Original Hip Hop Shop Space Reopened Tomorrow

This just in: A call from a gent named Keith Hudson says that the original space of the Hip Hop Shop will be open tomorrow, Oct. 2, for a 21-mic salute to DeShaun "Proof" Holton. The rapper was known by millions of people around the world as a key figure in local group D12 and Eminem's best friend, and the Hip Hop Shop, open from 1993 to 1997, was one of the places he first met up with Eminem and others as they honed their rhyming skills. Proof was shot and killed in an altercation outside a Detroit night club in 2006.

This new venture is entirely independent of the original team that ran the shop in the 1990s and included Maurice Malone. That said, it makes sense that the space that saw Proof's rise should inaugurate its new life with a tribute to the fallen rapper. Hudson tells us he's the new venture's proprietor, and that it's being run in partnership with Proof's old recording company, Iron Fist Records. The salute runs from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., at 15736 W. Seven Mile Rd., Detroit.