When life suddenly sideswipes us with a heavy blow of unfortunate tragedy, we find ourselves re-evaluating our strength, our endurance. Though we know that there is a season for everything – a time to laugh and a time to mourn – it is the perception that hard emotional times never end that make the pain so unmanageable. It is in these times, however, that some see the mission as a chance for redemption and others as a chance for escape. It is in these times that soldiers are produced…

Only two short years ago, the members of D12 found themselves on the receiving end of tragedy’s clenched fist, losing both a family member and a friend when Proof was brutally murdered in a Detroit nightclub. The momentum of the blow sent them into a season of hibernation, but as a rap collective who has learned to live their life under the gun, they have regained their strength and are back to reclaim their power.

Swifty McVay explains to Dubcnn how the group has since mended old wounds and united forces with some heavy hometown Detroit emcees, such as Royce Da 5’9”, to deliberate a mixtape that will generate the first show since the death of Proof. Though their pieces may never again add up to a dozen, the Detroit Twelve dust themselves off and return bruised -- but never broken -- showing proof their worth as soldiers.

Make way for the Return of the Dirty Dozen…

Dubcnn: Hey man… this Is Jonathan Hay AKA Haywire for Dubcnn and we got a whole lot of people who really love and support you on the website and, you know, you have a strong fan-base of people everywhere who really love what you’re doing.

Swifty McVay: Wow, man, that’s a blessing, man, that’s a blessing.

Dubcnn: Yeah, Definitely. So what has been going on?

Swifty McVay: Man, we just got finished working on the D-12 Mixtape CD, called Return of the Dozen. Just finished it, man, you know. Look for that to come out toward the end of the month, the end of May. You know, we been in the studio for about a good two and a half almost three weeks working on that and we’re formulating a mix CD release party, too, the end of May also, you know what I’m saying. So, I’ve been in work-mode, man, doing the mix CD and about to put out this solo stuff on my own at the same time.

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