Eminem's Devestating Week

[TRshady]

Eminem's music is known for its brutally vivid lyrics, but even at his most volatile, nothing he's written could be as personally devastating as what he's experienced in the past week.

Just days after he filed to end the three-month remarriage to his wife, Kim, his best friend and D-12 partner Proof was shot dead at a nightclub along Detroit's Eight Mile.

Proof, whose real name was Deshaun Holton, was a teenager when he befriended the rap star - then known as Marshall Mathers - and played an incalculable role in his career.

"Proof was really the guy who got Eminem to be a rapper," Anthony Bozza, who wrote "Whatever You Say I Am," the Eminem biography, told ABC News Radio

Mathers became serious about music when he was 14 but was rejected by most fellow rappers because of his race. His friendship with Proof was one of the turning points in his career, and it was Proof's idea to form D12 - the rap group to which they both belong. They remained close friends, with Proof serving as best man at Eminem's wedding three months ago.

"He really keeps only a few close people around him, so losing one of them is going to be completely devastating to him," Bozza said.

It was only last Wednesday that Eminem's volatile relationship with wife Kim came to an end, yet again.

"There has been a breakdown in the marriage relationship to the extent that the objects of matrimony have been destroyed, and there remains no reasonable likelihood that the marriage can be preserved," according to divorce papers the rapper filed.

'I Was the Future of Hip-Hop'

It's unclear what Proof was doing at the bar. Police say an argument broke out and the 32 -year-old rapper fired first, striking Keith Bender, 35, in the head, and critically injuring him.

Investigators have not yet ascertained who fired the bullet that killed Proof, according to Detroit police spokesman Sgt. Omar Feliciano.

The club, which was operating after licensed hours, was empty when police arrived. Officers responding to a 911 call say the victims had been taken by private vehicles to St. John Conner Creek, an outpatient treatment facility, where Bender was treated and Proof was pronounced dead.

In the hours after the shooting, a spot of blood was on the street in front of the tavern, and police had marked shell casings in a parking lot across the street. Later, fans created a makeshift memorial, setting stuffed animals near a telephone pole where an oversize memorial card was filled with condolences.

n "8 Mile, Eminem's semi-autobiographical movie," Proof's life was loosely depicted by Mekhi Phifer's character, the rapper Future.

"I had a lotta names, baby," Future says. "I used to be called Maximum, Brimstone, Godfather D. ... None of 'em worked, you-know-what-Ima-sayin'? Until one day someone said I was the future of hip-hop in Detroit. And that was it."

Proof took on the role of Lil Tic in that film, and can also be seen in several Eminem videos, including "Like Toy Soldiers," "Without Me," "The Real Slim Shady," as well as 50 Cent's "In Da Club." He raps on both D-12 albums, and released a solo CD in 2005, "Searching for Jerry Garcia."

Proof's family and friends gathered at a home in Detroit's northwest side after hearing the news. A spokesman for Eminem told ABC News that arrangements for a memorial service for the rapper are still being made.

[neha]

i feel so bad for em and his family .....this was a very bad week for em,
i just wish kim was there to support him instead of asking for money

[rap_gurl]

I feel worse for proofs family, must be real hard for them.

[Fi.J.]

I'm soooo sad..I'm feelin really sorry for what happened.I'm very close to em,proof's family and friends!..
it must be really devasting for em..

[Knicky]

man, i feel so bad for Em, hope Kim gets off his back, just let the man grieve

[SoniK]

man fuck eminem, fuck kim etc....proof left behind 5 kids......yet again more fatherless children....why cudn 50 get popped? ther wudnt be any RIP section here

[E&M]

Proof

never forgotten

[Jay-19]

I feel mostly for the kids! Can't imagine how they feel at the moment..

[pawel]

I feel mostly for the kids! Can't imagine how they feel at the moment..

word and his wife, brothers and shit, the Purple Gang family, D12, mother, father, every family of his

[yoshi]

man fuck eminem, fuck kim etc....proof left behind 5 kids......yet again more fatherless children....why cudn 50 get popped? ther wudnt be any RIP section here

you talk about fatherless kids - but 50 has a son too.. think about it, before wishing death to anyone, no matter how much you hate him..


i feel so sorry for them all.. especially for the kids.. the oldest can't be more than 12 yrs old i think.. damn, such tragedy..

[DOPE]

Eminem is a soldier dawg,,, he aint no pussy, he aint moving away from the place he grew up in

i dont think so he will

n yo i just hope nobody else from Shady/Aftermath gets shot

im not feelin for Proof's family that much as im feelin for D12,, cuz i had love for these dudes n dam Proof's dead,,,, thats a big blow,,, n now i aint expecting the D12 "The Ambition" album coming nope,, i dont think they gunna do it

[MaD]

first obie... now proof.....


i wonder if em would consider moving away from detroit... it doesn't seem safe for any1 in the shady family!!!

Yeah. But is it safer in another city ? I don't think it's the point. If it's true that someone have got a grudge against the shady family, they can go anywhere it won't make a different, I guess...

[katastrophe]

man fuck eminem, fuck kim etc....proof left behind 5 kids......yet again more fatherless children

Agree with that part

....why cudn 50 get popped? ther wudnt be any RIP section here

That's wrong if you think 50 shoulda been the one to be shot. You shouldn't wish or think that about anyone, no matter how much you may hate them they or their music, they still are a person who has a life, and friends, and even a son of his own. And yes, there would be a R.I.P thread...

yea man...thats pretty fucked up of u to say that shit. i feel so sorry for em though...i just wish i could do something but i feel powerless.

[Infliction]

I remember seeing Proof in those videos. You watch 'em now and they're just not the same anymore

Try and watch the music video for "Like Toy Soldiers" now, its got proof dying in it... im not an emotional guy but jus watchin it i found it hard to keep tears in

[walend]

there was an article of this in a paper in my country:


"Eminem's best friend shot"

and then they told the life story of Eminem and labeled him as a dangerous gangster !!!!