DeShaun “Proof” Holton
October 2, 1973 – April 11, 2006
DeShaun Holton was a Detroit-based rapper who grew to prominence in the 1990s and early 2000s. Under the performing name “Proof,” Holton formed a collective of local hip-hop artists in 1996 called D12. The group contained, at various times, other Detroit contemporaries like Eminem, Denaun and Bizarre among others. Proof and Eminem were close childhood friends and supported each other throughout their careers. Proof toured with Eminem and served as the latter’s hype man in concerts. He also appeared in Eminem’s critically-acclaimed 2002 motion picture, 8 Mile. D12 released two albums and a number of hit singles. As a solo artist, Proof released two EPs and two full-length studio albums spawning singles like “Trapped” and “Kurt Kobain”…which leaned heavily on prescient thoughts of his own death and legacy.
Early in the morning on April 11, 2006, after a night of bar-crawling with friends in Detroit, Proof got into a fight over a billiards game in a nightclub called CCC Club. There are varying accounts of what happened during the fight and who was the first person to pull a gun and start firing, but in the end, two people were shot. The man that Proof was fighting with, who died a week later from his injuries, and Proof himself, who died at the scene. Police determined the man who shot Proof was acting in defense of another and was only charged with two gun violations. Proof, who was just 32, would be eulogized and remembered in song by a number of rappers in the years since including 50 Cent and his long-time friend, Eminem.
Burial
Woodlawn Cemetery – Detroit, MI
Specific Location
Rosa L. Parks Freedom Chapel – Enter the chapel and Proof is buried immediately on your right in the middle row, 4 spaces from the door. If the doors to the chapel are locked, just ask at the main office for the code.
Celebrity Graveland 
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