The Unreleased Proof (D12) Interview

[s3nd!ke]

I spoke with Proof a couple of months before he passed last year; after the interview we kept in contact via email and the occasional phone call. Today marks the one year anniversary of his passing; and while we were by no means "close" in the traditional sense of the term -- I miss Proof.

I dug through my bag of unpublished interviews and found this. The reason it was unpublished on StreetHop is not because it was lacking or because Proof didn't deserve it, but simply because I didn't want to eat off of the great mans death. So here it is, as it was meant to appear, part 1 of the Proof interview.

Perhaps one day I will be able to bring myself to re-listen to the tapes and transcribe part 2; but right now I'm just not ready.

RIP Proof.

Why name the album Searching for Jerry Garcia?

Cause to me Jerry Garcia was one of the most profile artists, he is the apitamy of what it is to be an artist you know what I mean? He crossed boundaries, he took protests, he did everything. His momentum wasn't built off record sales, his momentum was built off the love of what music was to him and of what music he wanted to make, so that made me want to fuck with Jerry Garcia and the artist he was. Plus his demise came through drugs, stress and poor diet, which like even if you don't have all three you got one of them mother fuckers in your life, whether you're fucking with some weed or not eating right with some McDonald's you feel me? We find Jerry Garcia in that type of shit so we all searching for him in a way; you just don't know it.

So is he someone that you'd listen to?

Nah I never fucked with the Grateful Dead like that, Im straight out on some hood shit or whatever you wanna call it, I just happed to see a documentary on his life and at that point in my life he touched me in that moment, my moment that I shared with him touched me enough to redirect my album in that direction.

And then the songs on the album are named after other artists, what was the process in choosing track names?

Actually I wasn't going to name my album Searching For Jerry Garcia, it was going to be called A 101 Words That Rhyme With Orange, and then each song on that album was going to be named after people that touched me in certain moments of my life, that I would consider an icon, I picked like

[Shady's_Back]

Yeah definitely a good read.
Still sad though the last question.

[Shads]

thanks good read

anyone have that i killed spider-man mixtape?

[Big-T]

thats quite sad but a lot of propz 4 the interview it was a nice read

[C-Game]

damn dat last question was kinda weird readin

damn ... it really touched me...

good post mate

[TiFFany08]

propz for the interview it was good to read

[Inches]

Good find man.
RIP Big proof.

[darealslimzlady]

Yeah definitely a good read.
Still sad though the last question.

yeah last question made me feel a bit weird

thanks for that tho