R.I.P. Proof

    I've been reading the papers and checking out comments these mainstream media type assholes have been writing about Proof.  It is beyond my comprehension how people who are supposed to be so educated and intelligent can be so damned stupid. 

    People just refuse to accept the fact that they have a brain and need to use it to think.  You can not put a label on something or someone in order to avoid thinking.  Proof was not a good person or a bad person.  He was a person.  People do things that some people consider to be good and some things they consider to be bad.  No one is perfect or without fault. 

    Furthermore, you can not blame rap music.  Why not blame pool ? Countless bar room brawls have started over a game of pool.  Or better yet, why not blame establishments that serve alcohol, or alcohol, period ? Anyone who goes clubbing knows that around closing time fists start swinging and bullets start flying. 

    The point is that it's the American way to place blame.  But guess what?  Placing blame does not solve problems.  It just makes us feel good to blame someone or something besides ourselves for our problems.  The truth is that we live in a very violent world and we all are at fault because we haven't done enough to change things. 

    What troubles me is that  a reporter or newscaster who didn't even know Proof can be considered an authority on what's up with him and even tell you that the good things people have to say about him aren't true, or try to make you feel guilty for caring.  Proof made some bad decisions on April 11th in the CCC club and he paid for them with his life.  That does not change the fact that he was one of the greatest freestylers ever, or that he was dedicated to putting Detroit hip hop on the map 'til the day he died. 

    Of all the people that said when they blew up they were going to come back and help others, Proof was the one that really meant it.  He put people on shows.  He collaborated with people.  He introduced you to important people.  He pulled you in VIP sections.  He had a stable of talented MC's and producers at his Iron Fist Record label he was working with. 

    He could have got large, got his money and went to hide somewhere, but he didn't.  We saw Proof at the hip hop spots in dingy ass hole in the wall bars whenever he was in town.  He'd be playing pool or darts just like he did when he was a broke ass rapper with dreads and an orange hoodie back in the day.  One morning, I saw him on MTV and later that night I was having a drink with him at the Sunset Strip on Michigan Avenue.  People didn't even mob Proof because it was no big deal to see him.  He was always around. 

    I say all this to make a point.  I don't have any excuses for what Proof did, and the people that really know him don't either.  We just refuse to let you paint a one dimensional picture of someone who meant so much to us.  I know you'll sell more papers by making Proof out to be the second coming of Charles Manson, but we refuse to stand by and let that happen, and we definitely aren't going to buy into what you're selling.  Why would we take your word.  We knew him.  You didn't.