15 years since the death of Big Proof.
On this day 15 years ago, we lost the talented rapper Proof, real name DeShaun Holton. The close childhood friend of rapper Eminem was murdered, after he was shot three times by Mario Etheridge, after a dispute broke out during a game of billiards on the 8-mile road in Detroit, Michigan. DeShaun was a member of the Detroit Hip-Hop band, D12, and often a hype man at Eminem’s concerts.
During his career, he was a member of the groups 5 Elementz, Funky Cowboys, Promatic, Goon Sqwad, and D12. The rapper was a close childhood friend of Eminem, who also lived in Detroit. Proof was often a hype man at Eminem’s concerts.
“You don’t know where to begin when you lose somebody who’s been such a big part of your life for so long. Proof and I were brothers,” said Eminem in a statement regarding the death of his best friend Proof. “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.”
They were there for each other through the ups and downs. Proof introduced young Marshall Mathers to the Detroit battle rap scene, and he stood by his side on platforms they could never have imagined in their early days.
As the late rapper’s lawyer challenged police accusations that he shot first in the altercation at Detroit’s CCC Club, Eminem broke his public quiet on the death of his closest buddy Proof. “Right now, there’s a lot of people focusing on the way he died,” Eminem said.”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”
Eminem & Big Proof.
Back in 2010, an unreleased Eminem track “Difficult” surfaced online, which was a tribute to late proof and featured Obie Trice. “They ask me am I okay, they ask me if I’m happy / Are they askin me that because of the sh-t that’s been thrown at me? / Or am I just a little snappy and they genuinely care? / Doody, most of my life, it’s just been me and you there,” raps Eminem.
Eminem has spoken on this complicated subject numerous times, but “Difficult” is by far the most intimate and powerful: “Doody, most of my life it’s just been me and you there
And I continuously stare at pictures of you
I never got to say I love you as much as I wanted to, but I do
Yeah, I say it now when you can’t hear me
What the f**k good does that do me now?
But somehow I know you’re near me in presence.”
A solo album by Proof was made with the help of 50 Cent, Method Man, Nate Dogg, B-Real of Cypress Hill, T3 of Slum Village, Obie Trice, King Gordy, Eminem, and D12. Because he wanted to “create his own thing,” according to Proof, he did not produce the album via Shady Records or Aftermath. The album, titled Searching for Jerry Garcia, was published his own Iron Fist Records label on August 9, 2005, in cooperation with Alliance Entertainment’s IDN Distribution.
Also Checkout: The Story Behind Eminem & Proof’s Famous 1999 Freestyle.
Official police records have yet to reveal the sequence of events that led to the deaths of Proof and Keith Bender, 35. On April 18, 2006, Bender died eight days later. After Proof’s murder, rapper Snoop Dogg appealed for unity among musicians, calling the tragedy “a loss to the hip-hop community.” Proof was praised by Eminem as “funny, smart, and charming,” and he stated he will be missed as “the heart and soul of Detroit hip-hop.” Proof was and always will be Eminem’s best friend, according to him.
On April 19, 2006, a service for Proof was held in the Fellowship Chapel in Detroit to a full house of 2,660 people, including his friends Eminem, Royce Da 5’9, 50 Cent, and thousands more mourning outside. He was then buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.
“Right now, there’s a lot of people focusing on the way he died,” Eminem said after Proof’s death. “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.”
Proof was an American rapper and actor from Detroit, Michigan, who was born DeShaun Dupree Holton (October 2, 1973 – April 11, 2006). He was a part of the bands 5 Elementz, Funky Cowboys, Promatic, Goon Sqwad, and D12 during his career. Proof released a solo album alongside 50 Cent, Method Man, Nate Dogg, B-Real of Cypress Hill, T3 of Slum Village, Obie Trice, King Gordy, Eminem, and D12 as collaborators. Proof stated that he did not work with Shady Records or Aftermath to create the album because he wanted to “construct his own thing.”
Eminem paid tribute to his late friend Proof with the song “Difficult,” which was leaked to the public in 2010. He also memorialized Proof on his album Recovery with the track “You’re Never Over.” Throughout the years, Eminem has continued to honor Proof by referencing him in a number of his songs, including “Going Through Changes,” “Cinderella Man,” “Deja Vu,” “Walk on Water,” “Believe,” “Arose,” “Stepping Stone,” “Venom,” and “Zeus.”
Big Proof was a big part of Eminem’s life, and as a tribute to him, the Detroit Rapper got a tattoo of his name on his left Forearm. Last year in his interview with Mike Tyson, Eminem said, “He [Proof] was a Godsend to me because I know that I would not have made it without knowing him. His name meant something because people respected him. He co-signed for me when I went to this shop when I went to every show ‘cause he co-signed for me everywhere I went. And people respected him, his name meant something because they respected him. It’s crazy because that’s the one thing you needed, the only thing you needed in your life to feel like you was special. That’s how Proof made me feel.”
“I had a weird trajectory, I was afraid early on, like 15-16 years old, I was afraid to go to any clubs or anything like that to say my raps because I felt like I wasn’t good enough yet. So I had to get to a certain spot,” added Eminem in the interview. “I was just making songs and one day I got a call from my boy Proof and he was like, ‘Yo, you need to come up to the Hip Hop Shop.’ And I was like, ‘What is the Hip Hop Shop?’ And he’s like, ‘Yo, just come to the Hip Hop Shop. Write something, come up here.’ And Proof, we came up rapping together but he would kind of go do his own thing and then I I’d be working at factories and stuff like that and Proof was out there on the grind and he started making connections and then he met J Dilla from Slum village and a lot of the early Detroit hip-hop that was exploding onto the scene.”
He continued: “Proof was such a part of that and I got a chance to… When I went to the Hip Hop Shop I was like, “What the f–k?” He was like, “Yo, I’ll clear everybody out, I’ll have like ten people and you rap in front of them and if they don’t like you they’re gonna tell you they don’t like you. If they do like you and they f–k with you, you know” So I went there, I said a rap, I got some people jumping around and sh-t and I was like, ‘Okay, this might be it for me.’ And then that’s when we start having battles at the Hip Hop Shop. We was having a battle every two or three months but every Saturday I would make sure that I didn’t have to work till four o’clock because I was going to the Hip Hop Shop every Saturday. So for me in the early twenties, it was St. Andrews Hall on Friday night, Saturday – Hip Hop Shop, Tuesday – Ebony Showcase.”
“That’s what happened, I started battling. In the Hip Hop Shop, the first battle that we had there I won it. Proof was taking names and he was putting them in a hat, like, if you want to sign up to battle you just put your name in the hat, he picks a name and picks another name. It would be like Bizarre vs. B-flat. And then they go at it. And it was me vs. whoever. I remember one time I battled Kuniva who was in my group D12, but we weren’t a group yet.”
Following the death of his friend and fellow rapper Proof in 2006, Eminem stated that his “addiction” with dr-gs “went through the f–kin’ roof.” The rapper said that he had as many as “10 dr-g dealers at one time” and was taking “75 to 80 Valiums” every night. A few months after Proof’s death, Marshall remembered falling over in the bathroom, and then “waking up with f–king tubes in me and sh-t, and I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t understand where I was and what the f–k happened.”
Proof was one of Detroit’s most respected MCs, and he became friends with fellow Detroit rapper Eminem before joining Em’s rap group D12. He late later appeared briefly in Em’s smash biopic, 8 Mile, and was a constant in the courtroom in 2001, when Eminem was facing gun charges. Big Proof was also the best man during the superstar rapper’s wedding to his on-again, off-again girlfriend Kim Mathers in January.
Proof performed alongside Eminem, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Snoop Dogg as part of the Up In Smoke Tour in 2000, serving as Eminem’s hype man. D12’s debut album, Devil’s Night, was released on Interscope Records in 2001, bringing him even more attention. Proof teamed with Dogmatic on “Promatic” the next year, and went on to accompany Eminem’s “Anger Management” tour. He starred alongside Eminem and Xzibit in the film 8 Mile.
Eminem dedicated a song to Proof called “You’re Never Over,” and he also mentions him in the song “Going Through Changes.” Em also mentions Proof in the songs “Drop The Bomb On ‘Em” and “Elevator” from his 2009 album Relapse: Refill, as well as under his birth name (DeShaun) in the song “Deja Vu” from the album Relapse as well as the single “Walk on Water” and in the songs “Believe” and “Arose” from his 2017 album Revival. Shady also mentions Proof in one of the songs “”Venom” and “Stepping Stone” from the 2018 album Kamikaze. He also mentions Proof in one of the song’s lines “Assassin (Remix).
Watch: Proof Throw A Surprise Birthday Party For Eminem
Also, Check out a never heard before Eminem & Proof Westwood freestyle from 1999. Marshal Mathers performed the track with the late D12 member on Tim Westwood’s New York Live at the era of “The Slim Shady LP.” To commemorate Eminem and fellow D12 member and hypeman Mr. Porter’s hugely popular performance on Westwood TV, the freestyle has officially been published. Although Proof did not feature on Em’s major-label debut, he was apparently signed as the first performer on Shady Records by Marshall Mathers the same year.
In his career, Proof released Anywhere EP in 1996, Electric Coolaid Acid Testing EP in 2002. ‘I Miss the Hip Hop Shop’ debut album in 2004, ‘Searching for Jerry Garcia’ album in 2005.
While Proof is not here no more, rapper’s Son Nasaan, who’s an aspiring rapper, continue to make his late father proud through his music. “so crazy cuz i feel old af (22) and get mad i’m not a megastar but then ill talk to Em and he’ll be like “Man, i wish i was where you were when i was your age or that advance musically” Sh*t makes me feel alottttttttt better.” wrote Nasaan in his recent tweet about Eminem.
“When I wrap it up in a nutshell, I realize that all the heaviest dr-g usage and addiction spanned only about five years of my life,” he told XXL. “It’s crazy for me to think back. It felt like a long time when it was happening, but looking back at it now, it wasn’t that long of a time for my problem to explode as it did. Then the thing happened with Proof and my addiction went through the f–kin’ roof. I remember just after Proof died, I was in my house by myself, and I was just laying in bed and I couldn’t move and I just kept staring at the ceiling fan. And I just kept taking more pi–s. I literally couldn’t walk for two days when that happened and eventually my drug use f–kin’ skyrocketed. I had f–kin’ 10 dr-g dealers at one time that I’m getting my sh-t from. Seventy-five to 80 Valiums a night, which is a lot. I don’t know how the fuck I’m still here. I was numbing myself.
“I remember a few months after Proof had passed, I was about to use the bathroom, and all I remember was I just fell over. The next thing I remember was waking up with f–king tubes in me and sh-t, and I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t understand where I was and what the f–k happened.
“When I look back at my catalog, the first three albums, I’m definitely proud of them. Sometimes I go back, and I listen to them if I’m in a spot where I need some inspiration. Sometimes it helps me to go back to those songs. But then I think, Man, I could’ve done those vocals so much better. I could’ve connected this word with this word. I always do that kind of sh-t.”
