Curtain Call: The Hits was released in December of 2005. It is a compilation album featuring Eminem's biggest hits from his previous albums like "My Name Is", "Stan", "Lose Yourself", and "Cleaning Out My Closet." It also included 4 brand new songs, "When I'm Gone," "FACK," "Shake That," and a live version of "Stan" that he preformed at the Grammys with Elton John. The album topped charts and was later certified platinum seven times. It was Eminem's fifth straight number one album in the United States and UK. Eminem decided to call it "Curtain Call" because he wasn't sure if it was going to be his last album.
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In 2006 Deshaun Holton, also known as Proof, was killed in a bar brawl that escalated into a shooting. The incident was never fully explained. Proof was Eminem's closet friend. They were friends since he was 14 and Proof was the one that encouraged him to start rapping in public. In Eminem's biography he explains how much Proof's death affected him, "I have never felt so much pain in my life, I've had a dream in my family before but after Proof passed, it was a year before I could do anything normal again. It was tough to get out of bed, let alone rhyme."
Eminem was already showing signs of fatigue with a previous subpar album and a canceled world tour due to exhaustion from years on the road and suffering from a dependency of sleeping pills. He withdrew completely from the world retreating to his mansion just outside of Detroit. He barely left his house for 2 years. He became addicted to Vicodin and gained over 80 pounds. He eventually overdosed and would have died from it if he got to the hospital 2 hours later. Within a month from his overdose he relapsed. He found strength to beat his addiction by thinking about his role as a father with his daughters. People thought he would never be able to make a hit song again, but they were wrong.
Eminem was already showing signs of fatigue with a previous subpar album and a canceled world tour due to exhaustion from years on the road and suffering from a dependency of sleeping pills. He withdrew completely from the world retreating to his mansion just outside of Detroit. He barely left his house for 2 years. He became addicted to Vicodin and gained over 80 pounds. He eventually overdosed and would have died from it if he got to the hospital 2 hours later. Within a month from his overdose he relapsed. He found strength to beat his addiction by thinking about his role as a father with his daughters. People thought he would never be able to make a hit song again, but they were wrong.