Celebrities have taken to social media to mourn the loss of legendary rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was shot and killed outside his clothing store on March 31 in Los Angeles. He was 33.
Police said three men were shot Sunday and one of them killed outside Marathon Clothing, the store Hussle owns. Police said the other two men were in stable condition.
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A large crowd of fans and residents gathered behind police lines as night fell. Detectives were canvassing the area for witnesses and looking to see if any surveillance video captured the incident, police Lt. Chris Ramirez said.
READ MORE: Rapper Nipsey Hussle shot dead outside his L.A. clothing store: reports
The Los Angeles Crisis Response team said Sunday that “we lost a great musician” and support has been offered to Hussle’s family.
“Our prayers are with them and all those who knew and loved Nipsey Hussle,” the crisis team said.
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Mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted his condolences on Sunday.
“Our hearts are with the loved ones of Nipsey Hussle and everyone touched by this awful tragedy. L.A. is hurt deeply each time a young life is lost to senseless gun violence,” Garcetti tweeted. “My Crisis Response Team is assisting the families coping with shock and grief.”
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Celebrities, athletes, fans and his community have come together to share their condolences to the Grammy-nominated rapper and his family.
“This doesn’t make any sense! My spirit is shaken by this! Dear God may His spirit Rest In Peace and May You grant divine comfort to all his loved ones! … I’m so sorry this happened to you @nipseyhussle” Rihanna tweeted.
“Words cannot express our sadness. Nipsey was not only one of the greatest artists we worked with but an amazing father & leader in his community. One of the kindest & brightest stars in the universe, he was inspiring to all. We will miss him, his music & everything he stood for.” Atlantic Records, Hussle’s label, tweeted.
Lebron James wrote: “Just spoke with you the other day on text bro! Telling you how proud I was of you and how I was gone get you to more Laker games next season.”
“What a sad day. Rip to a real stand up guy! a great representation of positivity and change to the community,” Cardi B wrote.
“RIP to one of the only real ones left,” A$ap Rocky wrote.
“I’m feeling so f**ked up right now. R.I.P Nipsey. Condolences to your family. WTF!! Can we please stop!!!” Dr. Dre wrote.
“Nipsey you a legend. I respect and admire your career path and what you did for the neighbourhood. My heart broke today when I saw the news. I’m praying for your loved ones. This was sposed to be the year we got one in. God had bigger plans for you,” rapper J. Cole tweeted.
“This is so painful! @NipseyHussle was doing great work for the people. Keep his legacy alive by carrying on his work! Sending love to his family. Rest in Power King,” Colin Kaepernick tweeted.
“Watching Nipsey inspired me to invest and own in our communities. He was a solid man who loved his woman, his family and his community. This hurts,” actress Issa Rae wrote.
“Heavy. Sending nothing but love and condolences to Nipsey’s family, friends, Lauren, loved ones. Man had a lot of v positive things he was working on for his community and overall consciousness not to mention always solid energy when we crossed paths. Sh*t is wild we’re the same age. Heart breaking,” singer Miguel wrote.
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“Heartbroken and speechless, god bless your beautiful family, just spoke about working… a community legend. a humble king… forreal. ah this don’t feel real. wow,” singer Kehlani wrote on Twitter.
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Ludaris shared a photo of the two of them and said, “hip hop just lost one of their elite.”
Rapper Nas mourned Hussle’s death on Instagram and wrote, “It’s dangerous to be an MC. Dangerous to be a b-ball player. It’s dangerous to have money. Dangerous To Be A Black Man.”
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Hussle, whose real name is Ermias Asghedom, was born on Aug. 15, 1985, in the Crenshaw neighbourhood of south Los Angeles.
The Eritrean-American said his first passion was music but getting resources was tough since he left his mother’s house at 14 to live with his grandmother. Hussle said he got involved in street life as he tried to support himself, and he joined the gang Rollin 60’s Neighborhood Crips as a teenager.
“The culture of my area is the gang culture … so by being outside, being involved with hustling, being in the hood, doing things to try to get money, being young, you know riding your bike through the hood, getting shot at, your loved ones and homies that’s your age getting killed, getting shot at … it’s like, we were just raised like if you with me and something goes now, I’m in it, whether I’m from the (expletive) or not,” he said in a 2014 interview with VladTV. “So after a while, it just be like you always in the middle of some (expletive), you might as well, you know what I mean … be part of it. Or don’t be a part of it and get the (expletive) out the way.”
The proud West Coast rapper released a number of successful mixtapes that he sold out of the trunk of his car, helping him create a buzz and gain respect from rap purists and his peers. In 2010, he placed on hip-hop magazine XXL’s “Freshman Class of 2010” — a coveted list for up-and-coming hip-hop acts — alongside J. Cole Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, Jay Rock and others.
Hussle continued to build more hype for himself, and Jay-Z even bought 100 copies of Hussle’s 2013 mixtape Crenshaw for $100 each, sending the budding rapper a $10,000 cheque.
Hussle, who was once signed to Sony’s Epic Records, hit a new peak with Victory Lap, his critically acclaimed major-label debut album on Atlantic Records that made several best-of lists last year, from Billboard magazine to Complex. The album debuted at No. 4 on Billboard’s 200 albums charts and featured collaborations with Kendrick Lamar, Diddy, CeeLo Green and more.
At this year’s Grammy Awards, Victory Lap was one of five nominees for best rap album in a year that hip-hop dominated the pop charts and streaming services and a number of top stars released projects, including Drake, Eminem and Kanye West. Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy won the honour last month, while the other nominees were Travis Scott, Pusha T and Mac Miller.
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“It’s my debut album so for my first one (to be nominated) out the gate, it’s like, it was overwhelming a little bit. It was … inspiring, humbling,” he said in an interview with the Recording Academy on the 2019 Grammys red carpet.
Hussle attended the Grammys with his daughter, Emani.
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The rapper was engaged to actress Lauren London. The actress and rapper were in a five-year relationship.
The couple share a young son named Kross, who was born in 2016, and they recently opened up about their relationship in GQ‘s March issue.
Hussle’s daughter is from a previous relationship and London’s nine-year-old son, Cameron Carter, is from her previous relationship with rapper Lil Wayne.
Hussle and London participated in a couple’s quiz for GQ which has almost 3-million views on YouTube as of Monday.
Hussle shared that they met for the first time in person at his store on Crenshaw and Slauson in Los Angeles. London revealed that she is dating her “celebrity crush.”
“I don’t have a celebrity crush,” she said. “I’m with my celebrity crush.”
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Outside of music, Hussle said he wanted to provide hope and motivation to those who grew up in Crenshaw like him, and pay it forward.
Hussle was also a strong businessman. In a story published in February, Forbes wrote that the rapper and business partner Dave Gross purchased the Crenshaw plaza where his Marathon Clothing store is located, and had plans to knock it down and “rebuild it as a six-story residential building atop a commercial plaza where a revamped Marathon store will be the anchor tenant.”
In 2016, Hussle and rapper YG released the protest song FDT, short for “F**K Donald Trump,” criticizing the U.S. president’s policies when he was the Republican presidential candidate.
— With files from the Associated Press
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