Today the NY Post ran an article about Proof's murder that began:
"Red-hot rapper Proof - a close pal of Eminem - was executed in a Detroit nightclub early yesterday when a gunman blew his brains out during a heated argument."
"Blew his brains out"? Holy hell. This so-called journalist, Bill Hoffman scribbled a description of Proof's murder that is more than just disrespectful - it's tasteless. I plan to email him about this at "bill.hoffmann@nypost.com" and I suggest you do the same.
And this isn't just an isolated slight. When ODB died, the Post ran the headline, "Dead Dirty Bastard" as if our heroes in hip-hop don't deserve the same respect as any other artist who dies.
In another display of how inadequate Hoffman was a a choice to write this article, he ends with:
"It was not immediately known what the argument was about or whether it was part of the ongoing East Coast-West Coast rap war that has claimed such hip-hop greats as the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur."
Somebody fire this guy.
For real coverage of Proof's tragic passing, read SOHH's latest article and our Talkin' Videos tribute to him with a review of Eminem's Like Toy Soldiers.
No big surprise! Doesn't matter what dude's name is, or what paper he writes for....the media prints this sh*t to sell papers....I find it really funny that the idiot had to drag the whoel East/West thing into it! Huh?
Maybe he confused Proof with SuperHead in the matter of someone getting their brains blown out.
tasteless. wonder how they wrote in the paper when kurt cobain died. this is the time when we as rap fans and humans should not make fun of a situation like this at all. that shit aint cool. it more that rap at this point. i dont care what region your from or what music you dont like, death isnt something to poke fun at.
rip proof
East Coast/West Coast? On going feud? Please somebody slap that dude. Damn last time I checked Proof was from the Midwest. Fuck the media. RIP Proof
that was a horrible article. but people givin respect to proof is cool, but what about the guy that proof shot in da head first. people are talkin as if proof was the only victim, but he was the first one to shoot.
Somebody please fire Hoffman...TODAY!!! Anyway I sent him an email about how ridicuous he sounded and other people should too....it only took a few minutes
yo props for the article i was reading the paper on the train and when i read that piece i got up and was like wtf?! Way beyond disrespectful i wrote to this so called writer way before i read this but im glad someone noticed pure ignorance besides me. East and west coast war??
FRom the 2 d12 albums proof was da shining star including em. i really thank his craft and humor dat he displayed on those 2 records especially. we dont know da exact details of what happend so lets just please get our facts straight before expressing an opinion.
although 1 thing could be said for certain we truly appreciated the music you made proof!!!
may youre soul r.i.p for eternity
PEACE
oh YEAH SHIT I FORGOT FUCK DAT REPORTER YOU MOTHA FUKA!!!!!
I didn't know there was still a West Coast vs. East Coast "feud".
I must have missed something.
Screw the media.
I wrote that fuck and gave him an assfull.
THIS JUST SHOWS THE SEPERATION IN CULTURES THAT EXISTS TODAY...PEOPLE DON'T CARE ABOUT THE TRUTH.....
PERFECT EXAMPLE OF TRUTHINESS!!
ANYBODY THAT ISN'T WHITE (OR WHITE W/COMMON SENSE!)AND WORKED IN A CORPORATE SETTING KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT...THE IDIOTIC THINGS THAT I HEAR COME OUT OF PEOPLE MOUTH'S!!
wow, what a piece of shit, straight up, to say that. idk wut went on there exactly but that is a human life being taken over ignorance. proof and d12 are some of my favorite rappers to listen to, when proof got on a track it was just crazy, and now hes gone, it doesnt even seem real. i remember seeing d12 in concert 2 years ago, proof got pulled into the audience by a few rowdy fans, got back on stage, his hat was gone and chain was both ripped, the first words out of his mouth were "WOW Sayreville, NJ gets fucking wild, i fucking love this shit"
RIP Big Proof you will be remembered in the hearts of all us who truly appreciated you and your music
I only buy the Post for Su Doku and kitty litter lining so eff that rag. I sent an email. Doubt I'll get any response.
Who does the family of Proof have to pay off over there to keep his name out there mouths anyway. If it worked for some rich white dude...
No one can go bash all media outlets as there are some who have some sense rather than demonizing Proof as they have in that headline. Mr. Hoffman appears to want to create a sense of cartoonish disillusion whereas many members of society see hip-hop acts as a disease and it breeds what it sows. Just to let ya know: The NYPost is a 2nd tier newspaper not read by the intelligent public and this contributor and his edititor are damn fools. RIP Proof
Shit like this proves how the media just wanna focus, provoke an emphasize nothing but negativity when it comes to hiphop.....the ongoing east coast/west coast rap war? Someone send this nigga to back to '95. R.I.P Dirty Harry. Hold your head Em
Incredible. Even if there was such a thing as an 'ongoing East Ocast/West Coast war, what would that have to do with an artist from Detroit? This clown needs a geography lesson as well as a slap in the mouth.
This dude is a coward, He can care less about hip hop, Just remember KARMA
that shit is foul and unprofessional RIP PROOF
damn, i just tried to email the cracker, and his email must be getting redirected, cuz it sent me a failure of delivery notice...how tha hell do I tell this cracker chicken-shit mutha fucka whats real? anyone got another email addy?
Hey listen man, I have some white friends that are cool n all but you have to admit it: White people dont know shit about us.
They watch Roots to feel like they can connect with us, what do they really know? Like MTV's greatest rapper list, just look who's making it- White people.
Who wrote this flaming ball of ignorace, disrespect and shame? U guessed it, some clueless pre-approved KKK member.
I can forgive him and Proof and ODB are probably laughing at him because racist fucks like him end up in hell, spirraling downwards. We might grow up in a white-man made hell but we march forwards, that's why they cant break us.
I'msurprised that this guy still has a job. But fuck what he says. I'm a fan. that's all that matters. I don't care what anyone else says that'll never change. Proof was the one in D-12 who stood out the most to me. But todays article was really shocking to me. If he shot a guy in the head first, that means he was trying to kill him. If this guy dies then Proof would've ended up in prison anyway on a murder 1 rap. Maybe would've plead out to murder 2. Anyway you look at it his life and career would've been over. Karma just came around alot quicker for him then it does for most people.
R.I.P Deshaun Holton aka Proof aka Dirty Harry
My letter.....
To: bill.hoffmann@nypost.com
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 14:35:14 -0400
Subject: Bill, you ignorant f**K!!!
Not that I read the post, or beleive any of you actually care about reader comments, but you are all jackass's.
to quote your stupid ignorant story:
"Red-hot rapper Proof - a close pal of Eminem - was executed in a Detroit nightclub early yesterday when a gunman blew his brains out during a heated argument."
"blew his brains out" -- is that the noraml reponse to person being killed? Is this normally how you describe a murder-- of anyone, on any level? Do you describe a soldirs death that way? a policeman's? Shit, a taxi cab driver? NO to all of the above, I guess rappers and black folk in general must not warrant respect, fair treatment when they are killed ,after they are rappers and/or black.
To treat a person death so callously, and negatively just goes to prove how worthless, and how much pure garbage the new york post is. To speak of a person's brains being blown out, is just grossly inapropriate for a so-called journalist and so called newspaper?
BUT WAIT, there's more!!!.......
"It was not immediately known what the argument was about or whether it was part of the ongoing East Coast-West Coast rap war that has claimed such hip-hop greats as the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur."
EH????.........that was over 10 years now...what are you stupid?, live under a rock? or ignorant racist bastars that just wants to sensationalize a tragic story that truly does not need to be sensationalized.
...And to make a reference trying to assocaite it with an east/west coast beef, 10 years after the bloodshed has been resolved just proves the racial/cultural borderline you non-knowing morons continually cross. When are you going to become responsible and just report the news as is, without glorifying and sensationalizing the truly tragic story?
Am I pulling the race card, damn right I am, because it is obvious that your story/writer/newspaer is raciually/cuturally biased.
BOYCOTT THE POST, FIRE BILL HOFFMAN!!!!!!
___________________________________
and to dude that brought up the other victim, love and respect go out to him and his family as well. But let me add this, don't be quick to beleive the ALL the hype, let the facts fully come out before we make judgemens on Proofs guilt or innocense. If we jump the gun and run with the sensationalism, then we are no better than the Bill Hoffman's of the world.
yo GameCityRecords.com try: letters@nypost.com
go to the front page and choose send a letter.....
the more I read it the more I think it's sibliminal racisim
I think he clearly knows the east west wars are over and intentionally did that to piss us off. the question is how to get him back. I think writing him is a waste of time. But attacking his supperiors and challenging Em and Proof family to publically blast them in the media would be more effective. But emailing him he's just going to click delete. Face Suburban America(including suburban blacks) hate inner city black america. In the 90's I think they wanted to understand alittle but now they all pretty much feel that we're all full of excuses piggy bank racism and use the Race Card looking for a chance to get over and that we're a cancer on American Society. Look at the NBA the sibliminal racism is clear as day. They luv the European althletes they play ball the way it's supposed to be play'd the Americans are too flashy and greedy and all about themselves and not the team. 12 Black men went to olympics and they were happy we lost and the american need to learn from the international athletes. Now players can't we jewerly on their way to the arena. There's an arguement over the length of their shorts and they're going to ban tights that we're wearing. Now we can't go pro from high school anymore despite J O'NEAL k bRYANT TMAC D Howard and the endless other stars that made the jump. Somehow I think that would be different if more JJ Redick's and Adam Morrison's had the althletic ability to make the leap.
I guess they want the niggers to pay their dues just like their kids do when they send them to college. The Racial undertones are obvious but we have to play ball cause suburban america is no longer going to b ball games anymore they're just hockey,baseball and football fans now. They hate basket ball cause they feel we f'd up the sport. This reporters views are no different than minds in the white house or anyone other republican or democrat that has no exposure to people in the inner city. The country is run by suburban americans and the majority feel this way!
Your words:
"Red-hot rapper Proof - a close pal of Eminem - was executed in a Detroit nightclub early yesterday when a gunman blew his brains out during a heated argument."
"It was not immediately known what the argument was about or whether it was part of the ongoing East Coast-West Coast rap war that has claimed such hip-hop greats as the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur."
I am just writing to let you know that this is uncalled for. I don't think any family member would appreciate reading this about their loved one that was lost. I just have an opinion, next time think before you actually publish something like this about someone's untimely death. Even if you are not a fan of hip hop it doesn't call for disrespect. Your words alone cause a lot of grief to hip hop fans. I don't think you would like the fact that someone described your untimely death like that. It's just not cool at all. Think about it. People say words don't hurt but that unfortunately is an old myth and words can destroy a person.
Pick better words is all I'm saying. Have a heart if not because he was a rapper at least because he was somebody's son, friend, siginificant other or husband, father, and a hero to someone. No matter what you think people looked up to him, people admired him. This was very uncalled for.
As far as the East-Coast-West Coast thing you have no idea, that this something that the media kind of blew up. But not every rapper is caught up in this type of drama. Some people just want to make money and take care of their families. It's more to hip hop then just murder, drugs and money. This is an ART, what you see on the videos is just another persona to take on this life. Not all of them live this gangsta life as you guys call it.
Anyway just my opinion take it into consideration.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is the letter I wrote to the writer.....just thought I'd put that in there
follow up point
if you think my NBA is off the subject
parallel it to society
the same things, the same siblimal undertones in society are being play'd out in the NBA just draw the parrallels
and you'll see my point
Here's my letter to the assholes at the post i refuse to buy that paper ever again. I'll beg for another quarter to get the daily then by that page fix piece of shit
It is quite obvious that you are an ignorant, non informed excuse for a journalist for your ridiculous cover of the death of Proof or maybe you should try calling him by his birth name Deshuan Holton. It is clear that you most likely think his was given the name Proof at birth, I mean how else do you explain your tasteless and despicable article. How do you describe a person death as "getting their brains blown out"? You and your paper have absolutely no respect for the hip hop community and from what I've read the African American community period.
"It was not immediately known what the argument was about or whether it was part of the ongoing East Coast-West Coast rap war that has claimed such hip-hop greats as the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur."
Get a clue you pompous asshole. Did you forget that Detroit is in the Midwest?. I guess it would have take someone with half a brain to figure that out. Oh yeah by the way that East Coast-West Cost feud that you and your ignorant colleagues created has been on going?. I guess it's be about oh what 10 years now since the death of Notorious B.I.G. So why now after 10 years would a death of a Midwest rapper have anything to do with East Coast-West Coast? Why don't you get some new sources before you try to cover our culture. I am calling for a boycott of your newspaper starting of now, and I will not rest until the hip hop community is felt by what matters to you guys the most. The bottom line.
Sean McKenzie
A Educated Black Man (if you knew we had any)
why is it when i send my letter it keeps coming back undeliverable.
Anyways i tried to send it again and this is what i wrote:
Dear Mr. Hoffman,
It saddens me, not only as a African-American but a member of the human race, the lack of respect we show each other. As I was reading your article which detailed the senseless murder of another human being the phrase "blew his brains out" boggled my mind. I had to re-read it again because I could not fathom a grown-up let alone an educated, revered journalist using this phrase to dismiss a person as if he were a character in a video game. While I do not have children, I am someone's daughter, sister, cousin and friend just as Mr.. Holton was a father, a husband, a son, a brother and a friend. Just put yourself in his family's shoes reading your article. Salt in the wound does not convey the hurt they must feel right now. You should be ashamed of yourself and while you do not owe me an apology as a fan of hip-hop whose art and culture just suffered another blow. You do owe his family the courtesy and respect that would be given to any other victim of crime. If you are not going to report the facts as they pertain to the case then you should not comment on the matter, especially when you are so misinformed (east coast/west coast "rap war" has not been an entity in rap for years).
It is media personnel like you and Mr.. Bill O'Reiley that continue to cause a rift in the American culture. Your ignorance is inexcusable
I agree,what was said was disrespectful,taste less,and in the cookie jar of racism. It shouldn't matter what race you are,a lost soul should NEVER be disrespected.There are 5 kids without a father and a wife with no husband.As a medic in the ARMY I deal with death every other day out here. Proof aka Dirty Harry was a rappers rapper. I don't know who did what or any full detail. I don't know the other guy who was shot,but I do know that Proof was one of the voices I heard when I put on my head phones and motivated me. Wether he was telln a story of a kid getting picked on or telln me to drink a 40oz. Thank you Proof for opening that other door to hip hop that lets you be who you want to be. God bless you your family and friends
Sgt Allen
You guys know the Post is a right wing propoganda paper owned by Rupert Murdoch, correct?
I apologize for not throwing more dis and dats into my post. You're supposed to slang it up on sohh, even if you are an educated man typing on a computer.
No shit...The NY Post is like FOX news on paper.They some redneck racist motherfuckers. I live in NY, and ain't no body read their bullshit. It cost a quarter, so you read the sports and the cartoons. That wak ass rag got Bill Orielly writing editorials for it. Don't get strung out cuz the Post is insulting dead black people...they live for that shit.
Isn't it funny how when it comes to hip hop news a writer can be WAY OFF with his information and still get his article published? I mean as if the editor wasn't even reading the part about "brains blew out". This just goes to show that people expect this from hip hop now and that they feel they can talk about it any way they want with no concern of reprisal.
Man fuck all of ya'll dissing the man after he's dead ya'll some bitch ass niggas Come to Southside Queens Idon't like 50 or Ja but I still show my respect for the dead cuz the dead don't talk back if the man was alive ya'll probably wouldn't say that Man UP Ya'll internet Thugs any way See me in the streets of N.Y.C
Niggaz stop getting mad , this is the type of shit we as black people LOVE. we love DISRESPECT .then on top of that niggaz dont respect each other and kill one another WHY THE FUCK U EXPECT ANY1 ELSE TO SHOW US COURTESY AND RESPECT?
especially the way we go on.
Peace, The Mecca is in the building. You know I had to give that ignorant fuck a piece of my mind.............Mr. Hoffman, as member of the Hip-Hop nation, I was deeply disturbed to see your artilcle of the murder of DeShaun "Proof" Holton. The article was written in a very whimsical way, not the type of style you'd expect on a article about a murder. I guess it's goes back to the ole "just another ni&&a dead" thing. I wonder, would your tone has been as disrepectful if Eminem's "brain's were blown out"?
You can tell this was a white guy.
damn,i cant beleive what happen to proof,he got shot in the head two times,and in the area of the stomach two times,i wish i could help proof busting niggaz.i didnt know he had 5 children.damn fuck that suspect.
Just curious people, If you knew who murdered Proof, would you tell the cops? Does that make you a snitch? Is snitching relative to the situation/person?
Niggaz stop getting mad , this is the type of shit we as black people LOVE. we love DISRESPECT .then on top of that niggaz dont respect each other and kill one another WHY THE FUCK U EXPECT ANY1 ELSE TO SHOW US COURTESY AND RESPECT?
especially the way we go on.
FUCK ALL YOU CORPORATE AMERICA MA FUCCAZ.
YOU TARGET OUR POCKETS 4 DOLLARS, THEN DISS US REPEATLY AND THEN TEACH YOUR KIDS RACISM WHILE THEY GO TO PRIVATE SCHOOL WITH OUR INNER CITY MONEY.
FUCK YOU FOR SAYING SOME DISRESPECTING SHIT ALL THAT...YOU DUMB-FUCK JOURNALIST.
Shawn Shanks^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Educate yourself brotha for real....
my email...........
Your article today was disgusting...and unprofessional.... "blew his brains out"...cab drivers, celebrities even murderers get more respect...your article was tasteless.....East Coast VS West Coast rivalry is no more...Proof was a rapper from the Midwest....educate yourself before writing these vile articles....I’m wondering if Kurt Cobain would have been disrespected in an article too....
this dude need to be fired and then EM and the rest of d 12 need to find him and "whip his head boy" its make me so mad when people (mainly white people) dis hip hop like that like it aint a form of art bet he wouldnt say that shit if it was some country singer or something.
I e-mailed that guy and so should everyone else. That guy should be ashamed of himself and so should his editors. RIP Big Proof
fuck that fake ass reporter hoffman, you must have to suck a lot of dick to be named Bill Hoffman, faggot. Proof was is and will always be the shining star of D12, r.i.p. Big Proof, FUCK HOFFMAN
The NY Post runs stories about organized crime every day, sometimes belittling Gotti, the Gambinos, etc. and sometimes glamorizing them. But they don't say blow brains out, it's stuff like when Paulie Costelanno was retired in an ingeniously brash hit. Double standards? check.
As disrespectful as it was, you gotta admit dead Dirty bastard is a great headline.
The NY post is one cardboard roll away from toilet paper and no one with a brain cell takes anything they print seriously. The Inquirer has more integrity than the NY Post, and it's printed on better stock. And if they fire Hoffman they'll just put some other inadequate twat muffin in his place. bizness as use you all.