People stood on the corner of Crenshaw and Slauson yesterday in disbelief, same as the rest of the hip-hop community. At that intersection sits Marathon Clothing, the site where Nipsey Hussle was fatally shot on Sunday afternoon around 3:20 PT. As the news spread, family, friends and fans flocked to the crime scene to share experiences, grief and outrage.
Nipsey was a leader and a staple in the community, owning several business there, including Marathon Clothing, and employing the local residents. Nipsey was heavily into empowering his people, so the fact that somebody killed him in the very the place where he was trying to cultivate with his dollars, words and actions, makes it that much more shocking. It didn’t feel real, even after reading the news, and even while physically standing there surrounded by police and yellow tape. How could this be? Another impactful hip-hop star who had so much more to give to the culture — and was willing to do so — has been taken away abruptly and violently. Nipsey was just getting started.
“I was a fan of the music,” said a local fan wearing a “Crenshaw” hat and matching sweatshirt from Nipsey’s brand. “He represented the culture well. Supported the people of the community. I’m [heartbroken]. Just don’t know what to say. Seems like the Lord always taking the good ones. It’s a whole lot of ignorant n----s that… probably don’t need to be walking the face of this earth right now. You had this man out here with a family, actually taking negatives and turning them into positives. That’s what we need to do in the community. Learn how to support each other. Black owned. For sure he was my favorite. I got a chance to go the ’Victory Lap’ tour, see that. It’s just sad and it seems like we’re killing each other. It needs to stop … A lot of people are hurt and devastated. Hopefully we can get a positive out of this somehow, someway. I thank him for blessing the city with his music, his brand. It was well needed out in these streets.”
“I’m at loss right now,” another man said. He was holding back tears and spoke of how Nipsey inspired him to start his own YouTube Channel. “I’m just out here showing support for Nipsey. His music got a lot of people through college, through work. Got a lot of people through things. Very inspirational, always gave back to the community. He didn’t leave the community, he bought property in the community. It’s very sad. I cried in the car when I heard it. I’ll be crying all day. I love Nipsey.”
Then there was a woman named Mariah who painted the picture of a man of inspiration.
“I’m depressed,” she told. “I’m really sad about what happened today. Nipsey Hussle, I worked with a black man that told me the only reason why he’s at where is today is because of Nipsey Hussle. He listened to Nipsey every single day. He said if it wasn’t for Nipsey, he doesn’t know how he would get accepted into UCLA . He said ‘I listen to him every single day and Nipsey inspired me to be better than what I am.’ Every time I turn around, somebody is dying and its us against us. It’s them against us. It’s everybody against us. How do we change it? What’s the next step. I’m depressed.”
“I used to be in a gang in LA,” another woman offered. “I understand all that. My heart is broken because I’m sick of seeing this. We gotta break this ghetto spell we’re under. But for right now, everybody be encouraged, decide to live better. Be better. He was trying. He was invested in his community. He had children; this is senseless. Once again. But until we deal our own internal issues and our own dysfunctions, we’re gonna keep repeating this. We gotta heal ourselves.”
Two other men were shot during the March 31 incident. At the time of writing, police have no suspects.