Mourners Pay Tribute to Proof

Eminem, 50 Cent and about 2,000 other people crowded a Detroit chapel Wednesday to pay their last respects to slain D12 rapper Proof, who was shot to death in a nightclub last week.

The funeral service started 45 minutes late, according to the Detroit Free Press, held up to accommodate a line of people waiting to get in that wrapped around the building.

Once the pews inside the Fellowship Chapel were packed, a series of speakers, including Proof's D12 buddy Eminem, reminisced about the late hip-hop artist's positive effect on their lives.

"He taught me how to be a leader," Eminem said, choking back tears. "I'm sure everybody who has ever met him, even just once, can testify to the fact that he illuminated a room when he walked in it. I believe that Proof loved people and people loved him. He was a magnet. He lured you in. You wanted to learn about him, follow his swagger. Without Proof, there would be no Eminem, no Slim Shady, no D12. You're the man."

D12 was originally founded in 1990 by Proof, whose real name was Deshaun Holton, and fellow rapper Bizarre (born Rufus Johnson), but the group didn't really take off until Proof brought childhood friend Eminem into the mix. Their first album, Devil's Night, was released in 2001 and sold more than 4 million copies. The rest of D12 consists of Kuniva (Von Carlisle), Kon Artis (Denaun Porter) and Swift (Ondre Moore), all of whom attended the funeral.

Fellow Shady Records rapper and Detroit native Obie Trice also spoke, telling the crowd to rise in honor of Proof.

"Proof is the one. He is the pioneer of Detroit music," he said. "We got to stand up. Rest in peace."

Trice, a shooting victim himself, also called for an end to violence. He was shot in the head on New Year's Eve while driving in his hometown and a bullet remains lodged in his skull.

"I want to talk to the black men in here that's coming up in the hood, coming up in the struggle," Trice said. "We're killing each other, dawg. And it's about nothing. Nothing. Nothing. We're all dying. And we're leaving our kids, our mommas, our grandmas. Over nothing."

The Reverend Wendell Anthony, who conducted the memorial service, pressed the point made by Trice, condemning violence as the "madness that is infecting" their city. "Violence is the weed that is choking the life out of our community," he said. "Our community suffers the loss of another young man, who reflects that fact that those whom we love are dying too soon and leaving too quickly."

Proof, dressed in athletic wear and a Kangol cap, was laid to rest in a gold-colored casket with both his rap and birth names engraved on it.

He is survived by his wife, Sharonda, and five children.

The rapper was killed Apr. 11 after allegedly pistol-whipping and shooting 35-year-old Keith Bender Jr. in the head during what witnesses said was a fight over a pool game in a Detroit club. Bender died Tuesday from his injuries.

The idea that Proof initiated the violence has been ridiculed by his attorney and friends.

"To indicate that Proof pulled the trigger is reckless and, quite frankly, it will be proved to be untrue," his lawyer told the Detroit Free Press last week.

Bender's cousin, 28-year-old Mario Etheridge, the man who has been arrested in connection with Proof's death, is claiming that he shot the D12 member in self-defense. Etheridge turned himself in last week and pleaded not guilty Saturday to charges of carrying a concealed weapon and discharging a firearm inside a building. He is currently in jail, being unable to pay the $70,000 bail set by the court.