Best Friend Lyrics: I should've stayed at home / 'Cause right now I see all these people that love me / But I still feel alone / Can't help but check my phone / I coulda made you mine / But no, it. Andrew Gold, “Thank You for Being a Friend”. Even though it serves superbly as the Golden Girls theme song, Gold’s tune stands alone as a timeless tribute to friendship and gratitude.
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DeShaun Dupree Holton (October 2, 1973 – April 11, 2006), known professionally as Proof, was an American rapper and actor from Detroit, Michigan. During his career, he was a member of the groups 5 Elementz, Funky Cowboys, Promatic, Goon Sqwad,[1] and D12. He was a close childhood friend of rapper Eminem, who lived in the same neighborhood, and was often a hype man at his concerts.
Early life[edit]
DeShaun Dupree Holton was born to Sharallene 'Pepper' Holton, a single mother.[2] His father, McKinley Jackson, was a music producer who left to pursue his career prior to Holton's birth. He was close friends with Eminem from a young age.[3]
1999 Munich/Germany Juice Jam
Music career[edit]
Proof performing with Eminem in 2000
Originally known as Maximum, under the moniker 'Proof', Holton first rose to national prominence as a part of the rap group D12, a hip-hop group he was instrumental in forming. Early individual accomplishments include being featured in The Source's 'Unsigned Hype' column in 1999 and nearly winning the 1998 Blaze Battle. His first television appearance was in the video for Aaliyah's 'Age Ain't Nothing But a Number'. In 2000, Proof toured with Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg in the Up In Smoke Tour, performing as a hype man for Eminem. He gained further exposure in 2001 with the release of Devil's Night, D12's debut album on Interscope Records. The following year, Proof collaborated with Dogmatic on 'Promatic' and joined Eminem's 'Anger Management' tour in support of the release.[4] He appeared in the film 8 Mile along with Eminem and Xzibit. Proof appeared as Lil' Tic, a freestyle rapper who rap battles the lead character, B-Rabbit, played by Eminem.[5] To capitalize on the publicity from the film, Proof released a six-song EP called Electric CoolAid: Acid Testing.[6] Proof also starred in a cameo role, alongside the rest of D12 (except for Eminem), in The Longest Yard, appearing as 'Basketball Convicts' during the credits.[clarification needed]
Solo work[edit]
Proof released a solo album featuring collaborations with 50 Cent, Method Man, Nate Dogg, B-Real of Cypress Hill, T3 of Slum Village, Obie Trice, King Gordy, Eminem and D12. Proof said that he did not produce the record with Shady Records or Aftermath because he wanted to 'build his own thing'.[citation needed] Called Searching for Jerry Garcia, the album was released on August 9, 2005 on his own Iron Fist Records label in conjunction with Alliance Entertainment's IDN Distribution, ten years to the day following Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia's death. It contained the prophetic song Kurt Kobain in which he wrote of his own death and 'passing the sign' to 1st Born as his protégé once he was gone.[7][8] Proof has said that he considered Garcia to be a 'genius' who suffered from common character flaws. Proof has stated his admiration for Garcia's eclectic style, saying that Garcia 'went against the grain'.[9] Proof stated how he wanted to be remembered in an interview with SOHH.com shortly after his album release: 'I want people to say that I was a true artist, that I did it best and stayed true to Hip Hop roots [...] I'd want people to understand I did it for the love, not for the charts.'[10] The album received favorable reviews, which commented on its 'eclectic' and 'introspective' nature.[11] Despite its list of guest appearances and favorable reviews, the release did not make a significant impact on the charts.Proof also recorded a track, 'How I Live,' with Twiztid for their album Independents Day shortly before his death.[citation needed] Besides these, he recorded during his Gold Coast tour in 2006, which was exactly two weeks before his death, a song with 'Liquidsilva' from Australia.
Shooting and death[edit]
On April 11, 2006, Proof was shot three times by Mario Etheridge, once in the head and twice in the chest, after a dispute broke out during a game of billiards on 8 Mile Road in Detroit, Michigan. A pool game between Proof and Keith Bender turned into a heated argument and then escalated into a physical altercation. Etheridge, who was Bender's cousin, fired a warning shot into the air. There have been many conflicting reports about Proof and Keith Bender's roles in the shooting, but it was reported that Proof then shot Bender in the head during the altercation.[12] Bender was not immediately killed by the gunshot but died a week later from his injuries.[13] In response to Proof shooting Bender, Etheridge then shot Proof three times, once in the head and twice in the chest, killing him at the scene. At the time of his death, Proof's blood alcohol content was 0.32, four times the legal DUI limit. An autopsy revealed that he did not have any illegal drugs in his system.[citation needed] Proof's lawyer, David Gorosh, accused the police and the media of being 'reckless' for suggesting that his client fired the first shots without having any hard evidence. A few weeks after both men's death, Bender's family began a wrongful death suit against Proof's estate.[14][15] Authorities determined that Etheridge was acting lawfully in defense of another; however, he was found guilty of carrying an illegal firearm and discharging it inside of a building.[16]
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 life-long friend Eminem, Royce Da 5'9, 50 Cent, and thousands more mourning outside.[17] He was then buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.[18]
Seven months after Proof's death, his close friend Reginald 'Mudd' Moore, who was with him at the nightclub where he was killed, gave an exclusive interview with XXL magazine where he told a different account of what happened that night. In Mudd's version of the events, Proof is portrayed neither as the instigator nor a cold-blooded killer. According to Mudd, the night started out with him and Proof and two of their friends barhopping. They arrived at the Triple C club at around 3:55am where a fight between Keith Bender and Proof escalated over a pool game. The bouncer Mario Etheridge then pulled out his gun and fired two shots into the air to break the fight up, but instead the shots caused panic. Mudd went on to state that an intoxicated Proof pushed him out of the way, reached for his gun and fired once into the air. Keith Bender then came from behind and started attacking Proof, trying to get the weapon out of his hand. Etheridge then came over and started shooting in the direction of Proof and Bender, killing both men.[19]
In 2008, Welsh singer/songwriter Jem dedicated the song 'You Will Make It' to the memory of Proof (listed under his birth name DeShaun Holton) on her second album Down to Earth.[20] In the liner notes, she said 'For your families and friends and for all those who experienced the tragedy of sudden loss'.[21] In early 2009, Jem revealed 'The track is about losing someone and I wrote it the day after his friend Proof was murdered. I was in Detroit with Eminem's friends, who I happened to be recording with, when it happened'.[22] Eminem eulogized his friend with the unreleased track 'Difficult', that leaked to the public in 2010.[23] On the album Recovery, Eminem made a song dedicated to Proof called 'You're Never Over' and also references him in the song “Going Through Changes”. Eminem also references Proof on 'Elevator' from his 2009 album Relapse: Refill as well as under his birth name (DeShaun) on the song 'Deja Vu' from the album Relapse as well as the single 'Walk on Water' and on the songs 'Believe' and 'Arose' both from his 2017 album Revival. Proof was also mentioned by Eminem on the songs 'Stepping Stone' and 'Venom' from the 2018 album Kamikaze.
Discography[edit]
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Filmography[edit]
Videography[edit]
References[edit]
Further reading[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Proof_(rapper)&oldid=943666124'
Is Tony Hsieh leading a “cult” right under our noses? Because that word and all its negative connotations get thrown around quite a bit these days whenever someone mentions Zappos or Hsieh or his Downtown Project.
The argument is that “Tony’s people” only eat and drink in places he has invested in via Downtown Project or on his own. Some say Downtown Project operates in a bubble, is highly secretive and is buying up property without a game plan—at least not one known to those outside “the cult.”
And some talk about those tattoos before Hsieh’s birthday party. (More on that later.)
But a cult?
I know a bit about so-called cults. I have six siblings, and when you have that many kids, laws of probability dictate that some of them will take the road less traveled. Indeed, our family history is chock-full of unusual individual stories. One of those is about a brother who years ago became a Hare Krishna devotee.
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Krishnaites still exist, but they don’t stand out as much as they once did, dancing to chimes and drums at airports and selling flowers and hand-made candles on college campuses. In the 1980s, you knew them by their saffron robes and heads shaved but for ponytails, which, I was told by someone long ago, remained so their god could grab hold and yank them to Nirvana upon death. It also helped alienate them from society.
Back in the ’80s, Hare Krishna was widely held to be a cult. Devotees were said to give up homes, jobs, families and savings for reasons familiar to anyone who believes in any particular religion: adoration for their god, love, devotion. And for the belief that they were onto something greater than an illusory, material world.
I’m certain my family only strengthened my brother’s convictions when we kidnapped him, holed him up in a cabin in the Wisconsin woods and waited for California “deprogrammers” that my dad hired with money from selling his tavern.
As these things sometimes go, the cops were tipped off by a farmer and showed up before the deprogrammers. Then came federal law enforcement. Kidnapping was alleged. The rest is a very long story.
The point is, my brother’s devotion to his religion shocked our parents and siblings, who until then, were mostly ignorant to anything beyond garden-variety Catholicism—chicken-dinner Sundays, lots of beer and devotion that faded a few hours after the sermon.
What’s going on Downtown isn’t shocking. No one is being driven away from family. No one is being fooled by Tony Hsieh. No one is being “brainwashed.”
Even that notorious tattoo party—for Hsieh’s birthday, some people were asked to get a pixel tattoo—some Zapponians have told me since that they would never have submitted to such a thing. But dozens did, as evidenced in a video of the tattooings posted online.
I looked over that video. Some of those shown are Hsieh’s true friends; others are simply doing what they think is best for them in the long run. It’s not much different, frankly, from what most of the workers in this country have felt over five or more years of a torrid economy and shaky job market.
It boils down to job security and economics. Even in the best of times, there’s always someone steeped in office skullduggery looking to stab a friend in the back on the way up the career ladder. But in a bad economy? Gossip is rampant as coworkers seek to ruin a colleague’s reputation so that management has an easier time when layoffs come around. So it’s always best, the thinking goes, to make sure the boss knows you’re on his side.
DTP came in with a flurry of good will and expectations—based on its own proclamations, mind you—to create an ecosystem where cold, harsh economic realities would be put aside for the sake of “community.” The reality is Downtown Project is no haven from the Machiavellian office politics that dominate businesses the world over.
But it is certainly no cult.
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