Famous rapper and songwriter Nipsey Hussle was a great influence in the hip hop industry. Although he may not be known to some, he has contributed much to the music industry on the west coast. Nipsey Hussle was born as Ermias Asghedom on August 15, 1985 in South Los Angeles. He was raised in the Crenshaw neighborhood by his African American mother while his Eritrean father was back in Eritrea, his home country. He was not familiar with his biological family background besides his mother, so in 2004, he went on a three month visit to Eritrea. There, he learned more about his family background and family, which later inspired him to become a community activist.
Nipsey Hussle received his stage name from a friend during his teenage years. The name was originated from Nipsey Russell, with a play on words. Hussle was often seen wearing heavy jewelry such as necklaces, chains, Rolex watches, and grillz. In 2013, Nipsey Hussle began dating actress Lauren London and later had a child together who was born on August 31, 2016. Before dating Lauren London, Hussle had a daughter from a previous relationship, and London had a child from a previous relationship with Lil Wayne.
Nipsey Hussle had an extensive music and acting career. He first rose to fame in 2005 when he released his first mixtape Slauson Boy Volume 1, which later became the name of his record label. His first acting role was in 2007 when he played a small role in Bone Thugs-n-Harmony’s semi- autobiographical film called I Tried, which was directed by Rich Newey. Hussle signed with Cinematic Music Group and Epic Records in 2008 and released 2 other mixtapes titled Bullets Ain’t Got No Name Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. One year later in 2009, he released his first debut single “Hussle in the House” and also released the third mixtape from the series
Bullets Ain’t Got No Name Vol. 3. He also collaborated with
Drake’s song “Killer” and appeared in the music
video “Upside Down” of the album Malice n Wonderland
with fellow rappers Snoop Dogg and Problem.
Hussle had a big year in 2010 when he appeared in the song “We Are the World 25 for Haiti” after the Haiti earthquake had struck. He was also ranked by XXL Magazine as one of its “Annual Freshmen Top Ten” for upcoming artists and was labeled as the “Most Determined” of his fellow class of rappers. He was also titled the “next big L.A. MC” by the LA Weekly. At many highly publicized events, Hussle wore his best jewelry to stand out in the crowd. Due to many rappers such as Nipsey Hussle and Lil Wayne, gold teeth became more popular. Hussle was supposed to release his debut album titled South Central State of Mind in October 2010 with guest appearances from Trey Songz, Jay Rock, and Sean Kingston, but the album was indefinitely postponed. In late 2010, Hussle was released from Epic Records after going through some trouble and eventually founded his own record label, All Money In, the same year. He released his first mixtape from his new record label titled The Marathon on December 21, 2010. Hussle also starred in his first film Caged Animal with Ving Rhames, Gillie Da Kid, and Robert Patrick.
In 2011, Hussle released the sequel to his first mixtape titled The Marathon Continues, featuring YG and Dom Kennedy. One year later, he released a collaborative album titled Raw on April 17, 2012 with fellow rapper Blanco. Hussle’s album makes several guest appearances from YG, Mistah FAB, Yukmouth, B-Legit, Kokane, and Freeway. In May 2012, Hussle released another single “Proud of That” which features vocals from Rick Ross. MMG released the song
“Fountain of Youth” on October 1, 2012 that featured Hussle in his music video.
The third and final installment of the tri-series The Marathon mixtape was released in 2013. Hussle announced released his mixtape with fellow West Coast rapper, YG. On March 30, 2013, Hussle performed at the 2013 Paid Dues festival in California. On August 6, 2013, Hussle announced that his mixtape Victory Lap would actually be released as an album instead of a mixtape and decided on making that album his debut album. Several months later on October 8, 2013, Hussle announced that he would be releasing a new mixtape called Crenshaw and began releasing songs from the album. It was later revealed that the track list for Crenshaw would include guest appearances from Rick Ross, Dom Kennedy, Slim Thug, and several others. Surprisingly, Hussle made 1,000 hard copies of the mixtape and sold them for $100 each. However, he sold out of all 1,000 copies within 24 hours, making approximately $100,000 in 24 hours. Among the buyers was gold grillz wearer Jay-Z, who bought 100 copies to show his support for Hussle.
During the last several years of his life, Hussle worked hard on his music and acting career. Hussle eventually released his album Victory Lap in 2014. He was also featured in a cameo “The Sexy Getting Ready Song” in a pilot episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. He rapped a part of the song and many people enjoyed listening to his rapping in a television series. In 2016, Hussle released his last album titled Famous Lies and Unpopular Truth, which would eventually be his last album before his death. It was revealed in 2016 that Nipsey invested over six figures in a company, The Marathon Agency, which was ran by Steve Carless. Hussle was a part of the founding business partners with Karen Civil and Jorge Peniche. Steve Carless revealed to Billboard that Hussle
was like a silent partner in The Marathon Agency because he invested such a large sum of money. On June 17, 2017, Hussle inaugurated the “Marathon Clothing” store, which was founded with his business partners Steve Carless, Karen Civil, and his own brother Samiel Asghedom.
In March 2019 before his death, Hussle had contacted the Los Angeles Police Department with Roc Nation about what the two of them can do to help prevent gang violence in South LA. The meeting was supposedly scheduled for April 1, 2019, but unfortunately Hussle did not live to see the day of the meeting. On March 31, 2019, Hussle was shot multiple times in the parking lot of his own store, Marathon Clothing. He was hit five times in the torso and once on the head in South Los Angeles at approximately 3:25pm. There were two others who were wounded in the shooting, and all three victims were transported to the hospital. Sadly, Hussle did not survive the hits and was announced dead at 3:55pm at the age of 33.
Upon hearing the news of his death, many celebrities around the country offered their condolences on social media. Hussle did not get to attend the scheduled meeting for April 1, but the meeting is said to still take place at a later date in Hussle’s honor. The suspect for Hussle’s death has been identified as 29 year old Eric Holder. Upon investigation, the police and investigators believe that Holder knew the rapper and the shooting was most likely related to a personal matter. On April 2, 2019, Eric Holder was apprehended by the members of the Los Angeles Police Department.
It is sad to see the death of a renowned hip hop star and rapper. Nipsey Hussle was a great influence on the hip hop culture in America and his hard work and determination allowed him to make it so far in his career. Although it is unfortunate that he could not have continued to strive for his dreams, he will be remembered for his music and influence in the hip hop culture.