Remembering DeShaun "Proof" Holten 1973-2006

"Eminem"
You don't know where to begin when you lose somebody who's such a big part life for of your so long. Proof and I were brothers. He pushed me to become who I am. Without Proof's guidance and encouragement there would have been a Marshall Mathers, but probably not an Eminem and certainly never a Slim Shady. Not a day will go by without his spirit and influence around us all. He will be missed as a friend, father and both the heart and ambassador of Detroit hip-hop.Right now, there's a lot of people focusing on the way he died. I want to remember the way he lived. Proof was funny, he was smart, he was charming. He inspired everyone around him. He can never, ever be replaced. He was, and always will be, my best friend.
I know this site is dedicated to Tupac Shakur but I had to talk about this and take a moment to look at the impact of another "fallen" soilder in the rap game. This is yet another tragic ending for a up and coming rapper who's life didn't have to end in April of 2006.Proof's untimely death has overwhelmed his friends, fans, his peers in the music industry and Detroit residents who loved his friendly demeanor.Proof (born DeShaun Holton), 32, was killed by a gunshot to the head early Tuesday morning (April 11) outside Detroit's CCC Club in a shooting that left another man in critical condition.Keith Bender Jr., the man police say was shot in the face by D12 rapper Proof during a fatal shootout at Detroit's CCC Nightclub on April 11, has died.Proof — who, according to police, was shot once in the head and twice in the chest soon after firing on Bender — was pronounced dead on arrival at St. John Holy Cross Hospital the morning of the shooting.
Obie Trice, a Shady Records artist and friend of Proof, used the occasion to speak out against violence. "I want to talk to the black men in here that's coming up in the 'hood, coming up in the struggle," he reportedly said. "We're killing each other, dawg. And it's about nothing. Nothing. Nothing. We're all dying ... over nothing."
The chapel hosted a viewing where more than 4,000 mourners paid their respects, many of them sporting T-shirts bearing the late rapper's likeness.
The Free Press reported that for many fans who attended the viewing, it was hard to see the popular Detroit MC lying motionless in his traditional outfit — a track suit, Kangol cap, jeans and Timberland-style boots — with a Detroit Pistons jersey (Chauncey Billups' number 1) signed by several players draped over his body. The casket was emblazoned with both his birth name, Deshaun D. Holton, and his rap handle in English script.