Deshaun “Proof” Holton, rapper in hip-hop group D12 and close personal friend of Eminem, was shot to death early Tuesday morning in Detroit. He was only 32.

Now news in the rap world of someone getting shot is hardly novel but I felt a sincere loss when I heard this report.

It’s an understatement to say that Eminem and Proof were friends. There was a brotherhood and kinship there that solidified over many years. So to hear that Proof had died so suddenly meant that somewhere out there, a man lost a piece of his soul.

For as many people who hated and protested Eminem during the height of his career, I knew a lot of Christians who were carefully watching his spiritual walk behind the scenes and praying for him to come to Jesus. The most notable was the two-part musical message KJ-52 wrote to Eminem entitled “Dear Slim.” In that, KJ shared how he too grew up without a father and said that the only way to live above the pain was to live in Christ. It’s known that Eminem heard the songs but it is not known whether he ever replied.

Either way, anyone who has listened to Eminem’s music or watched his antics in the news knows that he’s clearly a troubled man. Through his music he’s talked about everything – from the emotional abuse he sustained growing up to his broken marriage. Now, for Eminem to lose someone who he considered to be family… I can imagine it’s like losing the only person who truly understood you. That can be incredibly lonely – even for a superstar.

I think as a music community we should continue to pray for Eminem. As Sara Groves says, perhaps God will “rewrite this tragedy” into something greater – perhaps something of eternal greatness.

By Jennifer Jones