beauty, melancholy and noise.

-Beautica- received very positive feedback and in alternative circles it was hugely successful. Although still in the frames of "normal music", -Beautica- already gave hints of the weirdness that followed... By that time the musical and mental landscape of the band had already grown far too... bizarre... to continue with the same kind of self-expression.therefore a 2-year old period followed, during which Bizarre recorded what would be the follow-up to the first tape. The only reason it took so long was that they were seldom completely satisfied with their tracks.

Throughout it's shortish career, Bizarre has had its own strong mentality as a band. They have always stood for escapism in music, support of the underground and contempt for the press. Bizarre are a circle of five vague figures (PR consultant of Tartu city government, photo model, neuronphase DJ, semiotics student and producer of radio ads) who are completely sure that they can express their way of living, conversations, views and memories into music. As many times as they have been interviewed they have come up with some words that describe Bizarre best: "beauty, despair, memories, dreams, substances, moodswings, escapism..." or, as one of Estonia's most progressive music critics Tiit Kusnets summed it up in one word: "relationshit".

Bizarre is not simply music, it's a mentality - fragile, educated and sensitive in its essence but most certainly indescribable in print. But it grows on you anyway. So get addicted... Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.