Grammy-nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle was shot and died on March 31st, 2019 in front of his clothing store. He had just turned 33 years old.
Nipsey Hussle, though, was much more than a rapper. He was a philanthropist who worked hard to reduce gang violence in his neighborhood by repeatedly questioning the high murder and incarceration rates and serving as a role model for individuals from similar backgrounds.
He also participated in the creation of Destination Crenshaw, a 1.3-mile-long public art installation in his community that will honor black culture in Los Angeles.
In other words, Nipsey Hussle made use of his platform to motivate people to develop personally. Because of this, many people are still devastated about his death.
Considering that there are thousands of gun-related fatalities in the US every year, tragedies like Nipsey Hussle or X only serve to draw attention to the issue and call for solutions; they are not intended to cast a shadow over the innumerable victims of gun violence who didn't receive the same level of media coverage.
On August 15, 1985, Airmiess Joseph Asghedom, the future Nipsey Hussle, was born in Los Angeles, California. A few years ago, he learned that the meaning of his birth name is "God Will Rise." He cites the Rollin' 60s neighborhood around Crenshaw and Slauson as the place he grew up.
While his father is of Eritrean ancestry, his mother was born and raised in Los Angeles. Nipsey's parents divorced when he was just 3 or 4 years old, so their mother, uncle, and grandmother raised him and his brother as they grew up.
Nipsey spent three months around Africa and Europe in 2004 with his father and sibling to research his ancestry. Nipsey first met his grandma and cousins in East Africa, the country where his father was born. He claims that the experience really helped him to comprehend his heritage.
Nipsey always enjoyed listening to music on the radio, purchasing CDs, and reading Source magazines. He would listen to a Snoop or Dr. Dre album when he first started rapping and add other lyrics to their beats.
When he was 12 years old, he started looking for fresh rhythms. He was able to record his own projects thanks to a free studio time program at the Watts Towers in Los Angeles that his mother learned about when he was 13 years old.
Nipsey got his stage name from Nipsey Russell, an actor and comedian. When Nipsey was around 14 years old, he began to hustle full time. His mother would pay their bills, but Nipsey needed to find a way to support himself financially so he could buy himself new shoes and nice clothes.
He played basketball a little bit in middle school, but his academic performance was insufficient to continue playing the game.
Nipsey claimed in a 2010 interview with Parlemag that when his mother remarried, he didn't much like his new step-father and left home at the age of 14.
He claimed that after briefly relocating to his grandmother's house, he was eventually living alone.
By the age of 15, 16, he had begun to engage in gang activity and street life. But his mother had always stressed on learning and education.
He had a front-row seat to everything, including killing, drug dealing, police, jail stuff, and neighborhood politics. He joined the Rollin 60's Neighborhood Crips by the age of 15, and he asserts that he made hundreds of thousands of dollars in hustling before ever making a dime from music.
Nipsey, though, was expelled from Alexander Hamilton High School at about the same age for what was allegedly a computer lab heist. Nipsey admitted to Complex that he didn't do anything, but the Lennox Sheriff department's juvenile boot camp program was nonetheless required of him.
His desire to further his education after being expelled from school and enrolling in that program led him, at the age of 15, to enroll in classes at a community college in West Los Angeles. There, he enjoyed studying "English, Psychology, and Philosophy," all of which influenced his music. While still in high school, he was earning As and Bs in college.
Even his English teacher was stunned as she confirmed him, asking if he usually plagiarized his work.
He eventually left community college to focus only on music. His intention was to use music to inform listeners who were only aware of LA's current events during the time Tu Pac and Snoop were coming up.
He quit the streets and began saving his money to work on music after realizing that the way he was living would only end in one of a few ways.
He seriously invested in his craft by selling all of his vehicles and jewels. He invested in Pro Tools, an Apple computer, and studio tools so that he could concentrate fully on producing works of art at a high level. He also attempted to conserve the remaining money for music at the time, spending no more than $20 per day. That left him with 10 for some marijuana and 10 for food.
In 2005, Nipsey released "Slauson Boy Volume 1," a mixtape that would later bear the name of his own record label.
Being barely 18 years old when he founded Slauson Boys Records, he negotiated a distribution arrangement by himself. Clearly, Nipsey had the makings of a successful businessman from a young age.
He also had a little part in the 2007 short "I Tried" by Bone Thugs N' Harmony.
Nipsey would carry on working hard by doing all of his own street marketing and selling mixtapes out of the trunk of his car.
In 2010, he continued his acting career by starring alongside Ving Rhames in the film "The Wrath of Cain." Ving listened to Nipsey's mixtape while traveling to South Africa because his step-daughter only had Lil Wayne and Nipsey's songs on her iPod at the time.
Around that time, his name began to spread around Los Angeles and word of his movement reached the jail, where a man dubbed Big U was incarcerated serving a 25-year term. Big U once oversaw Kurupt and had connections to Snoop. He listened to Nipsey's music and after spending only 13 years of his sentence, he was released and began managing the rapper.
Together, they submitted his work to all of the major companies, but he revealed to Complex that after the labels had liked the music, they would always receive a call that said: "Yeah, them is the 60s". "That's Big U". "That's another Suge". "Don't do it". And given Suge's reputation, I can guess that most people didn't want to deal with them.
In addition, Hussle spent a few months in county jail in Los Angeles after a raid on the clothes store he had been using to sell his distinctive Crenshaw products. He claimed that the cops were suspicious of the action taking place in his store since there would be over 50 guys out front.
Nipsey would invest all of his money towards upgrading his studio. In connection with an inquiry into his brother, the police also raided his studio on November 17, 2006, and at the time, it had equipment worth between $100 and $200,000.
Well, after the raid, he was back at square one and believed he had nothing. He did, however, secure a contract with Cinematic Music Group through Sony and Epic Records not long after being released from the county jail.
Nipsey was the very first artist to sign with Cinematic Music Group, the label through which the deal was made. Since he couldn't accomplish much in Los Angeles, he used his advance payment to hire a lawyer and traveled to Jamaica for a week.
The mixtapes "Bullets Ain't Got No Name Volumes 1 and 2" were released by Nipsey in 2008 "and the song "All For The Doe" on the second tape actually had a beat by Kanye West.
"Hussle in the House," his first single on a major label, was released. The song began to be played on LA radio, but according to Nipsey, many people complained that it was endorsing gang lifestyle, so several stations dialed back on the spins.
Nipsey appeared on Drake's song "Killers" shortly after "So Far Gone" was released.
Even an older Tweet by Drake that states "Nipsey Hussle is the hardest out" can be found online.
Along with fellow Los Angeles native, Problem, he appeared on the song "Upside Down" from Snoop Dogg's album "Malice N Wonderland."
A lot of people initially believed that Nipsey was Snoop's cousin or nephew due to their similar sounds, voices, and appearances. Nipsey even turned down Snoop's request for him to play him in "Straight Out of Compton" because he preferred to forge his own path.
Regarding the Snoop feature, he explained to Complex in a 2010 interview that Snoop didn't ask him to sign with him, didn't ask for a cut or a percentage, and that Snoop essentially just used his own visibility and celebrity to co-sign and speak very highly of Nipsey rather than saying, "Oh, f*** this young nigga." For this reason, Nipsey respects snoop.
A person who gave him an early endorsement on "Power 106 radio" was The Game, who also accompanied him on his LAX globe tour. Alongside musicians like J. Cole and Wiz Khalifa, he was chosen to be a part of the XXL Freshman class that same year.
His first studio album was scheduled to be released in 2010 through the label, however later that year, Nipsey and his label split up over creative disagreements, and he started his own label, "All Money In."
After becoming newly independent, he launched "The Marathon" as his first effort and "The Marathon Continues" as a follow-up. Despite rumors that he might join Rick Ross's Maybach Music, he never signed a contract and carried on as an independent artist.
The third chapter of Nipsey's Marathon series will be dubbed "TheMarathon 3: Victory Lap," he informed followers.
The CD didn't exactly go on sale straight away, though. He declared Victory Lap would be his debut album in 2013. His subsequent release would be a mixtape called "Crenshaw," nevertheless. A total of 1000 physical copies of the project would be made available for sale, along with bundles costing $100 each and included meet-and-greets, merchandise, autographs, and tickets to a private concert.
He also had a fan in Hov, as evidenced by Jay Z's purchase of 100 copies of the record.
Furthermore, if I did my math correctly, Nip made a cool $10,000 from Jay's purchases alone.
And he earned $100,000 by selling all 1000 copies, one of which was purchased by a woman by the name of Lauren London; who will later play a significant role in Nipsey's life. He stayed faithful to the name of his label by using the funds to support it.
He said to Karen Civil that the name Crenshaw is one word that can sum up who he is, the foundation of who he is, his character, and his life's journey.
He established "The Marathon Agency" in 2016 alongside coworkers Karen Civil, Jorge Peniche, and Steve-O, but not the one from Jackass you're picturing, another one.
His Marathon apparel store has also used some pretty cutting-edge practices, such as developing a digital Smartstore. He attributes the concept of opening a clothing store to his brother.
In 2014, Nipsey released the "Mailbox Money" mixtape and carried on with recording his debut album.
He followed his format, charging $1,000 for each of the 60 copies of his mixtape. He started dating the actress Lauren London that same year, and even though they publicly announced their breakup, they have since been spotted together frequently. They openly acknowledged their relationship, including participating in a GQ video in which Lauren quizzed Nipsey on 30 topics.
On August 31, 2016, Hussle gave birth to his son Kross, and he also has a daughter named Emani from a prior relationship.
After waiting for the world to hear "Victory Lap" for five years, he announced in 2018 a collaborative venture with Atlantic Records to release his label debut. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 charts after selling more than 50,000 copies in its first week.
It was also nominated for Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards. Although it didn't win, the album received critical acclaim and was hailed as the year's best rap album by many rap critics and fans alike.
Outside of the music industry, Nipsey had made significant contributions to his hometown. The Marathon Clothing smartstore, his streetwear line and store, launched in 2017 on Slauson Avenue in the neighborhood where he was raised.
Sadly, it was here that Nipsey Hussle was shot on Sunday, March 31, 2019, at roughly 3:25 pm, and he eventually passed away from his injuries after being taken to the hospital.
Hip-hop and the entertainment industry both shared their sorrow on social media at the same time. Many people were touched by this man's singing, philanthropy, and artistic talent, and memorial services were held all across the Los Angeles region.
The name and identity of the man who the police think killed him have been made public. We are hoping for a speedy resolution to this case.
Not only will Nipsey Hussle be remembered as a wonderful musician, but also as an inspiration to people hoping to improve their lot in life.
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