Drake, Rihanna and other big music stars are paying tribute to Nipsey Hussle, the Grammy-nominated rapper who was gunned down Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles. He was 33.
Hussle, born Ermias Asghedom, was shot several times at close range at around 3:20 p.m. local time by a young black male who then ran to a waiting car. Two other people were left wounded.
The rapper was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The shooting took place outside Marathon Clothing, one of several business Hussle owned in the neighbourhood.
“I just spent Thursday with him filming a video for a beautiful new song we created with Khaled,” singer John Legend tweeted. “We filmed in Inglewood, close to where he grew up. He was so gifted, so proud of his home, so invested in his community. Utterly stunned that he's gone so soon.”
On Instagram, Drake shared: “F**k. My whole energy is just at a low right now hearing this. We just linked for the first time in years and said we were gonna do a new song this summer cause it had been too long.
“You were having the best run and I was so happy watching from distance fam nobody ever talks down on your name you were a real one to your people and to the rest of us. I’m only doing this here cause I want the world to know I saw you as a man of respect and a don. Rest easy my g.”
Rihanna said the killing doesn’t make 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.”
During his Lollapalooza Argentina performance, Kendrick Lamar asked the crowd for a moment of silence for “our brother, our warrior, our soldier.”
The Los Angeles Times cited sourced as saying the shooting was gang-related. In his teens, Hussle was a member of the Rollin’ 60s, a Crips gang clique.
“We dealt with death, with murder,” he told the Times in 2018. “It was like living in a war zone, where people die on these blocks and everybody is a little bit immune to it.”
Only hours before he died, Hussle tweeted: “Having strong enemies is a blessing.”
Mark Ralston / AFP/Getty Images
L.A. police commissioner Steve Soboroff tweeted that Hussle was scheduled to meet on Monday afternoon to "talk about ways he could help stop gang violence and help us help kids.”
Hussle released a dozen mixtapes between 2005 and 2017, including his Bullets Ain't Got No Name trilogy. His 2018 debut Victory Lap was nominated for Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards.
He collaborated with Snoop Dogg and Rick Ross and was featured on tracks by YG and Childish Gambino.
"Nipsey was so important to the movement," tweeted Canadian hip hop producer Boi-1da. "I'm so sad ... This s**t makes me sick."
He added: "Same pattern, someone comes along trying to enlighten and change the cycle and they’re killed. Every time. It’s discouraging."
In South L.A. Hussle was almost better known for the ways he gave back to the community – including supporting an arts program and opening a co-working space to boost employment in the tech field.
“You were about something..positive and for your community in every chance you had to speak,” tweeted Pharrell Williams, “and because of that You inspired millions..millions who will uphold your legacy forever. rest amongst the stars.”
There were also reaction from basketball stars LeBron James and Stephen Curry, Hussle’s fellow rappers like 50 Cent and Chance The Rapper, and actress Jada Pinkett Smith.
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay shared: “I’ll remember him this way. Bright, genuine, forward thinking. I’ll remember the beauty that he saw in our community. And the beauty that he was. He loved us. He’s left that love with us. And it cannot die. Rest in Power, King. You mattered.”
On Instagram, Snoop Dogg dedicated several posts to Hussle. “Gone 2 soon,” he wrote. “I’m so sad right now I’ll just reflect on the good times we had.”
“Broke me,” Meek Mill tweeted. “We really fighting for our lives against our own kind and really have to take risk and match the level of hatred that we are born in .. I’m tired.”
Hussle had a child with actress Lauren London in 2016 and a daughter from a previous relationship.