KEY POINTS:
Kanye West said a tearful goodbye to his mother Donda West yesterday at her funeral in Oklahoma City.
The hip-hop star broke down as gave a short speech about Donda West - who passed away on November 10 following complications resulting from cosmetic surgery - during her funeral in her native Oklahoma.
Kanye told the congregation that, although it was difficult for him to speak, his mother would have wanted him "to get up there" and say a few words.
Donda's champagne-coloured coffin arrived at the True Vine Ministries Church - located in the small Oklahoma City suburb of Spencer - in a white hearse, because the rapper wanted her to "rest in peace, but rest in paradise".
Among those paying their final respects were Jay-Z and his girlfriend Beyoncé Knowles, Pharrell Williams and Erykah Badu.
Singer Anita Barker - who Donda saw in concert just weeks before her death - was also present.
During the service, Anita gave an emotional performance of Summertime, while John Legend accompanied her on the piano.
One guest said: "It was a beautiful ceremony."
Rapper 50 Cent said Kanye West is making the right decision by returning to the stage after his mother's sudden death.
"That's really an unfortunate situation and I hope he can work his way through it," 50 told The Associated Press in an interview.
"It's good to see him actually touring: You can work your way back into a comfortable space where you can deal with those situations."
50 Cent said his friend and G-Unit artist Lloyd Banks dealt with a similar situation when his father died while Banks was on tour. 50 thought Banks should put his focus on work so he wouldn't be paralysed by grief.
"I was telling him, 'You need to go back and do what you need to do,' and he thought maybe I was a little insensitive," 50 Cent said. "But I can definitely understand how that's a huge loss, and how that would be, and then (Kanye's) relationship with his mom had a lot more depth to it than a lot of people's. He was real close to his mom.
"I hope that he can work his through his way through it ... if you're active, you'll find reasons to smile, reasons to be happy."
Meanwhile, a plastic surgeon who operated on Donda the day before she died stormed off a chat show yesterday.
Dr. Jan Adams had agreed to speak with CNN's Larry King, but wouldn't answer questions about Donda's surgery.
He said: "I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for the West family and they have asked me not to go on. And I've said from the very beginning, I don't have a side in this. They are my side and so I'm going to respect their wishes."
- BANG! SHOWBIZ
