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Oct 11, 2005
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Rapper Proof killed in Detroit nightclub
Close friend of Eminem fatally shot along Eight Mile Road
PROOF
Alessandra Tarantino / AP File

DETROIT - Proof, a member of rap group D12 and a close friend of Eminem, was shot to death early Tuesday at a nightclub along Eight Mile Road, a publicist said.

The death of Proof — whose real name is Deshaun Holton — was confirmed by Dennis Dennehy, the publicist for D12's label, Interscope Records.

"Memorial service arrangements are still being made, and his friends and family would appreciate privacy during this difficult time," Dennehy said in a statement.
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Family members gathered at a home on Detroit's northwest side. The residential street in front of the two-story home was lined with vehicles.

Proof was the best man at Eminem's wedding in January and often appeared alongside the superstar rapper at concerts and public appearances. He also appeared in the film "8 Mile."

D12, which includes Eminem, has been around since the mid-1990s, when members of the rap group met at Detroit's Hip-Hop Shop, a clothing store by day and a hip-hop club by night.

Detroit police wouldn't confirm that Proof was killed, but said two people were shot in the head — one fatally — early Tuesday at a nightclub on Eight Mile.

An argument at the CCC nightclub escalated into gunshots, Detroit police spokesman James Tate said.

Wende Berry, a spokeswoman for St. John Health System, said Holton was dead on arrival at St. John Conner Creek, an outpatient treatment facility. Berry confirmed that he had a gunshot wound.

Another member of Eminem's inner circle — rapper Obie Trice — was shot while driving on a Detroit-area highway in December.

-Associated Press

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If anyone has seen 8 Mile, Proof makes a cameo when Eminem chokes at the beginning of the movie. Proof was portrayed in the film be E.R. actor Mikai Phifer.

RIP
 

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DESHAUN HOLTON, AKA PROOF | 1973-2006: Slaying silences driving force of Detroit hip-hop

Proof and Eminem gave stature to city rap

BY KELLEY L. CARTER

FREE PRESS MUSIC WRITER


Detroit hip-hop was at a loss for words.

It was difficult for a community of word-slingers to talk about the shooting death of one of their own Tuesday, as news quickly traveled the streets of Detroit and around the world.

At age 32, Detroit rapper Proof was dead. The man many credit with helping push Detroit rap onto the national scene, and who was widely seen as Eminem's right-hand man, was gone.

"He was one of the forefathers of Detroit hip-hop," said 34-year-old rapper Phat Kat, who recently hung out with Proof at Detroit's Northern Lights Lounge, a bar that attracts Detroit's hip-hop heavyweights every Tuesday night. "That's a real blow to the hip-hop community. ... He was one of the persons that was responsible for Detroit hip-hop as a whole."

Proof, who was born Deshaun Holton, was one of the most recognizable figures in D12, the supergroup that includes Eminem. He's considered one of the top hype men in the hip-hop game, always on stage -- at the mic -- next to Eminem. But he's probably best known to the world for being best buddies with Eminem, a friendship fictionalized in the movie "8 Mile" with Mekhi Phifer playing a role based on Proof. He even served as best man in January when Eminem remarried his ex-wife, Kim.

But here in Detroit, Holton is regarded as the man who was passionate about getting Detroit hip-hop on the map, and as a master battle-rapper.

In the mid-'90s, Proof's Saturday afternoons were spent hosting rap battles at the famed Hip Hop Shop on 7 Mile Road. This was the spawning ground for the scene that helped produce acts like D12 and Slum Village, and a time when Detroit hip-hop was not a national player.

It was his idea to assemble a collection of Detroit's best hip-hop talent and call it D12, and he helped push Eminem to become one of the world's biggest pop stars. A source close to Eminem said Tuesday that Eminem was devastated, and that the pair had been particularly close over the past few weeks, as Eminem's second marriage unraveled.


A simple "RIP Big Proof" graced the Web site for Iron Fist Records, the downtown Detroit label he had founded with an eye toward promoting homegrown rock, soul and hip-hop. In August, the company released "Searching for Jerry Garcia," Proof's first solo album. With 20 tracks that incorporated bits of psychedelic funk, jazz and hard rock into its lively rap mix, the disc displayed Proof's eclectic mindset and his willingness to color outside the standard hip-hop lines.

Proof, who titled "Garcia" in homage to the late Grateful Dead guitarist, said the record reflected a quest for personal enlightenment, one he'd undertaken in response to "stress, a bad diet and drugs" as D12's star rose in the early '00s."It's about coming back, finding the way," he told the Free Press last summer.

'A regular guy'

After the 2002 release of "8 Mile," when battle rap was gaining newfound commercial exposure, Proof was hired by Showtime Networks to host the national search for the best battle rapper. .

"He was the mayor of Detroit," said rapper J-Hill, who was featured on the series. "He made it a point to try and be as much of a regular guy that he could. A lot of times that got him in trouble. A lot of people, they can get some kind of badge just trying to challenge a person. Regardless, he made it a point to stay in the local hip-hop clubs."

Proof wasn't necessarily an angel, though, and had several run-ins with the law in recent years. "You never knew which Proof you'd get when you'd meet him. You might get the guy that's real humble. You might get the comedian. You might get the MC. Or you just might get Deshaun. He was a man of all hats. There was a lot to him that made up his character. He was a really good person," said Detroit rapper Hush, who toured with Eminem and D12 in summer 2005.

On Tuesday night, Detroit hip-hop music makers and lovers crowded inside Northern Lights Lounge, paying homage to the fallen rapper. The event was helmed by DJ House Shoes, who wore a T-shirt memorializing Jay Dee, one of his best friends and a close friend of Proof, who died in February.

They memorialized Proof hip-hop style, listening to him spit gritty-voiced rap music and at times crying and hugging those around them.

Earlier, those who knew him were trying to make sense of what happened.

"It's a tremendous loss. What he had yet to accomplish is incomprehensible," said Danialle Karmanos, a video director and producer who filmed Proof promoting the city two months ago for a Super Bowl party she and husband Pete Karmanos held at Compuware in downtown Detroit. "Proof was really smart and charismatic and funny and silly and engaging and respectful. You just wanted to smile when you were around him."

Detroit's urban music scene was just coming to terms with the loss of another pioneer. James (Jay Dee) Yancey died after complications from a rare blood disease in February.

Proof wasn't the first member of D12 to die tragically. In 1999, right before the group gained international prominence, member Bugz (Karnail Pitts) was shot to death on Belle Isle. D12 was scheduled to begin recording its third album this month.

"I just don't know how to feel right now," said D12 member Denaun Porter, better known as Kon Artis, barely getting the words out. "It's crazy because we're suffering all these losses. We lost Bugz. Now we lost Proof. I just don't know, you know what I mean? We're all so messed up. Whatever happened, whoever this dude is, is still around. This is just crazy."

Memorial service arrangements are still being made. "His family and friends would appreciate privacy during this difficult time," said a statement from Interscope Records, Eminem and D12's label.

Contact KELLEY L. CARTER at 313-222-8854 or [email protected] Staff writer Brian McCollum contributed.

-Detroit Free Press
 
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#14
Oct 2, 2001
28,186
#14
Was he the same guy, who acted in Eminem's clip "Toy soldiers" where he gets shot in the clip and dies?
 
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