Bizarre (rapper)

Bizarre was born Rufus Arthur 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'. In 1995, he joined the rap group D12 with neighborhood friends DeShaun "Proof" Holton, Carnail "Bugz" Pitts, 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.

1990s

Bizarre featured on D12's first EP in 1996 titled The Underground EP, before going on to release his debut solo EP titled Attack of the Weirdos in 1997. In 2001 D12 released "Devil's Night" the debut album by D12. 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. Hannicap Circus received mixed reviews, however they were mostly bad. He also appeared on Eminem's compilation album Eminem Presents: The Re-Up, on a track called "Murder" that also featured Kuniva, released in December 5, 2006. Following the death of rapper Proof in April 2006, D12 became inactive for some time.

In 2007, Bizarre released his second studio album called Blue Cheese & Coney Island. 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.

2010s

In 2010, Bizarre released his third studio album on Average Joes Entertainment AVJ, titled Friday Night at St. Andrews. 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. The second official single for the album was "Rap's Finest" featuring Kuniva, Seven the General, Royce da 5'9" & Redman. However, for unexplained reasons, Redman would not appear on the album version of the single or the video.

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 seeking a record label. 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, which includes a song titled "Justin Bieber" featuring King Gordy that was released along with a music video via Reel Wolf. In the song, Bizarre fantasizes about raping and murdering Canadian singer Justin Bieber.

In 2011, Bizarre claimed D12 mate Eminem hired people to investigate fellow D12 member Fuzz Scoota social media accounts because of comments he made about Bad Meets Evil This led to Fuzz leaving D12.

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.

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".

In 2014, he was featured on the single "Open Heart Surgery" by rapper Lazarus. 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.

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. In July 2015 they shot a video for it in Moscow, Russia. Mike ADHD "Frag Out" featuring Young Dirty Bastard, Baby Eazy E and Bizarre.

In June 2015, Demzwon, an underground rapper from Phoenix, Arizona, commissioned Bizarre to perform on a track. "Mad" was released in the same month with Demzwon planning a video shoot around the same time. Although Bizarre was unable to travel to Arizona so his portions could be filmed, He and Demzwon agreed that mobile-phone footage could be utilized and Bizarre sent three clips of him in a hotel room, performing the verse. Being such a low quality, Demzwon and his videographer built a cinematic story line around that fact, making its low quality into an asset and plot device. The official music video for "Mad" was released in July 2015.

In 2017, he collaborated with New Hampshire based rapper Qom Qazamah on a track called "On My Own". The track was featured on his EP "Dark Places" which was released later that year.

Studio albums

• Hannicap Circus (2005)
• Blue Cheese & Coney Island (2007)
• Friday Night At St. Andrews (2010)

Extended plays

• Attack Of The Weirdos (1998)

Mixtapes

• Hate Music (2008)
• Liquor, Weed & Food Stamps (2008)
• A Pre-Coney Island Mixtape (2009)
• This Guy's A Weirdo (2012)
• Lace Blunts (2013)
• Lace Blunts 2 (2014)
• Dab Life (2015)
• TweekSity (2015)
• TweekSity 2 (2017)
• Lace Blunts 3 (TBR)
• Weirdo (TBR)

Discography with D12

• The Underground EP (1996)
• Detroit, What! (Demo Tape) (2000)
• Devil's Night Sampler (2001)
• Devil's Night (2001)
• Limited Edition Mixtape (2003)
• D12 World (2004)
• Live In Chicago (2005)
• Lost In London (2006)
• Eminem Presents: The Re-Up (2006)
• Return of the Dozen Vol. 1 (2008)
• Return of the Dozen Vol. 2 (2011)
• Shady XV (2014)
• The Devil's Night Mixtape (2015)
• The Devil's Night Mixtape: Reloaded (2015)

Discography with Something Awful

• Taking Lives (2012)